Maitland Riverlink is a public project that is crystallising new value for the regional centre of Maitland by creating a contemporary landmark that improves the appeal and function of the historic town centre. The project is supporting a revitalisation of the central business precinct by connecting the main street to the river, providing an improved visitor experience. 

For many years the rural town of Maitland turned its back on the river, disconnecting it from its main commercial and community activities. A series of devastating floods in the 1950s meant locals no longer saw the river as an asset, but rather saw it as a threat to the community.  

CHROFI, working with McGregor Coxall, identified an opportunity to help reframe that dynamic, then worked closely with Maitland City Council to find buildings which could be purchased and redeveloped to physically reconnect the city to the river.

The new building unites Maitland's two key assets - its architecturally rich High Street and the scenic parkland of the Hunter River corridor - providing a richer visitor experience for tourists and locals. The building is expressed as a sculptural gateway that frames views to and from the Hunter River and attracts people to pass through the space. The timber and brick arch provides a gateway to a covered space for the community to use, reactivating an underused part of town. The building also houses a cafe and restaurant as well as public amenities. The central space acts as a kind of public living room for the community, reactivating an unused part of town while drawing locals, new tourists and visitors back to the river, a tribute toMaitland’s heritage.

The architecture has a strong civic presence in a street full of historic buildings and is a landmark when viewed from the river. The precise angles of the walls, ceiling and ground plane frame a public living room that offers a comfortable place to sit, room for a mobile library, high quality public amenities and a cafe/restaurant all of which can be transformed into an outdoor cinema or theatre for special events. Handmade brick was chosen as the primary building finish to compliment the heritage brick and sandstone textures of the historic streetscape. The clay brick works at the urban scale with unique corners that help the monolithic brick walls bend at unlikely angles to give the material a razor-sharp, abstract quality. Then at close range, the human scale, warmth, texture and rounded corners of the brickwork, gives the building a softness and enduring tactility.

Maitland Mayor, Cr Loretta Baker, said“The Riverlink Building is a wonderful addition to The Levee and it will really strengthen the city's historic relationship with the Hunter River, whilst adding to The Levees development as Maitland's premier lifestyle precinct. It’s a beautiful building that we are very proud of and that our community will use for generations to come.”