Occupying a prominent corner on Bridge Street, the new building provides flexible, future-focused laboratory, fabrication, and teaching spaces. It completes a campus grouping that includes two of the region’s most significant heritage structures—Loxton House and Weidman Cottage—carefully integrating old and new in a manner that celebrates Muswellbrook’s unique cultural and architectural legacy.

As part of the broader works, Loxton House is being adaptively reused. Its upper level has been converted into an innovation hub, offering flexible workspaces for research, collaboration, and learning. A lightweight structural glass air-bridge physically links the new Donald Horne Building to Loxton House, enabling permeability and connection between programs, while maintaining the heritage integrity of both sites.

A defining element of the project is the creation of a new covered public space—a generous forecourt and portico that unifies the three buildings. This shared civic threshold provides a welcoming entry to the centre and forms part of a long-term vision to connect the wider Hunter Region Innovation Precinct through a network of revitalised public spaces and enhanced pedestrian linkages.

Heritage and planning approvals were secured in June 2020, with endorsement from the Heritage Council of NSW, recognising the project’s careful balance of preservation and contemporary intervention.

The Donald Horne Building was officially opened by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on 18 July 2023, marking a significant milestone in the delivery of regional educational infrastructure and a lasting tribute to one of Australia’s foremost public intellectuals.