negotiations with the owners which included reducing the heritage impacts of the proposal. However development did not commence due to the Financial crisis of 2007–2010. In July 2009, the Halim group proposed a new $260 million refurbishment project which would add 152 rooms to the hotel. This would involve demolition of the hotel's 1960s-era north wing, and replacing it with a contemporary building with facilities expected by guests staying in a five star hotel. A thin curtain wall tower designed by Denton Corker Marshall was proposed be built replacing the 1880s rear wing, on Windsor Place. The architects proposed that the fritted wavy glass of the facade was a solution to minimise the visual impact of the tower. The application submitted to Heritage Victoria included restoration of the 1880s facade facing Spring and Little Collins Streets. The National Trust of Australia (Victoria), opposed to the development, concerned that the proposed tower would dominate the front heritage wing of the hotel, and would breach established height controls for the Bourke Hill precinct initially put in place to protect vistas towards Parliament House and low-rise nature of the area. In late February 2010, a news leak occurred which erupted in a government scandal surrounding the redevelopment of the Windsor Hotel. A document prepared by a senior media advisor to Planning Minister Justin Madden was sent by email to the ABC Newsdesk. It detailed plans by the Victorian Government to run a sham community consultation process in a bid to reject the plans. On 18 March 2010, the hotel refurbishment and redevelopment plans including the tower were approved by then Planning Minister, Justin Madden. A permit from the State Government body Heritage Victoria who had listed the hotel was also issued. The National Trust appealed the planning permit to VCAT, which determined that they had no jurisdiction over a place on the Victorian Heritage Register, a decision which the Trust took to the Supreme Court of Victoria, but lost in September 2010. In response to the concerns, the Victorian Ombudsman was asked to examine the decision making process, and the report handed down in February 2011 found a number of flaws, but could only recommend better processes in the future. An Age newspaper investigation summarised what had happened. In May 2010, the Senate of Australia officially recognised the national significance of the Windsor Hotel. Further permits from the State Government body Heritage Victoria