Plans to convert state library to hotel causes uproar

Plans to build a five star hotel in the former State Library has sent a heritage group into uproar.

The $625 million construction project are part of Treasury Casino plans to renovate Queensland's three major casinos. Heritage group, the National Trust of Queensland, promised widespread protests against any tower on the site of the building, which was constructed between 1876 and 1879.

"Every heritage person in Queensland would jump up and down about this. We challenged the proposals they had only a few months ago to build high-rise out into the river and we'd be doing the same here," NTQ president Stephen Sheaffe said "We'd have a real protest movement on this - we'd be up in arms, extraordinarily so. They'll have to choose another location if they want to build a hotel."

Sheaffe noted that the precinct was a "sacred, historical site" that would not have the capacity for a major development."The walls wouldn't contain a hotel that size - it's just too small," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "To suggest they can build a 400 room hotel without encroaching on Queens Wharf Road, which is the oldest road in Queensland, or Miller Park is absolutely nonsense.”

"That area has heritage galore and I, and the National Trust, would oppose that quite vociferously," he added.

A Treasury Casino spokeswoman said in a statement that there was no formal design plans yet and they would be working with architects to preserve the heritage values of the building."We don't know how many storeys it would be, because we're just not at that point [of design] yet," she said. "There would be some sort of tower, obviously."