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Sydney’s Getting Its First New Cathedral in 100 Years
A landmark new Catholic cathedral is coming to Sydney's North Shore, and it's not your average house of worship.
Sydney’s North Shore is about to make architectural history. The new Broken Bay Cathedral Precinct will be Australia’s first Roman Catholic cathedral in over a century. And judging by the early renders, it’s going to be something pretty special.
The Diocese of Broken Bay has appointed London-based Níall McLaughlin Architects to design the new cathedral and surrounding campus at Waitara. The firm was chosen following an international search, and will work alongside local practice Hayball to deliver what’s shaping up to be one of the most significant builds in Sydney in decades.
The 7.7-hectare precinct will serve around 250,000 Catholics across the 26 parishes of the Diocese of Broken Bay, spanning the Central Coast, North Shore and Northern Beaches. But this is far more than a place of worship. The design brings together a parish hall, a pastoral centre, a dedicated base for CatholicCare to assist seniors and people with disabilities, clergy residences, diocesan offices, and the existing St Leo’s Catholic College. It’ll also house a café, bookshop and rooftop gardens to support biodiversity. So basically, there’s nothing it doesn’t really have.
Design-wise, it’s shaping up to be a stunner. Think twin sandstone spires rising above a sun-drenched forecourt, with timber framing inside that echoes the forest canopy of the surrounding bushland. It’ll be the kind of architecture that actually makes you want to stop and look up. The whole thing draws from the textures of the Hawkesbury River landscape, so there’s sandstone bluffs, cave-like recesses, and plenty of natural light doing the work that stained glass historically would. And while it’s absolutely a cathedral, the design leans hard into making the space feel open and alive .
The project is still working through formal approvals and is very much in the early stages, so it’ll be a few years before those spires break the Waitara skyline. But when they do, Sydney’s North Shore will have a civic landmark worth the century-long wait. Stay tuned!
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