City of Newcastle seeks community feedback on Harbour to Cathedral Corridor

City of Newcastle is inviting feedback from the community on the Harbour to Cathedral Corridor (Stairway to Heaven) concept, which proposes to link Christ Church Cathedral to the Harbour via a grand staircase.

The concept seeks to open-up connections and view lines from the Harbour foreshore and Hunter Street Mall to Christ Church Cathedral, aligning with long held strategic objectives of City of Newcastle and the NSW Government to connect the city to the harbour.

City of Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the concept is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to create a landmark public space for the city.

“City of Newcastle will soon demolish the 59-year old Mall Car Park due to its poor structural condition which brings about the chance to open the vista to the harbour and protect iconic views of the Cathedral for future generations,” the Lord Mayor said.

“With recent developments in Hunter Street Mall, we now have a unique opportunity to provide residents and visitors to Newcastle with a world-class public space to enjoy.

“While we are in the early stages of assessing the viability of the concept, we want to determine the community’s support for this new public space which would feature a 93 metre long and 20 metre public space and stairway extending from Hunter Street to King Street, enabling pedestrian access, active shop fronts, landings and courtyards along the proposed staircase to gather and meet.”

City of Newcastle Director Governance David Clarke said a feasibility assessment found that an integrated approach to delivering the concept which involves City of Newcastle and Iris Capital owned land would provide the best outcome for the city.

“This concept aims to provide a beautiful public asset for our community whilst retaining 380 public car parking spaces in a central location of our revitalised city,” Mr Clarke said.

“Importantly, this concept provides the only opportunity to preserve the view corridor to the Cathedral due to Iris Capital’s East End Stage 3 development, which in its current form, would obscure the line of sight from the Harbour to the Cathedral.

“City of Newcastle is working with Iris Capital on an in-principle agreement on the terms and conditions about how we might progress on the concept.”

Glen Spicer, Director EJE Architects said key property and development organisations in Newcastle including The Property Council and the Urban Design Review Panel (URDP) support the concept.

“Barney Collins of EJE Architects envisioned this concept more than 15 years ago. Now with recent opportunities presenting themselves, it provides the perfect chance to maintain the heritage of the area while enhancing public and visual amenity of the space in a sustainable way,” Mr Spicer said.

“The Property Council and URDP both fully support the City of Newcastle in this exciting endeavour.”

The community is encouraged to provide feedback on the concept via the Have Your Say page on City of Newcastle’s website by Friday 4 June.