Sydney's Darling Harbour redevelopment plans unveiled

Alistair WalshMarch 26, 2013

Plans for the $2.5 billion redevelopment of Darling Harbour have been unveiled by the NSW state government.

Plans lodged reveal a vast network of public spaces including a convention centre, a grass-covered exhibition centre and a theatre. The project will also include new public gardens, 1,400 apartments, a 2,000-person ballroom and a new 680-metre tree-lined boulevard.

The Darling Harbour Sydney International Convention Exhibition and Entertainment precinct is now open for public exhibition by the NSW Planning and Infrastructure department’s major projects division.

Eventually the project, being built by Lend Lease, will include an 900-room international hotel but plans have yet to be lodged.

The 33-metre-high terraced convention centre (pictured below) will provide 40,000 square metres of exhibition space and a 5,000-square-metre outdoor deck.

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Lend Lease describes the project as a “distinctly Sydney experience”, with architect Ken Maher from Hassell enhancing Sydney’s public spaces through water engagement, green spaces, children’s playground and activities, pedestrian connections and cycle networks.

Chief Executive Officer of Darling Harbour Live, Malcolm Macintyre, says the project will reinvigorate the precinct, reconnecting the area north to south and east to west.

“Our design approach has been to ensure we don’t have an isolated precinct within the city but one that knits the city together through its activation, scale and density, and importantly provides more public space and parkland,” Macintyre says.

“It will add more public space, a new residential neighbourhood at the heart of the city, and new links to the surrounding neighbourhoods.”

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The convention centre is expected to be finished by 2016, with the current convention centre, built in the 1980s, staying open until 2015.

Deputy premier Andrew Stoner told News Ltd the development would deliver $5 billion to the economy, providing 3700 construction jobs and ongoing employment for 4000 people.

"It is just 450m away from Central and 700m from Town Hall stations, yet the precinct has always felt as though as it was disconnected from its Haymarket, Ultimo and Pyrmont neighbours," he told News Ltd.

"The masterplan creates strong pedestrian links with the north-south boulevard and five new east-west pedestrian connections through the precinct.

"It aligns the light rail stops with entrances to the new facilities to improve pedestrian flow."

The plans will extend Tumbalong Park by 3000 square metres to 11,000 square metres and will include an outdoor event space for 25,000 people.

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The 20-hectare site for the project is bounded by the light rail line to the west, Harbourside shopping centre and Cockle Bay to the north, Darling Quarter, the Chinese Garden and Harbour Street to the east, and Hay Street to the south.

Haymarket, the residential and commercial precinct to the South, includes building envelopes between six and 40 storeys across six plots.

The neighbourhood is due to be completed from 2016 through to 2023 by Lend Lease in a separate development, will include 1400 apartments, with accommodation for 1000 students, and possibly a library.

The plans are on exhibition at the Planning website until May 10.

 

Alistair Walsh

Deutsche Welle online reporter

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