Approval for extensive demolition works at the site of a former convent in Brisbane’s inner north has been sought by a property developer.
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Cedar Woods submitted a development application to Brisbane City Council in August 2016 proposing almost 280 apartments and terrace homes as part of a staged development over five years at Wooloowin.
The development on the 3.8-hectare site was approved in 2017 and now the developer is seeking permission to start demolition on the site.
Property records show Dunlop Property, a subsidiary of Cedar Woods, purchased the property from the Sisters of Mercy for more than $27 million in December 2015.
The site has several buildings on it, including two historic heritage-listed buildings, the Holy Cross Convent and the Holy Cross Laundry.
The Holy Cross Laundry was built in 1889 and was Queensland's oldest recognisable institutional laundry.
The state government heritage listing said the single-storey brick and timber building provided rare surviving evidence of the workhouse tradition, associated with a refuge for destitute women in the 19th century.
“In 1977 the dormitory building and kitchen wing were demolished, but the steam laundry has been maintained as a sheltered workshop for intellectually handicapped women and men.”
The Holy Cross Convent built in 1912 is listed on Brisbane City Council heritage register and will also be preserved.
The development application for the demolition was submitted on Friday and outlined plans to demolish several buildings and sheds on the site, including two vacant brick residential aged care facilities.
The demolition works will be close to the heritage-listed buildings, including the laundry which dates to 1889, but that work will be done mainly by hand to conserve the heritage buildings.
The convent and laundry building will be converted to residential uses as part of the master-planned development.
Cedar Woods chief operating officer Patrick Archer said Cedar Woods was committed to protecting the heritage significance of the site.
"Cedar Woods has undertaken a detailed heritage impact assessment for the proposed demolition works by award-winning heritage architect Ruth Woods," he said.
"All original heritage elements of the laundry building will be carefully retained and preserved, with only the 1970s non-traditional extension removed.
"No demolition works are currently proposed as part of this application near or to the heritage convent building however in the future the non-significant extensions are proposed to be removed."
Mr Archer said the stage one release and construction, which includes 24 townhouses, was expected to commence in the first half of the 2019 financial year.
The council would assess the application.
