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Walsh Bay Arts Precinct

An arts and cultural hot spot on Sydney’s glittering waterfront.

About

A revitalised precinct

The revitalised state-of-the-art Walsh Bay Arts Precinct delivers a new home for making, performing and experiencing theatre, dance and music right on Sydney’s most iconic waterfront. Infrastructure NSW, on behalf of the NSW Government, completed the transformation of the Precinct in partnership with Richard Crookes Constructions who revitalised Pier 2/3 from an empty wool store to a premium 21st century space for theatre and music performance. Combined with Wharf 4/5 this premier arts precinct establishes Sydney’s reputation as a global player in the arts sector.

Virtual tour

View our new 360 virtual tour to explore construction elements of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct

Transforming Wharf 4/5 and Pier 2/3 

The project aimed to create a sustainable and activated arts and cultural precinct that supports and nurtures Sydney’s home-grown culture and creativity. The completed Walsh Bay Arts Precinct redevelopment not only celebrates the unique heritage value of Pier 2/3 and Wharf 4/5, but also commits to their preservation. Heritage fabric has been carefully protected during construction and substantial remediation works have been undertaken to repair, reinterpret and preserve these heritage-listed building. 

The transformation of Wharf 4/5 and Pier 2/3 included structural alterations, fire engineering upgrades and detailed internal fit out to create purpose-built performance, commercial and retail spaces for the tenants.  

Wharf 4/5  

The first stage of the NSW Government’s redevelopment of the iconic waterfront precinct was completed in 2020 with the renovation of Wharf 4/5. The project involved the demolition of the former internal structures and delivery of state-of-the-art facilities for the tenants, whilst preserving both the existing State Significant heritage structure and elements. 

Wharf 4/5 was extensively renovated to provide purpose-built facilities and performance spaces with the latest technology in theatre, recording and educational facilities for the performing arts, essentially “a building within a building”.  

Pier 2/3  

Pier 2/3 was the second stage of the NSW Government’s redevelopment of the iconic waterfront precinct.  As part of construction, large sections of the roof were raised to increase usable performance space and accommodate the required lighting and sound equipment, and retractable seating banks were installed to deliver flexible performance spaces. After two years of construction, Pier 2/3 was renovated from an empty wool store to 21st century theatre spaces for performing arts companies.  

Design excellence

Despite the unique construction challenges of working over water on an over 100-year-old pier presented, the project team designed an extensive program of structural strengthening of the pier, paving the way for new state-of-the-art facilities that are acoustically sound and tailored to the needs of each user of the space.  

Completed by Infrastructure NSW, the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct project has received numerous accolades and awards: 

Fun construction facts

 

18,000 litres of new paint used

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Nearly 3 state-of-the-art solar panels installed on the roof

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Nearly 1,000 tonnes of steel installed

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Around 280 kilometres of electrical cabling installed

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7 new theatres, studios and rehearsal spaces created

Timeline

Contact us

For operations enquiries, contact the Create NSW Precinct Manager on walshbayartsprecinct@create.nsw.gov.au