Members of the public will have one last chance to stop the demolition of Bruce Hall despite the ACT Heritage Council's decision not to add the university residence to the ACT heritage list.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Australian National University has referred its decision on knocking down the hall to the Department of Environment and Energy, the National Capital Authority's chief planner Andrew Smith told a joint standing committee on the National Capital and External Territories on Thursday.
The referral under the EPBC Act came at the advice of the NCA in response to community concerns that the heritage values of the ageing hall were being overlooked.
"What we have said to the ANU is there are significant community concerns and they would be best served by assessing those but also by making a referral under the EPBC Act to determine whether or not the heritage values that members of the community are saying exist are found to exist by an independent arbiter," Mr Smith said.
"The ANU has heeded that advice and last Friday or earlier this week have made a submission to the Department of Environment and Energy under the EPBC Act which will identify the proposed demolition, address the treatment of values or loss of heritage values as they saw them."
Mr Smith said that referral had yet to go to public consultation but would be open for comment for about a month before delegates from the department would make the final decision.
The discussion was prompted by the Member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, who asked the NCA about its involvement in the decision to demolish the historic university college.
It came as the ACT Heritage Council decided against provisionally listing Bruce Hall in the ACT Heritage Register.
The council chose not to add the hall to the register as its location on Commonwealth land meant it was outside the Heritage Act 2004 and the council had not formed a view on its heritage values.
However proponents for the uni residence could also have another opportunity to stop the bulldozers closing in.
The works approval application to knock down the hall's accommodation wings and ancillary buildings is also under consideration by the NCA.
Public feedback on that application is open until December 2 but in a statement of heritage impact, the university put forward that its historical and social values are not attached to the building.
"Bruce Hall is a chartered institution, separate from the buildings that presently house it, and its history is that of the university of which it forms part. The college is not fixed to, or dependent on physical structures, and is capable of surviving independently. Demolition will not have a significant impact on the chartered institution as such," it said.
"With respect to the alumni, it is respectfully suggested that the most important associational values relate to the internal strength and coherence of the alumni itself. While visits to the campus for special occasions would be expected to evoke considerable nostalgia, the preservation of iconic and significant objects and records, and clear echoes of the original architecture in new buildings will assist the alumni to retain its memories of the former hall."
