Barangaroo or ‘The Greedy Mile'

Barangaroo is a 22-hectare waterfront site to the west of Sydney’s CBD. It became available for development after the shipping operations were moved to Port Botany in the 1990s. It is owned by the state government, and has come to illustrate the issues of business and developers fighting for control of the development.

In 2005 a design competition was launched for the site. The winning design had a harbour-side park along the entire waterfront, 233,000 m2 of commercial space and 35,000m2 for a hotel. The tallest building was 92 metres.

But the design was jettisoned, and under the auspices of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (note the name) that was established in 2009, the proposed floorspace has almost doubled, the waterfront park has shrunk to a 6-hectare site at the headland, and buildings of 275, 250, 210, 168, 178, 217 and 107 metres in height are proposed, or are being, built.

And there is a controversial new casino.