Plans for a $2.5 billion scheme for Central Barangaroo on Sydney Harbour have been released under a project development agreement between the New South Wales Government and developer Aqualand.
Central Barangaroo will be the final chapter of the the 22-hectare foreshore development. London-based David Chipperfield Architects alongside Australian firms Durbach Block Jaggers, Smart Design Studio and John Wardle Architects were commissioned in August 2021 to design the buildings and surrounding spaces.
Central Barangaroo will provide a “bridge” between Barangaroo Reserve and the commercial district of Barangaroo South.
Image: Aqualand
Plans for the precinct reveal a mid-rise development, with provisions for a tower around 20 storeys above the train station. It includes “campus-style offices” that open onto a waterfront park, as well as a limited number of residential apartments at the northern end of the precinct with views over the harbour.
According to Aqualand project director Rod McCoy, Central Barangaroo will link the Barangaroo Reserve with the commercial district of Barangaroo South.
Accessibility is one of the key tenets informing the Central Barangaroo development, McCoy said, with Central Barangaroo providing a new major stepping-off point for the developed Sydney Metro Station.
The precinct will include campus-style offices and a new cultural venue.
Image: Aqualand
“The delivery of the new metro station, the new ferry wharves on the Barangaroo foreshore, new pedestrian links to Millers Point, Walsh Bay and the Rocks, and the connections back into the city through Wynyard Walk and Gas Lane, will make this precinct one of the most accessible and connected places for workers, residents, and visitors in Australia,” he said.
The development has been a source of friction between the state government, local residents and the City of Sydney council, for the scale of the development and its “privatization” of the public foreshore. The latest plans from Aqualand include improved public amenity.
“Central Barangaroo will feature a new two-hectare waterfront park for visitors and locals to enjoy and delivers on the long-held promise that more than half of the Barangaroo precinct is accessible public open space,” said McCoy. The remaining half will comprise workplaces, apartments, commercial spaces, cultural venues and a metro station.
Plans also include a new lifestyle and cultural precinct at Nawi Cove, which McCoy said will “serve as a lifestyle and cultural gateway that celebrates arrival into the city and into Sydney’s western harbour foreshore”.
McCoy added, “Our goal is to create a truly exceptional precinct that is beautiful, welcoming to all, with a variety of well designed indoor and outdoor public spaces that can be enjoyed at all times of the year.”
Central Barangaroo is being delivered under the massive Barangaroo foreshore redevelopment. Previously a disused shipping container terminal, the development seeks to radically transform the foreshore into a cultural, residential, business and civic hub.
According to Aqualand, the planning application for Central Barangaroo is expected to be placed on public exhibition by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment shortly.
Central Barangaroo developments are due to be completed after the opening of the Barangaroo Sydney Metro station, scheduled to open in 2024.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
