The NSW government this week revealed more detail of its long awaited 24-hectare Central Station refurbishment, modelled on the St Louis’s Union Station in the US, and the ambition of “turning the transport hub into a destination in its own right”.
But that welcome piece of news is just part of the story of the massive urban transformation going on around Central Station with Atlassian’s new headquarters, the current star of the show, and much more to come.
Transport for NSW program director Nicholas Wolff revealed some of the process for the station to minimise the impact on commuters and travellers in The Sydney Morning Herald but in a briefing ahead of his appearance at Tomorrowland.
But he’s got a much bigger job to handle – a massive 24 hectares of land and space that the station redevelopment is part of, that will be transformed to meet the business and jobs needs of Sydney’s anticipated population growth to around eight million people in the coming decades.
With no room to the north, east or west to grow, he says, the job falls to this precinct to house tech aligned industries and growing startups as they mature and want to service the needs of giants such as Atlassian.
There are so many challenges involved. Building over train lines, terminal spaces, how to deal with heritage concerns and the inevitable attention that will come from the surrounding communities.
Nicholas will present on this topic and take questions at Tomorrowland.
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