A popular Sydney wedding venue has been forced to ban dancing amid concerns the floor could collapse, with strict heritage rules preventing structural reinforcement.
Grana Privato, located in Circular Quay’s historic Hinchcliff House, is unable to permit “concentrated movement” on its upper-level floor due to fears the beams in the ceiling below could flex.
The 19th-century building is heritage-listed, meaning the venue cannot reinforce the floor to address the safety issue.
Grana Privato offers premium wedding packages for up to 200 guests at a time.
A Grana Privato spokesman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that dancing was not permitted due to safety concerns.
Libertarian state MP John Ruddick told The Daily Telegraph that small businesses were being suffocated by excessive regulation.
“If someone owns a property and it has genuine heritage value, then the owner of the property will know what measures to take to protect that value,” he said.
“We do not need remote bureaucrats making rules for property owners and being killjoys. We need to get heavy-handed government to get off the back of business and let them grow and prosper. Every industry seems to be bogged down in pointless red tape. This keeps the bureaucrats busy and well-paid, but it is at the cost of suppressing the real economy.”
A spokesman for the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said Heritage NSW and the Heritage Council of NSW did not set rules for the use of heritage-listed buildings.
“The management and use of heritage-listed buildings is largely a matter for the owner, including safeguarding any inadvertent damage by heavy use by patrons,” he said.
Hinchcliff House has been on the NSW State Heritage Register since 1999 and is one of only two buildings of its kind remaining in Sydney. Originally a woolstore, it was built when wool was Australia’s primary export and Circular Quay was a hub for international trade.
On its website, Grana Privato states: “Our focus is on how people feel in our venues” and “our ambition is to build unique concepts that create a sense of place and deliver a great experience.”
Online commenters expressed frustration that such restrictions were limiting local businesses.
“Put some structural steel beams into the place and craft and paint them to match,” one wrote.
“It won’t lose any ‘heritage charm’ at all. Ridiculous rules killing small business owners for no good reason.”
Another added, “Typical Sydney full of greens, woke Teals and do-gooders.”
Bride-to-be Tegan Andrews said finding a suitable wedding venue in Sydney had proven difficult.
“With Sydney venues you have the issue of kind of getting kicked out at 11pm, which can kind of factor into decision-making,” she said.
“The way we see our wedding day is just being fun, surrounded by people that we love, like family and friends, and being able to let loose a little bit.”
Images: Shutterstock
