The Mint, Sydney

The site comprises one wing of the former Rum Hospital, the former coining factory of the Royal Mint, and award-winning contemporary additions designed by fjcstudio.

Sydney Living Museums, now Museums of History NSW (MHNSW), commissioned GML to develop a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) to address current and future needs in their ongoing use, care and management of The Mint. Namely, MHNSW intended to retain The Mint as its head office and as an important research facility, whilst generating income for the place’s ongoing care through its use as one of Sydney’s premier conference venues.

The Mint CMP is a practical, user-friendly document that addresses both the site’s historically significant heritage buildings and its award-winning twenty-first century elements. Site specific conservation polices were developed to ensure that sustainability is appropriately addressed in all future works to the place.

Innovatively, the CMP also included a disaster risk management plan as a key policy in recognition of the importance of protecting heritage places from natural and human hazards. The inclusion of this key policy marks an important precedent in Australian heritage practice.

The Mint CMP forms a tool for the everyday management and maintenance of the site, and provides guidance on future use, planning and interpretation. It will help maintain the continuation of conservation best practice at The Mint and engage the public with the site’s richly layered history.