Katoomba Falls Kiosk
Conservation Management Plan
Blue Mountains City Council
Dapto, NSW
On the edge of the Katoomba village, between the Three Sisters and Scenic World, stands a historic kiosk built amid the 1920s Blue Mountains tourism boom.
GML prepared a Conservation Management Plan to help outline opportunities for the building’s future.
The Katoomba Falls Kiosk was built in 1921, at a time when refreshment rooms were becoming increasingly popular as Sydneysiders holidayed further afield to experience ‘the cult of the sublime’ among the Blue Mountains’ natural landscapes.
Blue Mountains City Council commissioned GML to prepare a Conservation Management Plan and Schedule of Conservation Works for the building, after an earlier attempt to redevelop the kiosk into a restaurant was refused on heritage grounds.
GML developed a visually engaging and user-friendly CMP to assist Council with the future management of the kiosk. We outlined practical policies for the building’s conservation and identified areas where there may be opportunities to adaptively re-use the kiosk without impacting significant fabric.
In conjunction with the CMP, we also prepared a Schedule of Conservation Works, complete with accompanying drawings, to be implemented prior to any future development to assist in the conservation of the building. This was particularly focused on removing asbestos material, which had been used extensively to line the walls and ceilings, as the kiosk is located in a bushfire-prone area.
Later, GML also prepared an external colour scheme based on paint scrapes and historical research to revitalise the appearance of the kiosk.
