The White Bay Power Station precinct and Glebe Island, two key sites in one of the last major redevelopment sites on Sydney's inner harbour, are the focus of a new international design competition launched by the New South Wales Government. The open, two-stage Bays West International Design Competition seeks a design-led Urban Framework that will guide the transformation of the precinct into a new waterfront neighbourhood.
Together, the two sites form part of the broader 77-hectare Bays West precinct, a former industrial harbour area located just minutes from Sydney's CBD. The redevelopment aims to deliver up to 8,500 homes, including at least 10 percent affordable and essential worker housing, alongside new parks, public waterfront access, and a network of walking and cycling routes. A new Metro station, scheduled to open in 2032, will further connect the neighbourhood to the rest of the city through new active transport links, including connections across the historic Glebe Island Bridge.
Led by the Bays West Delivery Authority in partnership with Government Architect NSW, the competition seeks proposals for an Urban Framework that will establish the overarching principles for spatial planning, urban design, public domain, movement, land use, built form, sustainability, and infrastructure. Within this framework, entrants are encouraged to test bold ideas, distinctive concepts, and transformative innovations that define Bays West's identity, strengthen its civic and cultural role, and communicate the precinct's long-term public value.
This is a once-in-a-generational opportunity to build a new suburb on the city's edge and open the harbour foreshore to the public for the first time in a century. - Premier of NSW Chris Minns.
The competition will be conducted in two stages. The first is an open call for Expressions of Interest, followed by a paid, invitation-only design phase. Shortlisted teams will each receive AUD 200,000 for Stage 2 upon submission of a compliant scheme. International entrants are required to partner with Australian firms, and multidisciplinary and specialist teams are encouraged, including architects, urban designers, landscape architects, planners, sustainability specialists, and ecologists. The winning team will continue working with the project beyond the competition, contributing to the precinct's future planning and delivery.
Entries will be assessed by an independent Design Advisory Panel, which will advise the NSW Government on both the shortlisted teams and the winning proposal. The panel is chaired by NSW Government Architect Abbie Galvin and includes Bays West Delivery Authority Chief Executive Anita Mitchell; internationally recognised landscape architect Walter Hood, founder of Hood Design Studio and former Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley; Adam Haddow, former National President of the Australian Institute of Architects; Alison Page, founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency; Ken Kanofski, Chair of Placemaking NSW and former Chief Executive of Roads and Maritime Services NSW; and Rory Toomey, City Architect at Inner West Council. Expressions of Interest open on Tuesday, July 28, at 4:00 p.m. AEST and close on Friday, August 21, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. AEST.
The world's great waterfronts have been shaped by ambitious ideas and exceptional design. Bays West deserves that same ambition. This competition invites Australia and the world's best designers to imagine how a former industrial harbour can become one of Sydney's great neighbourhoods—one that can support an intensity of urban life while remaining generous, connected, and regenerative, with distinctive character and exceptional public spaces. - NSW Government Architect Abbie Galvin
For more information about the competition and submission requirements, visit the Bays West International Design Competition website.
