Plan showing the whole site and location of the proposed Stage 2 buildings 3, 4, 5 and 6 (Source: Scoping report 1)

By Asa Wahlquist, Bays and Foreshores Convenor, from Bulletin 5/2026 (July)

The developer of the old Fish Market site, Mirvac, intends building a 150 metre high, 42 storey apartment block – taller than the struts on the nearby Anzac Bridge – and another block of 36 storeys, despite Infrastructure for NSW (INSW) stating the maximum height would be 35 storeys.1  Mirvac plans to build six buildings. The seventh, for student accommodation ‘with approximately 601 beds’, will be built by Scape.2

INSW expects the entire site to eventually house 2,400 residents and provide facilities for 5,600 workers: a total of 8,000 people. Another 10,000 people are expected to live and work on the other side of the Anzac Bridge when the proposed Bays West development is completed. Clearly, such a massive increase in population of the two areas will need a commensurate increase in services including public transport, schools, community facilities and open space.

The original plan for the old Fish Market site, released in 2021, proposed towers of 45 storeys, a narrow 10 metre wide waterfront walkway and a maze of narrow, windy, overshadowed roads. The Glebe Society submitted one of 2,409 objections to the plan, 58 per cent of which objected to the height of the towers. In response, the Blackwattle Bay State Significant Precinct Finalisation Report, published in December 2022, stated that the new buildings would range from six to 35 storeys in height.3

Indicative west elevation (source: adapted from Scoping report 1)

How high?

However, Mirvac still plans to build at least one tower of 42 storeys, according to its Blackwattle Bay stage 2 detailed state significant development [SSD] scoping report.  The scoping report, prepared by Urbis, covers the second stage of the development: that is, buildings 3, 4, 5 and 6. Ultimately the site will have eight buildings (see image above).  There is no mention in the Stage 2 Report of the heights of buildings 1, 2, 7 and 8, although building 7 also appears to be a tower. (Detailed scoping for buildings 1, 2, 7 and 8 will occur later).

Last December, when INSW announced Mirvac was the preferred developer, it stated, ‘New buildings will range from 3 to 35 storeys in height. The average height of the buildings across the precinct is similar to the height of the Pyrmont Jackson Landing development’.4

So why is Mirvac proposing two, perhaps three, towers, which would be taller than 35 storeys? According to the scoping report, in May 2025 a further Planning Proposal for the precinct was ‘amended such that the consent authority need only be satisfied that development “considers” the Blackwattle Bay Design Guidelines rather than requiring strict consistency with them’.

Artist’s impression of development, subject to planning approvals (source: adapted from blackwattlebay.insw.com6)

The towers would be on the city side of the site. Building 3 will have a tower of 33 storeys above a podium of four or five storeys, reaching a height of 117.5 metres. Building 6 will have 39 storeys on a podium of several storeys soaring to 150.5 metres, 42 storeys high all up. The struts of the Anzac Bridge are 120 metres high.5 The maximum building height for the north-east part of the site (building 6) is 141 metres, for the south-east (building 3) it is 106 metres, and for the western side (buildings 4 and 5) it is 37.5 metres. The latter, mid-rise buildings of 8 storeys at 33.1m high, are within the requirements. Buildings 3 and 6 are not. The scoping report states: ‘Parts of buildings 3 and 6 will exceed the maximum height of building in the relevant part of the site. The proposed height variations will facilitate a more slender and finer grain design approach that better responds to the site’s context and are not anticipated to give rise to any adverse environmental impacts (e.g. additional shadow impacts)’ (Scoping report, p. 28).

A spokesperson from INSW said Mirvac has ‘commenced planning and design and are [sic] also undertaking stakeholder consultation. They are only in the early phases of planning, and no development applications have yet been lodged.’

Mirvac will not provide affordable housing onsite; instead it will make a contribution to the City of Sydney. When INSW announced Mirvac was the preferred developer, it also mentioned ‘a significant financial contribution enabling around 100 new affordable homes to be delivered by the City of Sydney    This is in line with the City of Sydney Affordable Housing program’.

Consultation on the demolition of the old Fish Market closed on June 12. Works on site are expected to begin next year, 2027, and to be completed by 2030.

Artist’s impression of boardwalk, Feb 2026 (blackwattlebay.insw.com/)

Proposed boardwalk

An EIS is being prepared for the next stage, which will include construction of a 10 metre wide over-water boardwalk. The waterfront walk, which will be the last link in the 15 kilometre harbour walk from Rozelle Bay to Woolloomooloo, will be 30 metres wide, including the board walk.

The existing over-water boardwalk in front of the Glebe Rowing Club, built only about 15 years ago, has been closed for repair for several months which raises questions about the wisdom of developing a more extensive, and presumably more heavily used, over-water boardwalk on the northern side of Blackwattle Bay.

 

 

Sources:

  1. Blackwattle Bay: Stage 2 detailed state significant development scoping report, prepared by URBIS for Mirvac, June 2026.
  2. SSD scoping report Blackwattle Bay – Stage 1, prepared by Beam Planning for Trustee for Scape JV3 Blackwattle Property Trust, 5 May 2026.
  3. Blackwattle Bay State Significant Precinct: Finalisation Report’, Department of Planning and Environment, December 2022
  4. Blackwattle Bay milestone: Preferred developer announced, Infrastructure NSW, 9 December 2025
  5. Anzac Bridge, State Heritage Inventory item 4305018, Heritage NSW
  6. Redevelopment of the old Sydney Fish Market, Infrastructure NSW, 2026