A London-based Irish architect whose body of work spans an Oxford chapel, a new library at Magdalene College, Cambridge and a museum at the site of Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan Valley has been appointed to design Australia’s first new Roman Catholic Cathedral in more than a century. That is according to the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, which confirmed Níall McLaughlin Architects — led by Níall McLaughlin, the 2026 recipient of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal and a professor at The Bartlett School of Architecture — will work alongside Hayball to deliver the landmark precinct at Waitara, in New South Wales.
Renders released alongside the announcement show twin slender sandstone spires rising above a generous public forecourt, with a timber-framed entrance portal centred on a cross at its apex. Inside, an exposed lattice of cross-braced timber members vaults the full length of the nave — a forest of framing that filters light across raw sandstone walls and geometric stained glass panels in deep reds, blues and golds.
Recognised for his focus on material, craft, light and form, and the relationship between buildings and their surroundings, McLaughlin’s scheme draws deep inspiration from the Hawkesbury River-Nepean River watershed and local sandstone bluffs, with the spirit of Laudato si’ — Pope Francis’s encyclical on care for the natural environment — embedded in the material palette. Sustainable timber and stone are prioritised throughout, whilst the existing Blue Gum High Forest on the Waitara site will be preserved as a public amenity, with new roof gardens planned to promote biodiversity.
Speaking at the Rothwell Public Lecture series at the University of Sydney on Monday, McLaughlin confirmed the firm’s commitment to the commission. “We are delighted to work on this significant project to help create an enduring spiritual, civic, and cultural precinct that places the faithful at its centre,” he said.
The Cathedral Precinct Project marks the 40th anniversary of Broken Bay’s proclamation as a Diocese in April 1986 under Pope John Paul II, and will serve 250,000 Catholics across 26 parishes covering 2,763 square kilometres from the upper Central Coast to the Northern Beaches. Archbishop Anthony Randazzo — recently appointed by Pope Leo XIV as Archbishop and Prefect for Legislative Texts and now serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese — described the precinct as “a visible and living heart for diocesan life, where worship, formation, pastoral care, outreach, and administration come together.”
NMLA’s scheme will co-locate a Pastoral Centre, Parish Hall, a new home for CatholicCare, and residences for the bishop, clergy and Diocesan administration, alongside a new Cathedral forecourt with café and bookshop designed to knit the precinct into the surrounding neighbourhood.“While my responsibilities have expanded to serve the universal Church in Rome, my commitment to this vision is unwavering,” Archbishop Randazzo said, as NMLA and Hayball advance design documentation across the 7.7-hectare Waitara site towards planning approval.
