After a year and a half of being unused, the old McLeans Brown and Jolly building in Lismore’s CBD on Woodlark Street has been sold to Lismore’s Living School founder, John Stewart.

With innovative plans to utilise the whole building as an extension to the independent school’s current location on Conway Street, John said the new space will repurpose and honour the building’s historical roots, as well as bring creativity and life into the heart of Lismore.

The large two storey building was the former home of Betta Electrical and Spotlight. John said any future development on the site will involve engaging the local community and will be a boost to local businesses.

“We have lots of ideas and it will take years to develop it,” John said. “We have been through initial talks with council, but we will need lots of support – it’s a slow methodical process. We hope to see the regeneration of under-utilised spaces, to reactivate and attract people and children to town.”

Read about the school's beginning: School gets green light to open in Lismore CBD

Expansion

The Living School first opened its doors in early 2020 and John said expanding the school gave them an opportunity to utilise an unused building and potentially expand the numbers of students at the independent school.

John said the new school space would be for the older children, from Year Five onwards.

“We want to make sure we focus on learning and allow a different approach to learning,” he said.

“We always wanted to do something different, crazy and engaging top make Lismore a place where creatives in the area are allowed to be part of the school.

The 'train of thought' carriage being lowered into the school's site on Conway Street. Read about it: Train of Thought' arrives at Lismore's Living School

The plans – soccer, cricket and a boat

As well as learning spaces and classrooms, initial plans for the building include creating an art gallery, drama and music space – and having an indoor soccer and cricket net on the lower floor.

There’s also plans for a boat – which John said fits in nicely with Lismore’s heritage as a river town.

“We already have a train carriage on the current site, so now we need a boat,” John said. “The plan would be to cut through the floor so the boat is on both floors.

“We can open up the space so the light gets in and could replace windows and make the building the centrepiece in the heart of Lismore.

“That’s our craziness – taking things to the next level of creativity. It should be exciting and fun.”

John’s plans to change and utilise the building revolve around the concept of honouring its historical integrity - much as the development of the current school site (his family’s former home) honoured the building’s original format.

Honouring history

The Brown and Jolly building was built in 1900 and used to be a showroom for furniture.

“It’s an amazing building,” John said. “It was about showcasing that this area could build good quality furniture, that could be sourced locally, instead of being made elsewhere and shipped here.

“It would be great to the original ceiling again, by taking off the current coverings to show the beams.

“We have dreams to see if we can also make it a micro solar farm and others in the community can benefit from the energy we make from the roof – and to offer the front section back to the street.

“The architect from the Woodford Festival came here to talk about it and about engaging the community to unify and bring people together through the development.

“For me, it’s about making sure our visions are driven by what we believe in for the future and make sure it’s in harmony with what’s here.”

Read more about the school: Living School balances screen time with life

Life back in the CBD

With the school being located right in the CBD of Lismore and no plans to have a canteen inside the school, John said one of the boosts to local businesses would be through students buying food at local cafes and food outlets.

“The school already pulls people in from Byron, Ballina and Lennox Head,” John said. “People are already moving here to be part of the school and we can bring life back to the city.

“We are an independent, inclusive school – it’s not an elitist school and we want people to see that it is an integral part of the community.”

Traffic and laneways

When asked about the school’s potential impact on traffic, John said the busy street already was designated as a 40 km/hour zone and wouldn’t need any special traffic lights installed.

“We won’t be having drop-offs on the doorstep by parents in cars to the site,” he said. “We have a lot of creative ideas about managing traffic flow – and the beauty of the site is it’s CBD location.

“There’s car parks nearby and the Transit Centre and we intend to have kids walk from the Conway Street school grounds.

“We are also looking to the development of the Lismore Laneways project which will create walking streets linking up the CBD block.

“We are also developing the warehouse out the back of the property – it will be really cool and will honour that building too.”