Design for modernist Waitara Cathedral revealed

A new precinct would include a school and housing.

Author

Huw Bradshaw
April 22, 2026

A new Catholic precinct in Waitara would require the demolition of the existing Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Cathedral, the primary school that shares the same name, and the CatholicCare building.

Each would be reconstructed as part of a “cathedral precinct” designed by London-based firm Níall McLaughlin Architects and local designers Hayball.

New details in the Hornsby Cathedral Precinct Masterplan, in the works since 2022, show the cathedral would eschew the typical Neogothic design and instead be a modernist structure.

Illustrations of the proposed design.

The new precinct is also proposed to include housing.

No project costing has been published. 

The site sits within the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, which will need two planning approvals for a DA to proceed.

  • The cathedral and housing redevelopment will go through Hornsby Shire Council,  while the school will be submitted as a State Significant Development.

The diocese plans to submit a planning proposal to the council by mid-2026.