Standing in disrepair, with a crumbling facade and graffiti lining its walls is one of Brisbane's oldest heritage-listed hotels.
The 132-year-old Broadway Hotel in Woolloongabba was in limbo, as the dilapidated pub on Logan Road sat abandoned for years.
It weathered fires in 2010 and 2018 — the first caused it to become vacant and the second gutted the three-storey 1880s-era hotel.
Plans to develop the site were scrapped in early 2018, before the fire, after community objections.
After the blaze the late-Victorian style hotel was facing an uncertain future after it was the subject of numerous orders from the state government and Brisbane City Council to prevent its demolition.
But long term the flames have given the hotel new life and caused it to become a catalyst for the Queensland government to review 30-year-old heritage protection laws.
'A turning point'
The Heritage Protection Act was introduced in Queensland in 1992 and came after a period of historic buildings being lost during the era of premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
It was the demolition of iconic places like the Cloudland ballroom in Bowen Hills, which was razed overnight in 1982, that sparked outrage and made clear to premier-of-the-day Wayne Goss that there was strong public opinion for the government to do more.
Communities and Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch said the laws had since saved hundreds of historic properties from being lost.
"This really was a turning point for Queensland in terms of modernising its approach," she said.
"With regards to understanding the importance of the environment in the way that we balance our economic opportunities along with our responsibilities to environmental impacts."
The laws also saw the creation of the Queensland Heritage Register (QHR), which lists 1,790 places and is the primary reference point for recognising and legally protecting important heritage properties and spaces.
It was large community campaigns and high-level of media interest over three properties — the Broadway Hotel, the neglect of Lamb House at Kangaroo Point and the demolition of Linden Lea house in Toowong — that triggered an overdue review of the laws.
Queensland Heritage Council chair Leslie Shirreffs said the examples highlighted inadequacies and limitations with the current laws, especially around the state's powers to order owners to maintain neglected properties.
"We risk losing heritage places from disrepair and there aren't sufficient powers in the act to require people to take action to repair places," she said.
"The review looked at how can we better support property owners to manage their properties, how can we provide information, resources and perhaps grants.
"But then if we can't, what powers do we need to have to make sure that people don't lose a property from disrepair?"
The review was conducted by the Queensland Heritage Advisory Panel in 2021 and recently Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon released a strategy plan to implement all 22 recommendations over the next two years.
It will include looking at ways to give the state government greater powers to order owners to undertake essential repair and maintenance work. Currently the state can only issue a notice to carry out minor work.
The state will also look at reintroducing interim protection orders after the measure was removed in 2014.
The review highlighted that Queensland is the only jurisdiction in Australia not to have interim protection orders for places under assessment for heritage listing.
The order would mean the approval of a development application would be paused until the heritage application has been determined and in some states a development that has already been approved must be reassessed if a place is heritage listed.
The report found Queensland's lack of interim protection for heritage places at state and local levels put it well behind other Australian jurisdictions.
New life for neglected icons
Both the Broadway Hotel and Lamb House are being restored under new owners so they can live on and be enjoyed by the public.
Jane and Steve Wilson purchased the historic mansion on the Kangaroo Point cliffs for $12.75 million in 2021 and plan to spend three years undertaking $15 million worth of renovations.
The couple plan to make the property their family home and occasionally open it to the public.
The Broadway Hotel was purchased by Broadway Projects Pty Ltd from Malcolm Nyst in 2021.
Developers have been engaged to undertake restoration work with partial demolition of the site underway after being approved by Brisbane City Council in 2020.
A rear pavilion and former air raid shelter built during World War II will be removed as part of plans to refurbish and reopen the old pub as a local watering hole.
Broadway Projects has requested a two-year extension to the current council development approvals to properly revitalise and carry out extensive restoration work at the site.
