Proposed Aged-care Project Will Retain Heritage Building
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday November 28, 1996
A hostel and self-care units for the aged are planned for the site of the former Woolwich Primary School, writes KEN MATHERS .
SUBJECT to council approval, the former Woolwich Primary School will be developed for aged-care accommodation under a joint venture.
Woolwich Aged Care Association (WACA), in partnership with the Illawarra Retirement Trust, propose to build a hostel and self-care units on the site.
Mr David Macdonald, WACA honorary chairman, said the heritage-listed school building would be retained and refurbished as a community centre for recreation, social gatherings, meetings and craft rooms for the complex.
He said the new buildings would be of a high standard, and would blend harmoniously with the 104-years-old school building, which was closed in 1988 and was now unoccupied.
Mr Macdonald said the Illawarra Retirement Trust had 25 years' experience in operating aged-care centres and currently managed about 40 such centres in the southern half of NSW.
He said the Woolwich project, on the corner of Woolwich Road and Gladstone Avenue, was a prime site with an absolute waterfrontage to the Lane Cove River, and almost every unit in the complex would have excellent water views.
The plans provided for 40 single units in the hostel and 10 self-care units, each with two bedrooms in another building.
Mr Macdonald said spacious accommodation would be provided for residents. Each unit in the hostel would measure about 45 square metres, and the self-care units would each be about 100 square metres.
The complex would accommodate between 50 and 70 people, and many were expected to be local residents.
Underground parking for 20 vehicles is planned for the site, with access from Gladstone Avenue.
Mr Macdonald said the hostel units would probably cost about $200,000 each, and the self-care units about $400,000.
The Federal Government had approved a grant of about $1.25 million for the complex, which was estimated to cost between $7 million and $8 million.
The State Government sold the land to the Woolwich Aged Care Association on a 99-year lease for $1.1 million.
Plans for the complex have been submitted to Hunters Hill Council for development approval.
"It is anticipated we will get council approval by February, and building will commence about June," Mr Macdonald said.
"Construction of the complex would take about another year."
© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald
