The Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane has lodged the second stage of the Arbory, its plan to wrap St Patricks Church in Fortitude Valley with new offices, gardens and public space. Arbory South is an eight storey, 18,832 square metre office building by Blight Rayner on the south-western side of the heritage-listed church at 58 Morgan Street, with a café, a new parish office and a public arcade through the church grounds from Morgan Street to Berwick Street.
The application was received by Brisbane City Council on 24 September 2026 and is being made by developer Quintessential on behalf of the Archdiocese.
It follows Arbory North, the first stage, which Brisbane Development first reported in April 2021 when the Archdiocese proposed an eight storey A-grade office tower on the northern side of the church.
That building was approved in October 2021 and refined through a minor change in 2024, and in 2022 Council approved the subdivision of the church land into two lots: one for Arbory North on Connor Street, and one holding the church and the Arbory South site on Berwick Street. Together the two buildings frame St Patricks from either side across a combined 10,690 square metre precinct.
St Patricks, a Gothic-influenced stone church on the Queensland Heritage Register, stays at the centre of the plan, along with its significant fabric and the mature fig trees that ring its grounds. A heritage exemption certificate issued in August allows the later Centacare offices, the former presbytery and a group of sheds and outbuildings to be demolished to make room. Urbis, which prepared the planning report and heritage assessment, describes the aim as a building that supports the church rather than competes with it.
The architectural and landscape response has also been designed to reinforce the church as the site’s defining heritage element, ensuring the new building remains a complementary backdrop rather than a competing landmark.
Urbis, Town Planning Report
Blight Rayner has handled the church side of the building with a garden colonnade of brick piers, recessed glazing, deep overhangs and planting, so that the lower levels step back and the landscape runs underneath the building edge. Above, seven floors of office space of up to 2,613 square metres each sit behind eaves, projecting floor edges and vertical sun shading, with planters on every level from 1 to 7 and a band of vertical greenery across the facade facing the church.
The colonnade elements are scaled to provide an appropriate height transition between St Patricks Church, the Church Green, Garden Courts and the larger tower form. The outcome is a softer and more permeable interface, rather than a hard commercial edge adjoining the church grounds.
Urbis, Town Planning Report
The biggest change for the public is at ground level. A new arcade connects Morgan Street to Berwick Street through the church grounds, delivering the arcade and urban common identified in the Fortitude Valley neighbourhood plan, and it opens onto an urban common of more than 600 square metres around the church: an Arrival Plaza on Morgan Street that keeps the church’s historic teardrop-shaped driveway island and its statue, a Church Green, garden courts, the Garden Colonnade and a café terrace. The office lobby, the café and the new parish office all open onto the arcade.
Vee Design’s landscape plan provides 2,384 square metres of planting for Arbory South, 2,141 square metres at ground level and 243 square metres in planters up the building, with retained fig trees, new canopy trees, lawn, garden beds and a planted rock-lined swale. Across the whole precinct 1,353 square metres, or 12.6 per cent of the land, is deep planting and turf.
Cars stay out of sight. A single basement level off the existing Morgan Street arrival holds 72 car spaces, including two accessible and two van bays, while loading and servicing come in separately from Berwick Street. There are 136 bicycle spaces with end-of-trip facilities for tenants and visitors, and the site is within about 400 metres of James Street, Brunswick Street Mall, Chinatown and the Ann Street and Wickham Street corridors. It adds to a busy stretch of the Valley that also includes TRK’s Koichi Takada tower at 57 Berwick Street.
Project Rundown
| Development Parameter | Proposed Development |
|---|---|
| Address | 58 Morgan Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 |
| Application Number | A007120568 |
| Development Type | Material change of use for centre activities (office, food and drink outlet, shop, place of worship and community use), building work on a local heritage place, and heritage overlay operational work |
| Site Area | 7,312 m² (Arbory South lot, including St Patricks Church); 10,690 m² across the whole Arbory precinct |
| Zone | Mixed use (Inner city); Fortitude Valley neighbourhood plan, James Street precinct |
| Heritage | St Patricks Church, Queensland Heritage Register and local heritage place; church, significant fabric and fig trees retained |
| Height | 8 storeys; roof deck RL 40.05 m, top of plant RL 46.05 m |
| Gross Floor Area | 18,832 m²: ground floor 803 m² (lobby, café, parish office, end-of-trip), Level 1 2,351 m², Levels 2 to 7 2,613 m² each |
| Site Cover | 51% above ground (1,474 m² footprint) |
| Ground Floor | Lobby, café, parish office, end-of-trip facilities and a public arcade linking Morgan Street and Berwick Street |
| Public Open Space | An urban common of more than 600 m² around the church: Arrival Plaza, Church Green, Garden Courts, Garden Colonnade and Café Terrace |
| Landscape | 2,384 m² for Arbory South; 1,353 m² deep planting and turf site-wide (12.6%) |
| Sustainability | Envelope: Eaves, projecting floor edges, recessed glazing and vertical sun shading reduce solar exposure across the glazed elevations; a recessed, shaded ground plane and colonnade respond to the subtropical climate. Living Greenery: 2,384 m² of landscaping for Arbory South (2,141 m² at ground and 243 m² of planters across Levels 1 to 7), 1,353 m² of deep planting and turf across the precinct (12.6%), retained mature fig trees, new canopy planting and a planted rock-lined swale. Water: Not specified or detailed within the documents reviewed. Movement: 136 bicycle spaces (96 tenant, 40 visitor) with end-of-trip facilities, and new public links to Morgan, James, Robertson and Berwick Streets. Solar PV: Not specified or detailed within the documents reviewed. |
| Car Parking | 72 spaces in one basement level, including 2 accessible and 2 van spaces |
| Bicycle Parking | 136 spaces (96 tenant, 40 visitor) |
| Vehicle Access | Basement from the Morgan Street arrival; loading and servicing (one MRV and two SRV bays) from Berwick Street |
| Stage 1 | Arbory North, an approved 8 storey office tower at 54 Morgan Street (A005698653, amended A006417732) |
| Status | Lodged with Brisbane City Council, received 24 September 2026 |
| Assessment Level | Code assessable |
| Developer / Applicant | Quintessential, on behalf of the Corporation of the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane |
| Architect | Blight Rayner |
| Town Planner and Heritage | Urbis |
| Landscape Architect | Vee Design |
| Traffic and Waste | Colliers International Engineering and Design |
| Civil, Stormwater and Flood | ACOR Consultants |
| Construction Management Plan | Buildcorp |
| Date Submitted | 24 September 2026 |
Quintessential is a Brisbane developer that has worked on commercial and residential projects across the city, and is lodging the Arbory on behalf of the landowner, the Corporation of the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.
Across its two stages the Arbory plans two new office buildings, a new parish office and public gardens around St Patricks, while keeping the church as the heart of the precinct. Buildcorp prepared the construction management plan for Arbory South.
Plans
arbory-south-58-morgan-street-fortitude-valley-plansRenders and drawings by Blight Rayner and landscape plans by Vee Design, lodged with development application A007120568; renders are indicative and subject to change. Figures are drawn from the Urbis town planning report and the Blight Rayner, Vee Design and Colliers reports lodged with the application.
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