The work starting on the long vacant 22 Manning Street site, between Westpac and the old Independent building, is the beginning of a long held dream of Glenn Jones to reinvigorate the area.

The local builder owns this site, as well as the old Marriott building across the road and the buildings on the other side of Westpac that house Zias, Parfait Patisserie and Fillmores.

Together with his sons, he will be constructing the four three bedroom units and shop complex over the next year.

“I love the old buildings here, and want what we are doing to show them respect,” he says.

With that in mind, he says the design for this first site is set back three metres from the boundary on both sides (adding to the distance already created by an access road and driveway) and two metres from the front.

“We saw it as an opportunity to space out the buildings to create usable areas in between, rather than crowding as much as we could onto the site,” says Glenn.

The top floor is set back so it looks like two storeys from the street, and has a hip roof as a nod to the neighbouring heritage buildings.

The design for 22 Manning St

It was the hip roof on the top floor of his plans for the Marriott building that was one of the reasons for Council’s recent refusal of his DA for that site, as it and other parts of the proposed building exceeding the 11 metre limit.

“I am moving the hip roof further back, and will be lodging it under review shortly,” he says.

“It has resulted in a better design for the front unit, which will now have a 4 metre by 14 metre balcony.”

Amongst other things, the refusal also criticised the bulk and scale of the development and its heritage impact, and that the reduction in commercial area due to vehicles entering from Manning Street meant it didn’t qualify as a shop top housing development.

Glenn disagrees with that assessment, pointing out the space that has been left between the development and the adjoining heritage building, and that there is no vehicular access from the back lane as it is on a 99 year lease to Council from State Rail.

Longer term, he has dreams of turning his largest site on the other side of Westpac into something “really special”.

“It is a 1500sqm site, and I want to include 1000sqm of commercial space there to create a lively village atmosphere,” he says, despite knowing the return will be less from that mix of uses.

Again, Glenn is envisaging spacing the development out from the boundaries to create usable areas and connections.

“I am doing it because I love it here, and it is something that needs to be done to make the area more vibrant,” he says.

“Just imagine what this area could be like.”

The first development will take a year to complete

The heritage value of Manning Street was given extra protection in July when it was included in the new Kiama Town Centre Heritage Conservation Area. In addition, future development will be guided by the Kiama Town Centre DCP, which is expected to be put before Council for endorsement in September.