Bays West Precinct Plan

A new harbour front public park set against the White Bay Power Station 

In 2022, Turf collaborated with Cox Architects to create a new Master Plan for this complex 9 hectare waterfront industrial site. Our approach focused on harnessing the public potential of a new 1.8 hectare harbour park and the heritage–listed White Bay Power Station, both of which were literally at the front door of the Metro station — much the same set of considerations as Barangaroo’s Parklands, the Cutaway and Metro.

Walbanga/Wadi Wadi artist and designer Alison Page developed Connection with Country principles for the project, evolving Bangawarra’s earlier work. Bays West has been known for millennia as gari gurad/nura (salt water Country) and nattai gurad/nura (freshwater Country). This ancient Country is celebrated for vast expanses of garaban (sandstone) that in some places provides shelter — gibbaragunya (stone/cave shelters) — and in other places creates yiningmah (steep cliffs) where ceremony can be performed privately without uninitiated onlookers.

A key strategy celebrated the story of water — Sweet, Sour and Salt — introducing a series of metaphorical and physical ‘flowlines’ within the new park and broader public domain. After extensive consultation, the Master Plan is now approved, shaping the long–term future of Bays West, informing development, public domain and planning controls for the site.