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The state government will begin a global search for architects to design Sydney’s newest inner-city suburb in the Bays West precinct, kicking off the next major urban transformation of the harbour foreshore.
NSW government architect Abbie Galvin and the newly formed Bays West Delivery Authority will lead the international design competition, launched on Thursday, to invite teams from around the world to shape the land around White Bay Power Station and the reinvention of the Glebe Island working port near Rozelle.
“We’ve been talking about developing the Bays for such a long time, and now it’s here,” Galvin said.
“This is such a terrific opportunity to show what a different kind of urban neighbourhood could be and not treat it as business as usual … Let’s make the most of it.”
The Minns government wants to build up to 8500 homes around the future Bays West metro station, under plans to combine the working waterfront west of Sydney’s CBD with apartments, public space and cultural venues.
Bulk port operations will be shifted from the Glebe Island industrial site by 2030, and the metro station is due to open in 2032.
Sydneysiders will help rename the suburb. A minimum of just 10 per cent of homes in the 77-hectare area, stretching from Rozelle Bay to White Bay, will be affordable or essential worker housing.
Galvin will chair the design advisory panel, which features Bays West Delivery Authority chief executive Anita Mitchell and celebrated US landscape architect Walter Hood, who is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
It includes Adam Haddow, who is former national president of the Australian Institute of Architects; National Aboriginal Design Agency (NADA) founder Alison Page; Placemaking NSW and Sydney Olympic Park Authority advisory board chair Ken Kanofski, who is ex-chief executive of NSW Roads and Maritime Services; and Inner West Council city architect Rory Toomey.
The design competition will comprise two stages: the first stage will cast the net for expressions of interest from small and large Australian and international teams of design industry professionals, including architects, urbanists, landscape architects, planners, sustainability specialists and ecologists.
The panel will shortlist four to six teams who will then be invited to prepare an urban framework that responds to a detailed brief from the government. Panel members will assess the submissions and provide recommendations across both stages of the competition before a final decision is made by the state government.
Galvin said the framework would identify the street structure, location and types of open spaces, and location and height of buildings. The chosen team would play an ongoing role in the development of the area.
“It’s about making sure public space is absolutely driving the outcome and is No.1, and the built form is secondary because the public space is the most important component of our neighbourhoods,” Galvin said.
Galvin noted the site’s attributes included the future metro station, its proximity to the city, the winding waterfront with views towards Sydney landmarks, and the historic White Bay Power Station cultural venue.
But there would also be challenges in delivering good living environments, active transport, social infrastructure and public spaces in a dense residential suburb between the water’s edge and the busy Anzac Bridge, she said.
“There are a lot of fantastic elements to it, but also quite a few constraints.”
Galvin said there had been “lessons learnt” from the contentious state government-led redevelopment of the nearby Barangaroo foreshore, which was also subject to a design competition before the winning vision was dumped and the scheme revised.
She said the government had prepared a detailed brief and a reference scheme that would guide Bays West.
“Another difference is Barangaroo is dominated more so by the commercial workplace, whereas [the new suburb] will be a neighbourhood dominated by residential, public and cultural facilities. This is a very different place.”
Galvin pointed to similar overseas urban renewal projects that had transformed industrial waterfronts into buzzing residential and cultural precincts, such as Nordhavn in Copenhagen and HafenCity in Hamburg.
“There are a lot of great projects around the world where we can find interesting elements, and you would hope [the proposals] then consider the place and specifics and diversity of Sydney, learn from existing [sites] and find some great, fresh ideas as well.”
Galvin emphasised the government was seeking entries from a diverse range of design professionals, from “starchitects” and “big, experienced players” to small practices.
“We definitely want people who are terrifically experienced, but we also want to see people who’ve got a few wild and interesting ideas and who’ve never had the opportunity to contribute on such a big scale.”
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