NSW Plots 8500 Homes for Bays West Precinct in Sydney

A new direction for masterplanning in Sydney’s long-awaited Bays West precinct has been revealed by the NSW Government. A 2022-approved masterplan and rezoning will be scrapped and controversial bulk storage facilities replaced with 8500 homes. A new delivery authority will be established to oversee the precinct’s redevelopment, replacing Placemaking NSW as the lead agency. Publicly-owned land in the precinct will then be transferred to that new delivery authority. Government-led masterplanning is to connect the thousands of new homes with the Metro station, projected for a 2032 opening, as well as ferry, pedestrian and cycling links to the CBD. The government will allocate 10 per cent of the new homes as affordable and essential worker housing, and the first residents are expected in 2032. The suburb, about 2km west of the Sydney CBD, is home to industrial assets, including cement storage silos, container and private yacht facilities. The decommissioned coal-fired White Bay Power Station, now an arts and functions venue , is also within the area. The Glebe Island Bridge, which was decommissioned in 1995 and is now permanently stuck open, will be redeveloped to provide a new pedestrian route mirroring the Anzac Bridge. An emerging residential hub including Pyrmont, Ultimo and Blackwattle Bay centred on the new Fish Market , is also under development nearby. Working harbour operations will be consolidated, largely into White Bay. Vessel maintenance, tug boat and other essential harbour operations and facilities will be retained. The existing cruise terminal will also remain, and night-time entertainment and creative industries will be facilitated, based around the White Bay Power Station. ▲ Some industrial and commercial facilities, including the cruise terminal, will be retained, but logistics facilities for construction materials will go. Premier Chris Minns told a press conference that the 1970s silos in the area, which which will be demolished to make way for housing, were “gross”. “They need to come down. And the truth of the matter is that some of the heritage lunatics in Sydney can’t slap one of these heritage orders on something that’s younger than [minister for lands] Steve [Kamper],” Minns said. “We have to be realistic about Sydney’s future. They weren’t built by the Romans ... and I think we have to be serious about what we use precious land, close to Sydney, for. “And there are other things in Sydney that need to come down for a bit of progress.” Bulk storage operations will cease by 2030, although salt will continue to be imported through Bays West. The government will consult with affected industries, it said. A spokesperson for planning minister Paul Scully told The Urban Developer that a rezoning process should be complete by 2030 at the latest, in time for the transition of use. Loss of cement storage a sticking point The first stage of an earlier masterplan for the Bays West precinct was finalised in 2022. In 2024, the NSW Government commissioned former Treasury secretary Michael Schur to report on the feasibility of removing bulk storage from the area, or of alternative models. That report was returned in 2025, but a projected TOD rezoning did not eventualise. A spokesperson for planning minister Paul Scully told The Urban Developer that the earlier masterplan was unlikely to guide the new precinct’s controls, and that state-led rezoning (rather than the TOD pathway) would follow. Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest told The Urban Developer that the announcement was the most positive one since the establishment of the Housing Delivery Authority. “I understand that these things never happen quickly. But they’ve found a pathway through that, they’ve used the Schur report to clear up some of the myths,” Forrest said. ▲ The 2022 masterplan and rezoning gave controls for a projected 250 homes around the under-construction Metro station and White Bay Power Station. The NSW government has also announced a $270-million upgrade to improve road connections around Port Kembla, and investigate upgraded rail links, as an alternative logistics solution for cement supply. In December 2025, rezoning was approved for redevelopment of the BlueScope Port Kembla site into a 200ha mixed-use business park , along with an announcement for potential expansion of logistics facilities. Port Kembla construction costs uncertain Forrest told The Urban Developer that the cost of transportation of bulk construction materials from Port Kembla would be negligible. “Particularly now the big things—West Metro and North West Metro, Barangaroo, the Western Harbour Tunnel—are finishing up. So you don’t need bulk concrete storage right in the middle of the CBD.” Premier Minns told a press conference that adjustments to the supply chain would only add $50 to the cost of a Sydney apartment. “The two big civil infrastructure projects that are taking place in this vicinity—particularly Metro West—are getting their concrete from southwestern Sydney via Port Kembla,” Minns said. In 2024, a collection of industry bodies in the construction, sugar, maritime and related industries lobbied to prevent the closure of the harbour. That organisation, the Sydney’s Working Port Coalition, estimated that 40 per cent of Sydney’s cement and 100 per cent of its gypsum came through Glebe Island. According to SWPC, its closure would lead to an additional 226,000 truck movements annually, “cause an additional $396.8m in road maintenance, safety and environmental costs over the next 30 years” and “likely increase cost and cause delays to delivery of new and upgraded critical infrastructure”. ▲ The Bays West precinct, sween here from the Fish Market, neighbours burgeoning residential hubs at Pyrmont and Blackwattle Bay. The Housing Industry Association of NSW, a member of that coalition, was in favour of a hybrid model of retaining harbour and storage operations. HIA NSW executive director Brad Armitage told The Urban Developer that more detail about masterplanning and delivery at Bays West, and the impact on supply chains, was needed. “I think at this point in time it’s difficult to support something that doesn’t have sufficient levels of detail about how it’s all going to work,” Armitage said. “Obviously if there is an increase in cost of construction materials, that is a concern for our industry as a whole. I can’t say that there will be a cost increase, but if there were it would be a concern.” “We’re in a housing crisis, so we do need more housing, but it’s also important that we have industrial and commercial zoned land.” “We would just like to see a balanced approach that ensures that we meet the overall objectives for housing supply and affordability.”

NSW Plots 8500 Homes for Bays West Precinct in Sydney

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