The recently opened new Sydney Fish Market marks a turning point for Blackwattle Bay and the revitalization of Sydney's harbor waterfront. 

The building shows how modern market space and well-planned public realm can come together to create a historic urban destination. The project reimagines one of Sydney's most significant municipal assets for future generations by giving priority to public amenity and waterfront access.

The largest fish market in the southern hemisphere and a significant new civic icon for the city, the facility was designed by 3XN GXN in collaboration with BVN Architecture and landscape architects Aspect Studios and was constructed by Infrastructure NSW on behalf of the NSW Government. 

It creates a round-the-clock community center where employees, residents, and tourists may congregate to honor the fishing sector in a top-notch waterfront location.

"The new Sydney Fish Market is transforming an underutilised harbour area into a vibrant public realm filled with programs that attract both locals and visitors," said Audun Opdal, Senior Partner, 3XN.

"The fish market uniquely blends a fully functioning commercial operation with high-quality public space, delivering an authentic market experience rooted in the context of its prime waterfront location while enhancing the entire surrounding precinct," Opdal added.

The 10.4-hectare site, which is the first project completed by Infrastructure NSW as part of Blackwattle Bay's urban renewal, is expected to draw more than six million tourists annually. 

It joins a number of the city's famous harbour sites, such as Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Barangaroo, and Darling Harbour.

"BVN collaborated with 3XN to realise the project’s ambition and develop a building that could carry both the weight of industry and the joy of public life," said Catherine Skinner, Principal, BVN.

"The project’s location demanded a structure capable of managing salt water and air, humidity, cold-chain logistics and heavy machinery - all while welcoming millions of visitors a year. Achieving that balance of opposing pressures shaped every decision that was made," Skinner added. 

Where working industry meets public life

A bustling, small-scale marketplace will be created by the 12,200 square meters of fishmongers, eateries, cafés, and specialized sellers on the publicly accessible market hall level. 

A functioning fish market may safely live with the general public thanks to the design's meticulous separation of different circulation flows. A genuine open-air market atmosphere is ensured by expansive, glass facades that establish strong visual linkages to the harbor. 

The initiative offers visitors a genuine, behind-the-scenes look into the inner workings of the market by combining retail, tourism, and wholesale businesses under one roof and exposing the daily dance of trade. 160 bidders can fit into the Auction Hall for a contemporary, Dutch-style auction where the highest bid always initiates the bidding process. 

Through wide glazing that offers a glimpse into the market's industrial core, visitors can observe the daily action from the southern promenade or the neighboring market hall, where large screens show auction information.

"We have turned an introverted industry inside out, putting the back-of-house operations on display and making the theatrics and intense choreography of seafood trading and movement part of the public experience. The recognisable SFM blue bins with fish on ice remain at the heart of it all, but now visitors can witness an authentic, behind-the-scenes performance of one of Sydney’s biggest attractions," said Fred Holt, Partner and Australia Director, 3XN.

As the public moves through the retail market, they can see the specialized equipment supporting live seafood, sorting the daily catch, and producing up to 70 tonnes of ice per day within carefully controlled climate zones. This provides a unique perspective on the intricate logistics that keep the market running from before dawn.

The smooth flow of goods and people between an underwater basement, trading floors, and administrative offices is made possible by 26 elevators that service four different levels. In order to achieve 5 Star Green Star certification and meet strict humidity, hygiene, and operating requirements, extremely complicated design solutions were needed. Over 80% of garbage is diverted from landfills thanks to the integration of reimagined industrial processes.

"This is a deeply technical building, but it never loses sight of its civic role. Our job was to reconcile intricate logistics, auction operations and industrial infrastructure with a challenging over-water public location in order to develop an environment that remains generous, intuitive and culturally grounded," said Catherine Skinner, Principal, BVN.

A canopy of function and form

With its beautiful design and eco-friendly technology, the entire complex is brought together by an undulating 20,000 square meters floating roof. The 230-meter-long floating roof, which weighs 2,500 tonnes, is made up of 407 pyramidal aluminum cassettes lined with solar panels and 594 glued laminated "glulam" timber beams, which lower the building's daily energy usage.

The geometry and position of the cassettes are intended to provide natural light into the room while also offering shade, and the roof's structure has been optimized to favor sustainability and efficiency. Because of its modular design, the roof requires less internal artificial lightning during construction, which lowers energy burdens.

Its undulating design, which is topographically modeled and guided by the program below, also enables rainwater collecting through collection at two sites. 

The new market's potable water use is cut in half by collecting all of the rainfall that falls on the roof, filtering half of it for future use, and installing a wastewater treatment facility. Hovering over the upper ground market hall and office spaces, the two-hectare roof canopy offers a mixed-mode solution for climate management, lowering energy loads by up to 35% because of daylight and natural ventilation. 

By employing the breeze that blows across the harbor water to naturally cool the air, naturally ventilated shop spaces adhere to passive design principles. Wetland plants are used to filter stormwater as part of the plazas' natural landscape palette. 

The project's sustainable goals also include the restoration of fish habitats, where underwater lattice structures dangling from the market's underside offer new sea life homes and 3D-printed artificial coral panels cover the tidal border of the wharves.

"We're redefining what a sustainable market can be. This modular roof harvests every raindrop, generates solar power, provides natural ventilation, and enables complete space reconfiguration as needs evolve - reducing potable water use without compromising authenticity or architectural ambition," said Lasse Lind, Partner and Head of Consultancy, GXN.

A new scale of public engagement

The new structure completes the picturesque 15-kilometer route by joining the Rozelle to Woolloomooloo waterfront promenade and becoming a part of the harbor's edge. In addition to offering more than 6,000 square meters of easily accessible public open space, it creates a warm and inviting link between Blackwattle Bay and nearby Wentworth Park. 

A smooth and lively water's edge is created by the large outside stairs that gently rise each face of the building's perimeter, leading guests from the public domain into the center of the public market experience. An elevated public dining experience that extends the planted public realm into the center of the market is created by the stairs that overlook Blackwattle Bay and serve as casual seating.

The goal of the new Sydney Fish Market is to make Blackwattle Bay a thriving, interconnected, welcoming, and resilient community hub for both locals and tourists. It is more than just a brand-new structure; it serves as a model for harborside development, fusing business and the public space and proving that the two can coexist.

The new Sydney Fish Market is a result of an international design competition hosted by the NSW government in 2017. 3XN GXN’s design was selected from a shortlist of six designers. It was delivered by Infrastructure NSW and construction partner Multiplex.

Project facts

Project name: Sydney Fish Market

Location: Blackwattle Bay, Bridge Road, Glebe, Sydney, Australia
Project Timeline: Construction Start: January 2021.

Completion: November 2025. 

Opening: 19 January 2026
Gross square footage: 65,000m2 GFA
Total project cost: $836 million
Client: Infrastructure NSW
Owner: Placemaking NSW
Tenant: Sydney Fish Market Company
Architect: 3XN GXN Architects in association with BVN Architecture
Landscape Architect: ASPECT Studios
Sustainability lead: GXN

Engineers
Civil Engineer (general): Mott MacDonald, AT&L
Civil (roof): Aecom, CSS
Electrical: Aecom, Stowe Australia
Hydraulic: CJ Arms, Harris Page & Associates
Mechanical: Aecom, Equilibrium/Climatec (Joint Venture)
Structural: Mott Macdonald, WSP
Transportation Engineer (nSFM): PTC
Transportation Engineer (Site Surrounds): Arup
Vertical Transportation: Aecom

Consultants
Façade: Apex, PRISM
Logistics: S2D
Sustainability: Stantech, EMF Griffiths
Ergonomic: Dohrmann Consulting
Art Consultant: WallnerWeiss
Wind: Windtech
Acoustics/Vibration: SLR
ESD Consultant: Wood & Grieve
Flooding: Cardno
Heritage & Archaeology: CityPlan / Comber
Maritime Navigation: Royal Haskoning DHV
Visualisations: Mir, Doug & Wolf, Aesthetica Studio, 3XN
Urban Masterplanners: FJMT
Planning Consultant: BBC
BCA Consultant: Steve Watson Partners/Group DLA
Biodiversity: EcoLogical
Visual Impacts: UGDC / Clouston
General contractor: Multiplex

All images © Rasmus Hjortshøj.

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