Great developments create the magic in a modern city

Cities are like a Meccano set.

Their various parts; including buildings, infrastructure, communities and industry rely on connections, rely on interrelationships to be the glue that binds a great city together.  Great cities also have a bit of magic, an invisible gravitational pull, something intangible that draws you in.

Good development is at the heart of these relationships, ensures our city works well and can also provide some of the magic; good developments mean we can work in great environments, live close to where we work, eat in local restaurants, and make the most of public spaces.

There is no better current example of how great development can contribute to a city than the Barangaroo precinct; a development that is truly a ‘city within a city’.  Not surprisingly, Barangaroo – technically Barangaroo South – has won a bunch of awards including the Property Council’s 2018 national development of the year.  

Beyond the accolades, and more importantly for the long term, Barangaroo has also contributed to Sydney’s magic, shifting the gravitational pull towards the city’s west.

Barangaroo is named after a Cammeraygal woman of the Eora language group, a key figure in the local Aboriginal community; a strong-willed woman who’s second husband was named Bennelong; another Sydney landmark sits on land that has taken his name.

It was also once the site of a gasworks and a place for unloading coal, Barangaroo was also the place where in 1900 the first person in Sydney was diagnosed with bubonic plague.

In 2018 it has been stunningly transformed.  The precinct now combines infrastructure, great design and architecture, a new ferry terminal and soon a new Metro station. More than half of Barangaroo is public space encompassing expansive parklands, plazas and coves. 

Catch a Sydney ferry to the new Barangaroo ferry wharf on a balmy autumn evening and you will feel it – something special about the place

But it wasn’t always this way.

Back in 2010, battlelines were being drawn over the development as local protestors lamented its size and a “Labor government {that} has taken over control of planning and made themselves immune to planning regulations.” Sound familiar? 

Others described it as an unfolding disaster for Sydney.

As the plans were developed, public meetings took place, politicians and bureaucrats had their say and urban designers and academics had theirs on the design and what it would mean for the city and the community.

But great development often comes with great debate and fast forward to 2018 and we can see what a great development, with great design and the community in mind, can contribute to a city. 

Barangaroo will support a projected target of some 23,000 permanent jobs once complete in 2024.  Already 20,000 people work there.  Around 10,000 goods deliveries pass through the development each month servicing the local shops and retail centres, and it will provide a home to 3,0 residents and contribute more than $2 billion a year to the NSW economy.

The Commonwealth Games, that were recently held on the Gold Coast, is estimated to have contributed the same amount to the Queensland state economy over nine years demonstrating the economic importance of Barangaroo.

But, it’s not just a new economic powerhouse for our city.  Barangaroo is also green; it is one of only 19 projects around the world that is climate positive and includes Sydney Harbour water cooling, embedded electricity networks, recycled water treatment plants and on-site renewable energy generation. Once complete, the whole complex will also be water positive which means it will produce more recycled water than it consumes in drinking water.

The development is now an inherent part of Sydney’s Meccano set.

Already, it feels timeless.  Regular markets, Vivid and New Year’s Eve celebrations mean Sydneysiders and tourists alike engage with the space as if it was always there.

Great examples of development such as Barangaroo prove that we can grow well as a city; that we can balance the diverse views inherent in any community, create an environment that brings together people, with infrastructure, jobs and public space and get the outcome right.