Influential businesses push to rename stretch of Sydney Harbour foreshore ‘The Edge’
IT boasts more than 21 hotels and serviced apartment buildings, 300 cafes, restaurants and bars and 500 retail outlets. Now a group of influential business leaders want to give this stretch of Sydney Harbour foreshore a new name.
NSW
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ITS name may be geographically accurate but apparently lacks a certain pizzazz, so a bustling stretch of central Sydney’s harbour foreshore is set to be rebranded as “The Edge”.
The 5.5km shoreline, from Barangaroo through Darling Harbour to the Sydney Fish Markets, is the focus of a big push to boost visitor numbers and compete with traditional city hot spots.
A group of influential and high-profile businesses, known as the Western Harbour Alliance, have developed The Edge concept to help define the area for tourists and locals.
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“West Harbour Precinct is not going to stick as a name but The Edge might,” Sydney Business Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe said.
“We’re starting to create a brand and give it an identity and work from the unique characteristics of the area.
“Cities overseas do it — the classics are probably places like London and New York where you have known precincts and you define your visit around what you’re going to do in each of those areas.”
Key backers of the rebranding include The Star Entertainment Group, Lendlease and the International Convention Centre (ICC).
They are also lobbying the state government for a new Metro West station.
The Star’s group executive general manager for Brand and Corporate Affairs Geoff Parmenter said The Edge was chosen as the name of a new Sydney walk but it also reflected the “dynamic” precinct.
“It’s about trying to help people think about it differently,” he said.
“I think it’s easier to go about developing a distinctive attraction and attaching a brand to it.”
Mr Parmenter said the stakeholders chose the name as they “liked the idea of The Edge being the edge of the water but also being at the leading of where Sydney was going.”
A recent report by PwC found the West Harbour precinct could inject $20 billion into the economy over its first 10 years.
The area is also undergoing a massive revamp including the new Sydney Fish Markets and IMAX and the redevelopment of Cockle Bay and Harbourside.
The entire precinct has about 4500 hotel rooms, 300 cafes, restaurants and bars along with the ICC, Lyric Theatre at The Star and the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Mr Parmenter said he hoped The Edge, as a name, would appeal to tourists and locals.
“I’d love to get to a place where we had an attraction that was really attractive and compelling and distinctive enough that people would say ‘I’m going to take the kids down and do The Edge today’,” he said.