For over 100 years, Uniting has been providing community health and aged care services in Waverley. A number of the current buildings and facilities are coming to the end of their useful asset life. They also no longer meet contemporary expectations around accommodation or the changing needs of older people.

We’ve been respectfully using and maintaining the heritage buildings in the Uniting Waverley Estate for over 100 years. Uniting remains committed to preserving and celebrating the Victorian heritage buildings.

Under the masterplan:

• The main Edina manor, War Memorial Hospital, and all Victorian heritage buildings will be retained.
• The Ellerslie, Banksia and Wych Hazel buildings will be retained and returned to a residential use.
• The Church Street cottages will be adapted and reused to 7 affordable rental housing units.
• Historical items such as the chapel and the gates on the corner of Bronte Road and Birrell Street, will be retained and improved.

Uniting is also committed to respecting and conserving the heritage landscape spaces, restoring and enhancing them for the future.

The Uniting Waverley Estate is significant because it is a unique example of Victorian era heritage. It is a site of many beautiful buildings and gardens from that era, loved by many. 

Uniting is committed to preserving and enhancing this Victorian heritage. Across these buildings and gardens, Cadi Cottage does not date from this Victorian period, it dates from the Federation era.

Heritage specialists have prepared the masterplan for the Estate and as part of this process, we’ve carefully considered the Estate as a whole, including how it developed over the years. We’ve assessed each of the buildings to understand why they might be important and how they contribute to the cultural significance of this site. 

There is an opportunity to unify the Estate and also to provide modern local community services to a quality people expect. That is, on this site, a redevelopment to provide aged care services that is in balance with a celebration of the site’s heritage. 

From a heritage perspective, the Victorian buildings and their setting are key to keeping the cultural significance of the Estate. It is this Victorian character that we are conserving for the community. 

Cadi Cottage forms a part of the heritage listing for the wider site. However, it was built at a time in the Estate’s history that isn’t as significant as the Victorian works on the site. The building’s layout and interiors have been altered. Its setting has been diminished both as a function of where it is located and how this building has been used as part of the hospital.  

As a result, we have excluded Cadi Cottage from the masterplan and propose to remove it, to better celebrate, preserve and improve the setting for the nearby Victorian buildings. This space will provide important landscape links between the historic driveway and the buildings, and extend the Victorian style gardens.

The Estate is listed in the Waverley Local Environment Plan (2012) on the Register of the National Estate and the National Trust Register.

This listing includes the main Vickery/Edina Building and the Banksia, Wych Hazel and Ellerslie buildings.

The masterplan has been designed to honour the heritage of the Estate by:

• Re-interpreting the original carriageway with an accessible pathway, which moves through the landscaped gardens
• Creating a lower or western garden acknowledging this original Estate feature
• Celebrating the original entry to the Estate by retaining the historic gates on the corner of Birrell Street and Bronte Road
• Ensuring the use of the site remains true to the historic and current use of the land.

We recognise that we need to provide affordable, accessible homes for the growing number of seniors in Waverley. Uniting commits to providing a minimum of 10% of all dwellings on the site as affordable rental housing. 

83 existing trees will need to be removed to allow new services or landscaping, but we’ll be adding 166 new trees to the Estate to minimise impact. We’ve considered each tree on site and assessed its cultural significance.

We’ll retain most of the significant mature trees on the Estate, including an additional fig tree. More than 50% of the trees on the Estate (120 in total) will be retained. We’re going to double the amount of useable landscaped spaces and supplement the existing trees with new trees.

We’ll plant 166 new trees and also add a significant number of new plants.

The current number of car spaces will be maintained and where services are expanding, new car spaces will be added to support them. A total of 465 car spaces is proposed within the redevelopment, including those for the hospital and its services.

• The aim is to make the Estate more pedestrian friendly by taking the majority of parking and vehicles to the basement level.
• The main service vehicle entry will be on Bronte Rd with secondary entry/exit points off Birrell Street, Carrington Road and Church Street. This will aim to ease congestion on Church Street.
• Shared pedestrian and vehicle zones for service drop-offs and reduced vehicular speed restrictions.
• A Traffic Management Plan will be developed. It will outline how the builders will minimise the impact of parking and traffic on the surrounding neighbourhood, during construction.

The height of the buildings has been considered to suit their location and topography. In most places this means the buildings are stepped to mitigate their impact at street level. The building heights will range from 4-6 storeys.

The new buildings integrate landscaping and setbacks to reduce their bulk and scale. They’ve also been designed and positioned to maximise solar access.

Our aim is to enhance the Uniting Waverley Estate and provide more services and areas for the community to use. The proposal will improve the Estate’s streetscapes and access. It will also open up the central garden and create new green spaces for the community to use and enjoy. 

Under the revised masterplan, safer and clearer entries with views into the Estate will enable greater connection to the community. You’ll be able to see the main heritage precinct.

Uniting will be continuing community and stakeholder consultations during August 2024. You’re encouraged to get in touch and share further feedback on the masterplan. 

Later this year, we’ll submit an Environmental Impact Statement for the redevelopment to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI), as a State Significant Development Application (SSDA). 

The proposal will be placed on public exhibition next year and the community will be invited to make submissions at this time. 

The DPHI will review the SSDA and are expected to determine it in late 2025.

We’re continuing to support all current Conrad Beard Village and Bushell and Johnson Village residents in different ways, because their individual situations are different. 

Uniting will abide by the requirements of the Retirement Villages Act (RVA) and Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), as applicable to each resident’s contract. All aspects of the legislation that relate to residents’ rights will be honoured. 

Ongoing discussion occurs with the Conrad Beard Village and Bushell and Johnson residents. Each resident has individual circumstances and preferences, and our conversations will continue.   

We’re committed to supporting the residents to find alternate accommodation. We’ll also endeavour to connect them with additional support as required.

The comfort and safety of our residents are our main priority, so every effort will be made to ensure the moves are as smooth as possible.

If approved, the project is estimated to create around 500 construction jobs, with 375 operational roles to be associated with the Uniting Waverley Estate.

You can share your feedback by emailing us at ask@uniting.org – our team will be happy to answer your questions or let you know the ways to get involved in the consultation.

You can also submit your feedback via our contact form.