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New Sydney Fish Market

More than a fish market

The new building

Featuring new bars and restaurants, an extended waterfront promenade, a new park and local plaza, the new Sydney Fish Market will be a place for the whole community and visitors to enjoy on a daily basis. The new building will connect the water to the park and the two promenades on either side.

Public art program

The renewal of the Sydney Fish Market also brings with it the opportunity to leave a substantial cultural legacy for Sydney. Visitors and locals will be able to experience the new building through public art.

The new SFM Art Program will encompass a diverse range of works that will be integrated throughout the whole of the public domain. The program will consider the deep histories of the site and its current function as a bustling marketplace, as well as the many audiences who visit the fish market yearly. Art and cultural expression will help the new building immerse itself into its location, providing meanings that invite deeper relationships with its place and the activities that give it life.

Cultural Capital, a Sydney based public arts advisor, is curating a program of contemporary live and ephemeral performance works to activate this harbour-side location, creating a new “Opera House steps” destination for art and culture in Sydney. The curated performance program will include a diverse range of established or emerging creative practitioners and thinkers. The program may include events such as: performance art, dance, sound and spoken word, talks, and workshops. Performers may use a designated space and events will not be ticketed, small in scale, spontaneous in nature and will require minimal to no sets, props or A/V.

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New Sydney Fish Market

Connectivity and transport

The new Sydney Fish Market will have greater access to public transport. It will be located within 400 metres of three light rail stations (Fish Market, Wentworth Park, Glebe), within walking distance of the proposed Pyrmont Metro station, and include a new recreational wharf for ferries and short stay private vessel mooring.

Transport goals for the project include:

Encourage walking and cycling
Promote water access
Reduce a dependency on cars
Improve public transport access
Manage demand to better use the existing network

The building will be set back up to 15 metres from the northern side of Bridge Road to accommodate drop off zones for cars and buses as well as cycle lanes and to provide safer access for pedestrians. The improvements include:

Widening and upgrading Bridge Road
Introducing a 7.7m wide shared promenade next to the new Sydney Fish Market building
Signalising the Wentworth Park and Bridge Road intersection to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety
Protecting and maintaining the existing fig trees in Wentworth Park

Safety of both recreation and commercial maritime users was a key consideration in design of the new Sydney Fish Market. The design includes the construction of a number of wharfs to allow fishers to unload their catch and berth their vessel. Following consultation with local rowing clubs, dragon boaters and representatives from the fishing fleet, the design of the wharfs has been amended to meet their requirements.

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New Sydney Fish Market

An architectural icon

The roof is the main architectural element that binds the design together in one sweeping movement. Diverse activities are consolidated under a distinctive floating roof that serves to distinguish the new Sydney Fish Market as an inclusive and iconic destination. It is visually the most dominant part of the new building and highly visible from the surrounds such as the Anzac Bridge. The roof has been subject to careful architectural development to create the impression of gentle wave like moving canopy, encompassing a bustling market underneath.

Visual connection and permeability are key qualities to establishing an exciting and authentic marketplace feel. A large, floating canopy reveals the life of the market inside, making apparent the activities and events that happen at the new Sydney Fish Market.

The roof form is a direct response to a simple series of principles. Programmatic demands requiring variations in built form raise the roof locally, while view lines sculpt the edge condition. The roof surface responds to the sun, permitting reflected light to naturally illuminate the upper levels while screening out direct rays. Finally, the entire surface operates as a water harvesting device, recycling rainwater for use.

Energy generation

The size and geometry of the roof make it suitable for energy production from photovoltaic (PV) panels integrated into the design of the roof to create the optimal balance between energy harvesting, aesthetics and practical implications regarding maintenance and buildability.

Natural ventilation

The new Sydney Fish Market is largely naturally ventilated. The roof plays a pivotal role in the ventilation strategy that will both help distinguish the market and reduce the energy consumption for mechanical ventilation.

Indirect daylight

The raised skylights of the roof are oriented to permit the influx of indirect daylight from south, while shading direct sunlight from north. This simple geometric form helps minimize energy consumption for electrical light while maximising the amount of healthy daylight, that will help convey the feeling to the visitors of being under a canopy in an authentic market.

Healthy materials

The main structure that supports the roof cassettes is made from timber. The roof is built from repetitive modular elements, creating a seemingly complex shape from a relatively simple system. This modular pre-fabrication approach will minimise waste of materials, and help ensure a safe and resource efficient building process.

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New Sydney Fish Market

Heritage and connecting with country

For more than 30,000 years, Sydney Harbour has been home to the Gadigal and Wangal clans who are the traditional custodians of this land. The calm waters of Blackwattle Bay were celebrated by these clans as a rich fishing haven. The project respects the strong connection Aboriginal groups have to this place on Sydney Harbour and will work with Indigenous groups to celebrate this connection and history.

Heritage studies

Extensive studies have been undertaken by cultural heritage consultants, in conjunction with Registered Aboriginal Parties to identify any item of archaeological significance. Due to the industrial activity and historic land reclamation within this area, no items of archaeological significance have been identified. Further studies will be undertaken to better understand the Aboriginal stories from this area and ensure they are captured and documented.

Blackwattle Bay has a long history of association with traditional waterfront industries. A heritage impact statement has been prepared to assess the significance of heritage in the project area.

Heritage items

A heritage listed stormwater culvert that runs through Wentworth Park will be protected. According to Sydney Water, the Blackwattle Bay stormwater system is of high historical and technical significance as it was one of the five original combined sewers built in Sydney around 1857.

The remnants of the coal loader on the site is not a heritage listed item, however it does have some historical significance. Key elements and materials have been salvaged and will be incorporated into the landscape and public domain.

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New Sydney Fish Market

Sustainability

Sustainability has been at the heart of designing the new Sydney Fish Market, with a specific goal of pushing the boundaries of ecological sustainability by targeting world class initiatives.

Key features

The sustainability features of the new building will work towards achieving a minimum 5 Star Green Star Rating from the Green Building Council of Australia:

30% reduction in energy use, enough to power 380 homes per year

Use of sustainable materials during construction to avoid 100,000 tonnes of CO2

50% reduction in water use. Equivalent to saving the water from 80 Olympic pools a year

Pioneering research projects to enhance biodiversity and improve the water quality

Beneficially reusing 6,000 tonnes of food and fish scraps. Equivalent to the waste produced by 4,000 homes each year

6,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided in operation each year. Equivalent to taking 1,300 cars off the road

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More than a fish market

Connectivity and transport

An architectural icon

Heritage and connecting with country

Sustainability

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