Aqualand’s Central Barangaroo project stalled by red tape as Metro station opening looms

More than five months after plans were blown up for a major development at Barangaroo, the developers say there’s been a frustrating lack of guidance from the government.

A major development at a key central Sydney site has been hobbled by red tape, with fears a flagship building including restaurants, new homes and offices won't be ready in time for the opening of the Barangaroo Metro station in 2024.

The proposal for a new building complex likely to include restaurants, units and offices next to the Metro station were sent back to the drawing board in October last year, when Premier Dominic Perrottet was joined by former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating to announce the government would reduce height limits at the site.

But more than five months later no new height guidance has been received by developers Aqualand, leaving “a real risk that the new Metro station at Barangaroo will open in the middle of a 2.2-hectare empty field”.

Aqualand’s chair for central Barangaroo, John Carfi, said the firm wanted to move on with the project, including feedback from residents concerned over the height and shape of the proposal, but no guidance has been provided by the NSW Government yet.

“Central Barangaroo has been stuck in process and delay for too long, and we believe that Sydneysiders will want us to get on with

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the changes at Barangaroo in October. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

it and start construction on this great precinct without any further delay,” he said.

“Barangaroo needs to be a place that anyone and everyone can enjoy and that is our guiding principal – we just want to get on with it and convert the current eyesore into an authentic and exceptional outcome for Sydneysiders.”

An artist’s impression of how the development at Central Barangaroo could look when completed.

Business Sydney’s executive director Paul Nicolaou said it was “disturbing” that after the wholesale makeover of Barangaroo, “the last piece of prime commercial land in the precinct is bogged down due to procedural inertia”.

“As things stand, there is a real risk that the new Metro station at Barangaroo will open in the middle of a 2.2-hectare empty field,” he said.

An artist’s impression of how the development at Central Barangaroo could look when completed.

Highlighting the interdepartmental quagmire striking the proposal, a spokesman for the Department of Planning said it too was waiting for Infrastructure NSW’s response to issues raised following feedback from residents and the City of Sydney.

A planning department spokesman said it had tasked Infrastructure NSW (INSW) with reconsidering “the height and shape of buildings to reduce impacts on views and overshadowing”.

“We are waiting for INSW’s response to issues raised, which will be subject to a rigorous assessment once received,” he said.

An Infrastructure NSW spokesman didn’t give a time frame on when further guidance on the sight would be completed, but said the “NSW Government is working with Aqualand, the Central Barangaroo developer, to ensure the revised proposal for the mixed-use development zone in Central Barangaroo addresses all feedback received during the exhibition period”.

Originally published as Aqualand’s Central Barangaroo project stalled by red tape as Metro station opening looms