{"id":605883,"date":"2026-04-14T08:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/605883\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:39:08","slug":"australias-first-new-cathedral-in-over-a-century-planned-for-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/605883\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s first new cathedral in over a century planned for Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>London-based, internationally awarded firm N\u00edall McLaughlin Architects (NMLA) has been announced as the architect of a new cathedral in Sydney\u2019s north shore suburb of Waitara. According to the practice, the building will be Australia\u2019s first Roman Catholic cathedral in over a century to be masterplanned from its inception.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside the new cathedral, the 7.7-hectare precinct will encompass education and community services, serving around 250,000 Catholics who live within the 26 parishes of the Diocese of Broken Bay in Sydney\u2019s Central Coast, North Shore and Northern Beaches regions.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Anthony Randazzo described the precinct as \u201ca home for faith, a place for community, and a commitment to the faithful of today and for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIts design will represent a visible and living heart for diocesan life, where worship, formation, pastoral care, outreach and administration come together in service of commission, community and the common good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe appointment of N\u00edall McLaughlin Architects signals we are moving ahead with confidence to create a community legacy for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Led by the <a href=\"https:\/\/architectureau.com\/articles\/2026-riba-gold-medal-won-by-humble-visionary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2026 recipient of the Royal Institute of British Architecture Royal Gold Medal<\/a>, N\u00edall McLaughlin, NMLA was selected for the design of the precinct following an invited international process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are delighted to work on this significant project to help create an enduring spiritual, civic, and cultural precinct that places the faithful at its centre,\u201d McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing inspiration from the Hawkesbury River, the project \u201cenvisions a congregation ebbing and flowing beneath a forest of timber framing, contained by sandstone structures of local bluffs and caves,\u201d a communique from the practice reads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResponsible, sustainable materials\u201d have been selected to complement the natural setting, and rooftop gardens designed to promote biodiversity alongside the site\u2019s existing blue gum forest, which will be preserved as public amenity.<\/p>\n<p>Local practice Hayball, who has been appointed as executive architect, will work alongside NMLA to realise the project, which includes a new cathedral and forecourt with a cafe and bookshop, a pastoral centre, a parish hall, a new home for social service and welfare organisation Catholic Care, residences for the bishop and clergy, and diocesan offices.<\/p>\n<p>The project, which is soon to be lodged for formal approvals, is set to evolve over the next several years through funding from the church\u2019s institutional capital and a dedicated fundraising appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London-based, internationally awarded firm N\u00edall McLaughlin Architects (NMLA) has been announced as the architect of a new cathedral&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-605883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}