Current Masterplan

Planning Objectives

The current Sydney Olympic Park Master Plan encourages a broad range of commercial, residential, recreational, leisure and public uses that utilise the available facilities and infrastructure and add to the unique qualities of the Park for visitors, workers and residents. Cultural, educational and environmentally orientated uses are also envisaged.

View and download the Sydney Olympic Park Master Plan.

Land use strategies underpinning the Master Plan include:

development of a mixed use Town Centre close to the railway station with commercial, convenience retail and recreation uses

target daily workforce population of 20,000 people

flexibility in land use to enable strategic and innovative use opportunities to be realised

development of up to 1,300 residential units along Australia Avenue to be complemented in the long term with additional dwellings, serviced apartments and possibly another hotel. A residential population of 3,000 is targeted initially

additional recreation and entertainment/leisure and cultural facilities

encouragement of opportunities to expand and enhance existing venues and precincts.

Master Plan Potential

Sydney Olympic Park's diversity and flexibility of built form and public spaces provides significant potential to attract a range of complementary uses and activities. 

Low-medium rise offices is encouraged at Sydney Olympic Park, as are opportunities to increase the residential population.

Local convenience retailing is envisaged including themed facilities to add activity and vitality. A nucleus of retail uses is proposed within the Town Centre spread over a number of sites. Restaurants, food outlets, cafes and convenience retailing are encouraged.  

The urban core of Sydney Olympic Park is a large area with significant development potential. The following gross floor area estimates have been used to test implications for built form under the master plan:

 

Employment Uses/Commercial	110,000 m2
Leisure/Entertainment/Retail	45,000 m2
Hotel	24,000 m2
Residential dwelling	1300
Cultural/Institutional/Urban Core	25,000 m2

The development framework envisaged by this Master Plan includes:

six storey commercial development around Olympic Park Station

a landmark 30 storey residential or hotel tower to align with the Railway Station

three 20 storey residential towers on Australia Avenue

Olympic Boulevard and in the Southern Events Precinct generally

one to two storey lightweight pavilion style development in The Overflow and Jacaranda Square

three storey development within the Showground precinct.

Urban design and landscaping principles adopted in the Master Plan emphasise the creation of an active centre around the Railway Station. Maintaining the legacy of the Sydney 2000 Games, design excellence is an expected outcome of all Sydney Olympic Park projects.

There are in excess of 20 potential development sites located throughout Sydney Olympic Park including eight major sites in and around the Town Centre.

The early development of sites in the Town Centre is a major priority for Sydney Olympic Park.

Where appropriate opportunities arise, development on sites in the Southern Events Precinct and Brickpit Precinct will be encouraged concurrently with those in the Town Centre.

Generally land is offered on the basis of freehold tenure for residential sites and leasehold for commercial sites, subject to the merits of the proposed development on each site and the priorities of the Authority at the time.

 

A Unique Environment

The built and natural environment of Sydney Olympic Park represents an international benchmark of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). The development of the urban core and surrounding parklands showcases energy and water conservation, waste minimisation, pollution avoidance and the protection of the unique natural environment.

The key ESD strategies are:

the use of low environmental impact construction methods

minimum resource use

limited emissions to the soil, land, water and air

enhancement of the site's unique ecosystem

use of life cycle assessment for all development

maximising the use of renewable cogenerative energy systems where appropriate

interior and exterior environments that maximise the use of natural daylight, air quality, occupant control, thermal and acoustic comfort

design for flexibility over time and recycling of end use material.

The Place

Sydney's premier destination

Sydney Olympic Park has experienced considerable urban change over the past 100 years, and major change in the past decade, culminating with the success of the Sydney 2000 Games.

Renewal of the site began during the 1980s with the development of the Australia Centre, Bicentennial Park and the Sports Centre. Preparation for the Sydney 2000 Games galvanised the regeneration of the area. The Games brought with it high levels of public exposure and interaction, dramatically changing the area's national and international profile and creating a unique platform for ongoing development.

The vision for Sydney Olympic Park is to become an internationally recognised example of intelligent place-making - a dynamic and diverse township for living, working, learning and recreation - a place for all people set within a world class built and natural environment.

Already established

Sydney Olympic Park occupies a site of approximately 640-hectares between Parramatta River and the M4 Motorway, representing one of the world's most significant urban renewal projects. Nearly two thirds of the site is parkland.

Within the urban core, the hierarchy of local streets is well established and cohesive. The inner avenues have a distinct character and scale to encourage pedestrian use. The larger scale streets such as Olympic Boulevard contribute to the sense of place and urban significance.

Many of the buildings at Sydney Olympic Park have received architectural excellence awards. The Authority is committed to achieving high quality urban form, design excellence and compliance with ESD principles. Significant buildings include the Telstra Stadium, Olympic Park Station, Sydney International Tennis Centre, Sydney SuperDome, Aquatic Centre, Sydney International Archery Park, Hockey Centre, Sports Centre and the Exhibition Halls and Main Arena of Sydney Showground. Olympic Plaza and Olympic Boulevard are the most important pedestrian and civic spaces. They create a cohesive and striking urban landscape.

Other significant spaces include Fig Grove, The Overflow, Yulang and Station Square. A variety of urban elements distinguish Sydney Olympic Park from any other place. They include solar lighting towers, fountains, artworks and uniform street furniture and landscaping, all adding to the unique character of the streets and public spaces. Integrated within the landscape are ten large-scale permanent art projects that, with their surrounds, represent one of the most important public art commissioning programs in Australia's history.

The construction of a large number of sporting and public facilities in a single area, so close to the CBD and surrounded by parklands, defines Sydney Olympic Park as a location of great significance.


Connecting communities

Sydney Olympic Park is endowed with high levels of public transport, car parking, road-based infrastructure and a cycleway network. Public transport is a fundamental component of the vision for Sydney Olympic Park.

Train

Sydney Olympic Park is connected to the Main Western line via a rail loop between Lidcombe and Strathfield. A shuttle service operates between Lidcombe and Olympic Park Station every day. There are some direct services available from Central each day with a higher frequency on Friday evenings, weekends and during major events.

Buses and Coaches

Local bus routes connect Sydney Olympic Park to and from Strathfield and Lidcombe stations and Parramatta. Bus stops are located throughout the Park - primarily on Australia Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Carter Street and Hill Road. Dedicated infrastructure includes bus-only roadways, bus terminals and coach parking spaces. Transport NSW and the Roads and Traffic Authority are investigating the potential for a 'Rapid Bus Only Transitway' between Parramatta and Strathfield. This would combine trunk services operating on the actual Transitway alignment with express services that feed into the Transitway from sites off the Transitway route. A number of route alignments for the Transitway have been investigated. The Master Plan illustrates the preferred alignment of the Transitway route through Sydney Olympic Park as well as possible feeder bus routes to service Homebush Bay Wharf, Bay West and Newington Village. In addition, it is expected that major event cross-regional services will expand in response to development, further enhancing access to surrounding suburbs.

Ferry

A ferry wharf is located at the end of Hill Road and regular services are provided as part of the Circular Quay to Parramatta Rivercat service. Homebush Bay Wharf is also a destination of charter operators.

Cycleways

In the immediate vicinity of Sydney Olympic Park and within the urban centre, there is a network of off-road cycleways and on-road cycle lanes. The off-road paths are located within Bicentennial Park and along Hill Road near Haslams Creek. The on-road cycleways are located on Edwin Flack Avenue, Sarah Durack Avenue, partially along Australia Avenue and along Bennelong Road to connect up with Hill Road and on to Holker Street. In all there are approximately 35KMS of cycle paths at Sydney Olympic Park. This cycleway network is also linked to the metropolitan network through neighbouring suburbs.

Road Access and Car Parking

Sydney Olympic Park is arguably the best location in Sydney for access to the metropolitan road network. The Park is adjacent to the intersection of the M4 Motorway (Metro Road 4), linking Sydney CBD to Western Sydney, and Homebush Bay Drive (Metro Road 3), linking the northern beaches / North Shore and Hurstville and the southern suburbs (Princes Hwy). The Park has access via connector roads to the M4, Homebush Bay Drive, Parramatta Road and Silverwater Road. at Sydney Olympic Park. Other major arterial routes that are readily accessible from Sydney Olympic Park via Metro Road 3 include Victoria Road, the M5 Motorway (the main corridor between Sydney CBD, the Airport and South Western Sydney) and the M2 (Sydney's main North Western corridor). There are 10,000 managed public parking spaces at Sydney Olympic Park. Planning for future commercial uses estimates a further 2000 private parking spaces.

Taxis

The Park is serviced by a well established taxi company operating from the Novotel and Hotel Ibis and affords easy and convenient connection to Sydney CBD, Parramatta and Kingsford-Smith airport via Centenary Drive.