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Chief Secretary’s Building Sydney, New South Wales

Chief Secretary’s Building Sydney, New South Wales

The Chief Secretary’s Building is a historic Sydney landmark. The building is made from yellow sandstone that many of the public buildings were made of in the early days of colonial New South Wales.

Originally named the Colonial Secretary's Building, this Heritage listed building was designed by Colonial Architect, James Barnet and built in two stages. The first stages being levels one to four completed between 1873 and 1881, with Walter Liberty Vernon completing the second stage between 1894 and 1896 when the mansard at level five and the copper dome were added.
Due to the importance the Chief Secretary’s role, this historic building was the seat of colonial administration, becoming one of the most signicant buildings in the country. The Chief Secretary’s Building has been used continuously by the Government of New South Wales and still today houses The Office of the Governor of New South Wales.
Westox was approached to write a specification and supervise the restoration of the lath and plaster ceilings. Due to the poor condition of the ceilings, it was determined that 72 ceilings would need to be repaired.

Working in conjunction with Architect Letizia Coppo Jones, plasterers, paint experts and other industry professionals, the ceiling reinstatement was carried out by Steve Edenden of Everdry Waterproofing. This extensive work was carried out over a period of 12 months.

Using the Westox Ceiling Reinstatement System, the lath and plaster reinstatement was done from below due to no access to the ceiling from behind. After the ceiling repairs had been completed, the floorboards were removed from a randomly chosen ceiling to expose the laths and ensure the treatment had been successful.

The efficacy was found to be 100% using the Westox Ceiling Reinstatement System.

Note: The Henry Parkes Room in the Chief Secretary's Building is where where the first draft for the Bill of the Constitution was written and signed by Sir Henry Parkes. It was also there that he proposed the name ‘Commonwealth’ for the unified colonies.