Sydney Celebrates Completion of Ambitious Waterfront Regeneration Effort at Barangaroo South

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The view looking over Waterman’s Cove from the 712-foot-tall Tower 1. Photo © Brett Boardman Photography

A once-forsaken container port skirting Sydney’s Central Business District (CBD) has emerged fully realized in the new year as Barangaroo South. Anchored by a cluster of impressive skyscrapers and a generous swath of open green space spanning the city’s revitalized northwestern harborfront, the mixed-use neighborhood serves as the commercial heart of the larger 54-acre Barangaroo master plan. Led by RSHP in partnership with Australian real estate company Lendlease, Barangaroo South was completed late last fall—a full decade after the first phase of the development made its debut. Aiming to serve as a new waterfront destination with widespread appeal to both Sydney residents and tourists alike, Barangaroo reconnects a previously tricky-to-access area with the rest of the city through pedestrian links, including a waterfront promenade, and vital transit hubs such as Wynyard Main Rail Station and a new ferry terminal.

Fifteen years in the making and not without controversy, the Barangaroo South project long predates London-based RSHP’s renaming from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, which followed the retirement and subsequent death of founder Richard Rogers in December 2021. The redevelopment of the former East Darling Harbour itself dates back to 2005, with Lendlease entering the picture in the role of Barangaroo South developer in 2009.

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A Day in the Life of Barangaroo captures the architecture of and waterfront activation within the bustling new quarter in central Sydney. Video courtesy RSHP

Barangaroo, which became Australia’s first carbon-neutral precinct in 2019, comprises three distinct neighborhoods. With its commercial and residential high-rises, including the three so-called International Towers designed by RSHP, the newly wrapped-up Barangaroo South serves as the bustling, high-density core of the redevelopment zone–essentially an extension of the neighboring CBD. The in-progress Central Barangaroo, home to the an already-open metro station, is a lower-density and mostly residential neighborhood overlooking a vast new city park. Lastly, Barangaroo Reserve, which opened in 2015, is described as a “naturalistic reconstruction of the historic northern headland as a landscaped destination for all.” Marquee public and recreational spaces at Barangaroo South include Wulugul Walk, the neighborhood’s continuous waterfront promenade that was once severed by the port; a 2.5-acre “green retreat” known as Hickson Park; and Waterman’s Cove, an amphitheater-style boardwalk stepping down to the water that was completed last year as one of the final components of the Barangaroo South master plan.

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Watermans Cove (1) and Scotch Row laneway (2). Photos © Brett Boardman Photography

Barangaroo Avenue activated by colorful picnic tables. Photo © Brett Boardman Photography

“With the greatest respect for all people and supporting the vision that was to give back a new landscape to Sydneysiders at Barangaroo, we set out to be radical at Barangaroo South, to turn Sydney’s back door into a new front door,” says RSHP senior design director Ivan Harbour. “That it has been such a success is testament to the skills of the thousands of people involved in its conception and realisation, in the making of history.”

The newly completed Barangaroo South, showcased in the above video, isn’t the only dramatic urban renewal project transforming Sydney’s waterfront. Opening this month on nearby Blackwattle Bay—one bay to the west across Sydney Harbour from Barangaroo—is the reimagined Sydney Fish Market by 3XN Architects.