Developer Hanave is going ahead with plans to build a $42-million boutique hotel at the Henderson Hat factory site in Surry Hills, Sydney.
Situated on 7-15 Randle Street in a prominent corner location, the former factory – a heritage site – was acquired by Hanave to be redeveloped into a hotel, with planning proposals approved in 2018 indicating the developer’s intent to retain and conserve the historic building and its interiors. The proposed development also received a deferred commencement approval in 2020.
However, a massive fire in May 2023 destroyed a major part of the heritage building, which had to be completely demolished.
Retaining the original design, the developer has now filed an amended development application to build a new 9-storey, 123-room hotel, with the revised plans aiming to rebuild the original brick facade of the Henderson hat factory, complete with timber windows, concrete floors and columns. Various materials salvaged from the burnt out site including bricks, brick piers and timber posts will be reused in the new building.
Architecture practice Tonkin Zulaikha Greer (TZG), which had won a design excellence competition for the project, and had been working on the design and documentation for the Randle Street hotel for six years prior to the blaze, said they were weeks away from appointing the builder when the fire burnt down the building.
The hotel would “transform the handsome Henderson Hat manufacturing warehouse building into a vibrant hotel that acts as a catalyst for connecting and reactivating the surrounding public domain,” TZG had stated when presenting the design in 2018.
Image: TZG
