Sydney, Australia

Heritage Interpretation Strategy

New life for heritage icons.

Zig Zag Brewery is opening in a heritage-listed Boiler House near the Blue Mountains, bringing a historic industrial building back into active use. Meck Studio led the heritage interpretation for its adaptive reuse and in support of the Brewery’s development application (DA), ensuring the building’s layered history is embedded within its new role as a working brewery and distillery. The strategy reveals the Boiler House’s former role at the heart of cement production while guiding its transformation through a clear interpretation framework, toolbox and implementation plan.

Interpretation Framework Context

In New South Wales, heritage interpretation is guided by a layered framework that brings together research, statutory requirements, policy and best-practice guidance. It is not an add-on, but an integral part of how heritage places are understood, conserved and adapted. Interpretation is expected to be evidence-based, aligned with the Burra Charter and NSW Heritage guidelines, and embedded within design and planning processes.

Boiler House Significance & Condition Assessments

A significance and condition assessment was undertaken to identify the heritage value of the Boiler House and document its physical state, integrity and capacity for adaptation. Constructed in the early 20th century, the brick Boiler House was defined by its tapering chimney and its role in powering cement production, housing successive generations of boilers as technology evolved. The assessment recognised the building’s layered history of change, including later additions, a mezzanine level and alterations to original openings, as well as its physical connections to the Powerhouse and the Boiler Maker / Blacksmith Shop, and its relationship to the southern plaza. This provided the basis for determining what could be retained, revealed and sensitively adapted through interpretation and reuse.

Integrating Heritage into the Zig Zag Brewery Adaptive Re-Use

The opening of Zig Zag Brewery in the Boiler House was the catalyst for the Heritage Interpretation Strategy. Reusing the building as a place of production shaped the heritage interpretation approach, embedding history into how the brewery operates and is experienced.

This was delivered through architectural lighting of the Boiler House chimney, exposing internal roof structure and steelwork, references to the original boilers in furniture and murals, branding and surface graphics, signage embedded in floors and walls through timelines and plaques and the use of QR codes and digital content to reveal the building’s industrial story alongside its new brewing process.