The consortium that will deliver the redevelopment of the Bays Market District in Sydney’s Blackwattle Bay, has been announced. Architecture and urban design practice Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (FJMT) will develop the masterplan, with Mott MacDonald, Royal Haskoning DHV and Arcadis providing engineering and development services for the new Sydney Fish Market.
FJMT were chosen from an urban design tender process that attracted 32 applications.
The practice’s previous masterplanning projects include the Southbank Cultural Precinct redevelopment masterplan in Melbourne and a 20-year masterplan for the University of Adelaide. Elsewhere in inner-Sydney, FJMT has designed the EY Centre at 200 George St and a pavilion on Darling Harbour for the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Indicative design of the new Sydney Fish Market by 3XN.
Image: UrbanGrowth NSW
FJMT will be responsible for the masterplanning of the area around a new Sydney Fish Market. A consortium led by Danish architecture practice 3XN was awarded the contract to design the new Sydney Fish Market in late June. The consortium includes BVN as executive architect, Aspect Studios as landscape architect and WallnerWeiss as public art specialist.
The new fish market project is expected to cost more than $250 million. In a statement, the NSW government said, “the project cost will be offset by [the] mixed-use development on the site of the present fish market and car park.”
UrbanGrowth NSW interim chief executive Steve Driscoll said, “FJMT and Mott MacDonald are two very talented and capable firms, and we’re very confident they will produce outstanding outcomes for the people of Sydney at the Bays Market District.”
The Bays Market District is one component of the larger Bays Precinct, a 95-hectare parcel of government-owned land comprising mostly industrial sites in inner Sydney. The Bays Market District is one of eight “destinations” laid out in the Bays Precinct Transformation Plan published by UrbanGrowth NSW. The precinct, which covers parts of the Balmain, Glebe, Pyrmont and Rozelle areas, also includes the existing Sydney Fish Market site and the heritage-listed White Bay Power Station.
When the NSW state government announced its intentions for the area in 2015, plans were revealed to transform the site of the White Bay Power Stationinto an innovation and technology hub that was dubbed Australia’s “Silicon harbour,” with revitalization plans inspired by Silicon Valley and newer tech hubs like London’s “Silicon Roundabout.” Proposals for the site included a new headquarter for Google Australia. However, Google walked away from negotiations to move its headquarters to the White Bay Power Station in April 2017, leaving plans for the area uncertain.
