Barangaroo Congratulates Stage One Winner

The Board of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority today congratulated leading Australian company Lend Lease for its winning proposal for the development of a vitally important new waterfront precinct for Sydney.

"We consider this plan to be outstanding, and are confident that it will reinvigorate and add new life to our city, reinforcing our position as a global financial hub in the Asia Pacific and creating wonderful new public waterfront places for the people of Sydney," said Chairman of the Authority's Board, Mike Collins.

"In recommending this plan to the Government, the Board is satisfied that it meets to a high standard the criteria that have been established to ensure that the southern precinct of Barangaroo will perform the vital role required of it in delivering Barangaroo to the people of New South Wales," Mr Collins said. "In particular, the urban structure, place making, sustainability and financial drivers required for the southern precinct are all contained in the winning plan."

The Board makes the following observations about the winning plan:

Urban Structure and Design
The Board was impressed by Lend Lease's design approach giving Barangaroo a sense of vitality and destination that celebrates the uniqueness and opportunity of the site, along with its urban and harbor context.

It explores opportunities for place making by celebrating and interacting with the harbor and strongly demonstrates its land and water context by incorporating significant water elements in the overall urban structure.

The fan of buildings will create a western waterfront gateway to the CBD while the hotel building in the water is an iconic statement that will give Barangaroo an exciting image at a global level. Evocative of tall ships, the design reflects the maritime character of Sydney.

Financial Offer
The extraordinary design is supported by a financial offer that fully reflects the economic value of the site and ensures that Barangaroo will be cost neutral to the State. There are a series of guaranteed payments over several years that fully underwrite the State's commitment to deliver the necessary public infrastructure.

In addition there are substantial value sharing opportunities for the State over the life of the project that will allow the State to participate in the ongoing development success of Barangaroo whilst not exposing the State to any development risk.

Sustainability
The Government has established the requirement that Barangaroo will be Climate Positive - designed and developed as carbon neutral, water positive, with zero waste. The winning bid unambiguously commits Lend Lease to a comprehensive series of ground breaking sustainability initiatives that will ensure the Government's environment and social sustainability objectives will be delivered.

Public Infrastructure
The financial offer will enable the State to proceed with a number of important public infrastructure projects that are important parts of the development of Barangaroo. They include:

• The Headland Park and Northern Cove;
• Relocation of cruise passenger terminal;
• Wynyard pedestrian link;
• Remediation; and
• Acquisition of the Barangaroo site from Sydney Ports Corporation.

Exclusive Negotiation Period
The Board is satisfied that the winning plan provides the substantive palette for the delivery of an exciting, engaging, inviting, truly memorable southern precinct at Barangaroo.

Notwithstanding this, the Board considers further improvements to the plan are possible which, when incorporated, will strengthen the overall outcome. The Board has provided Lend Lease with a list of design refinements that Lend Lease has agreed to incorporate and work on these refinements will be completed over the coming weeks.

These will include the scale and placement of specific buildings, the mix of uses, public space at ground level and connections to the city and public transport.

When the Board is satisfied that all of these matters are satisfactorily resolved, it will recommend to the Government that Lend Lease be elevated from Preferred Proponent to Successful Proponent.

Acknowledgment
Throughout the lengthy bid process the Board has been impressed with the quality, capacity and calibre of the competing teams and their creative and professional proposals.

We would like to congratulate Lend Lease, Brookfield Multiplex and earlier, Leighton, Macquarie Bank and Mirvac for their extraordinary efforts. We have been privileged to be able to harness the expertise and experience of some of Australia's top corporate teams and along with world leading architects, landscape architects, urban designers and sustainability experts.

Barangaroo will add a new dimension to Australia's financial capital by integrating mixed use, commercial, residential, retail, educational, civic, cultural and entertainment activities within the world's most progressive financial work place.

The Board of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority
The Board of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority was appointed in March 2009 by the Minister for Planning and comprises:
Mike Collins (Chairman);
John Tabart (CEO);
Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney;
Peter Holmes à Court;
Gabrielle Trainor;
Brendan Crotty; and
Richard Timbs representing NSW State Treasury.

Media Contact: Toni Rankin 0419 255 022