Cockatoo Island is listed on the National and Commonwealth Heritage Lists and is being submitted to UNESCO for inclusion in the World Heritage List. Operated as a convict gaol in the mid-nineteenth century, the island gradually developed into an important dock and shipbuilding yard. The Mould Loft (Building 6) is a significant early twentieth century building from the shipbuilding phase.

In 2006, the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust began working with Allen Jack+Cottier to plan the adaptive re-use of the loft for flexible, low intensity uses. Internal circulation was addressed, electrical and hydraulic services renewed, ventilation and cooling augmented, and accessibility and fire safety issues resolved.

New interventions have been made in an unashamedly contemporary manner whilst detailing respects the original building’s pragmatic design and industrial character. Visible scars on the building’s fabric were preserved rather than effaced by shiny new materials. The significant loft floor, with its intricate pattern of painted markings describing full size patterns of ships, was protected and interpreted as it provides a physical record of many of the ships built on the island.