The project, estimated to cost $8-9 million, includes three apartments, five townhouses and six other dwellings on the land at the rear of the La Trobe Art Institute.

Scott Jackman – the developer behind the complex at Mitchell and Mollison streets, among other CBD projects – submitted the plans this month.

Related: Last service at All Saints after 160 years

They include demolishing the cream-brick extensions on the circa-1870s hall, added in the 1930s, and constructing three apartments at the intersection of Mackenzie and Forest streets. They would be separated from the church hall.

The roof of the hall would also be restored to a similar state as the original, but would allow light to filter through. Original leadlights and interior wooden slats would be retained.

The dwellings within the hall would continue at its rear, including private gardens.

An underground car park with one entrance is proposed to be built beneath five townhouse-style dwellings on the site of an existing dirt car park.

They would all be three-bedroom and each structure with street frontages would have pitched roofs.

Mr Jackman said the design allowed the church to be restored to its best condition for 100 years and the development would respect the historic precinct, with contemporary design.

“More than any location, this is a church precinct,” he said.

“We shouldn’t interrupt that gratuitously with some monolithic structure. It’s got to be subservient.

“That’s what we often like to see in this town. We like to see new buildings be subservient to our old buildings, which is great, but I think you can be proud and subservient.

“I think there’s an opportunity to do something that is really striking and contemporary, without dominating.”

The Anglican Diocese of Bendigo sold the hall and adjoining land in 2015 for $1.6 million. If the land was vacant without the church hall, it was predicted it could have sold for up to $4 million.

The View Hill Fellowship held its last service in the hall in July, 2015. Squatters were later found residing in the structure, but a regulated arrangement to allow homeless people to access the site could not be achieved.

The space has since been donated to art groups.

Related: Function centre, tavern plans submitted for old All Saints school and masters' residence

The plans are likely to be advertised for public comment around the new year, and Mr Jackman predicts construction could start within 12 months of a planning permit being granted.

Fourteen dwellings were chosen for the site due to the amount of car parks that could be incorporated.

Despite being on a significant slope, the plan minimises the need for stairs and steps, and environmentally sustainable design elements would be incorporated.

The original south eastern wall was removed in the 1930s for the cream brick extension, but Mr Jackman said there were no plans to construct a replica once the extension was removed.

Instead, a vertical glass wall will be added and a gap would be left between the church and the apartments.

“The initial work we looked at was: let’s reinstate the stone, let’s restore what was there,” Mr Jackman said.

“But then we thought, hang on, it’s always going to look like a stone wall that was built in 2020, not in 1870.

“If we could find the stone to match it, we’ve then still got the ageing, it’s never going to look like an original wall.”

A price tag on the dwellings could not be provided, but houses in the area regularly surpass $1 million.

The plans were presented to the Bendigo branch of the National Trust this week, where it received general approval.

Branch president Peter Cox said the re-purposing of heritage buildings was something that Bendigo would need to get used to.

“The All Saints Church is going to be one of many churches that will come up for redevelopment in the immediate future – not in the next 50 years or so – but in the immediate future,” he said.

“It’s challenging. We’re not always going to agree.

“The idea that we’re going to save our heritage will require a real discussion between developer, the community, council, state government, Heritage Victoria, and the National Trust branch.”

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.