Barangaroo South

The brief for Barangaroo South was to transform a once fenced-off container terminal into a world-class waterfront district open to the public, with unprecedented amenity and access; reconnecting Barangaroo’s 2.2-kilometre Waterfront Promenade and complete the 14-kilometre public Sydney Harbour foreshore walks. ASPECT|OCULUS, Rogers Stirk Harbour and Lendlease created a master plan recognising and prioritising the public realm. The precinct consists of a series of overlapping activities, interlinked spaces and building uses that promote diversity in daily work and life in one dynamic vibrant quarter that is a natural extension and development of the surrounding city.

Barangaroo South is a connected, sustainable and innovative vision of Sydney brought to reality. Amid the density, more than 50% of its 7.7-hectare site is dedicated to public space, demonstrating how density can also deliver amenity. Aspirations for Barangaroo South were collaboratively set through a process of workshops with Lendlease, Government, urban design and architecture leads. They addressed feedback from Barangaroo Delivery Authority’s community consultation process. Over the 10-year development period, design decisions were continually benchmarked against these principles and guidelines, ensuring the outcomes would reflect the commercial, cultural and community imperatives for an open, sustainable and activated public waterfront.

Barangaroo South returns the harbour foreshore, inaccessible for 100 years, back to public use, completing the 14-kilometer foreshore walk. Extending the city’s cultural ribbon, an intimate network of streets and laneways prioritises pedestrians and each offers a distinctive urban environment. The public domain reflects the site’s heritage supporting Australia’s largest public arts program, bringing stories of Barangaroo’s Indigenous and industrial history into the urban fabric and culture of the precinct. Supporting carbon neutrality, Barangaroo South is capable of ‘zero waste to landfill’ and being water positive, one of 19 projects world-wide participating in the C40 Cities Climate Positive Development Program.

• Community involvement is promoted throughout the high-quality public and private spaces and new retail, leisure and cultural amenity is delivered right to the doorstep of neighbouring communities. A diversity of spaces caters to local activities, from ‘farmers’ markets to festivals. The Barangaroo South Community Partnership brings together organisations in the precinct with a shared vision for a sustainable and inclusive community. • Local culture and history are echoed in the public domain, through re-used materials and a curated program of artworks and installations, interpreting stories of heritage, environment and Indigenous culture. For millennia the original custodians, the Gadigal People, used this foreshore as a place of congregation, and that spirit of congregation and community underpins every element of the public domain design. • Intrinsically, Barangaroo South expresses a present-day vernacular that promotes Sydney’s diversity, climate, culture and lifestyle. High quality public and semi-public spaces – unique in their objectives and structure, yet working holistically in response to the natural and built topography, creating a distinct identity. The materiality of Barangaroo South abstracts a language from surrounding districts and the site’s industrial heritage into a contemporary reading of the city.