Business Insight | How CBRE Development & Infrastructure helped turn Sydney Fish Market into a global city icon

Every weekday at first light, 20,000kg of fresh seafood is traded hourly on the auction floor. Up to 55,000kg of seafood can change hands by day’s end. 

It’s a practice that first began in the city’s Blackwattle Bay site almost sixty years ago in 1966. And that tradition is set to continue through the next evolution of the iconic Sydney Fish Market.  

After a $750 million commitment to the construction of the new Sydney Fish Market, the NSW Government is now realising its bold plan to support tourism and the fishing industry while returning inaccessible parts of the harbour foreshore back to the community.  

The project’s goals were both diverse and ambitious:  

• Deliver one of Australia’s leading tourist destinations 
• Unlock a waterfront promenade, a ferry wharf and over 6,000 square metres of new public open space  
• Provide a variety of fishmongers, restaurants, cafes, bars and specialty food retailers in a bustling market hall setting 
• Provide a new city destination showcasing architecture, art and culture 
• Enable public transport access to the new site alongside shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists 
• Support 700 jobs during construction and over 700 jobs once operational 
• Drive economic growth by doubling visitor numbers in the next 10 years 
• Deliver an authentic fish market experience, from catch and arrival to the wharf, to auction and seafood sales 
  
  

This emphasised the need for the right team to ensure the seamless delivery of a new icon that will reshape Sydney’s waterfront for generations to come. 

Realising the diversity of challenges 

A big vision naturally comes with a diversity of challenges.  

“This is a landmark project which underpins the Sydney Fish Market as a business - but with small business wholesalers and retailers including the local fishing Industry,” explains Greg Lin, Infrastructure NSW’s Project Director for the new Sydney Fish Market. 

“It provides a public amenity for the community while also anchoring the precinct at the head of Blackwattle Bay, setting the scene for the future divestment of the surrounding area.” 

It's why CBRE Development & Infrastructure was selected to join Infrastructure NSW (INSW) in forming a dedicated team of development managers to complete the new Sydney Fish Market.  

“Our team was seconded to INSW and embedded within all day-to-day management and advisory activities associated with the project,” explains Stewart Mathews, CBRE’s Principal.  

“CBRE provided resources to INSW through all stages of the project from its inception with UrbanGrowth NSW, to management of the design to achieve a business case and satisfying significant authority approvals.  

“Our role also included the procurement of the head contractor, Multiplex, and development of the Agreement to Lease contract with the Sydney Fish Market. This was alongside ongoing design management and construction interfaces throughout the project.” 

This breadth of expertise was crucial in solving the unique challenges of this project - complexities that ranged from diverse stakeholder management covering the Minister’s Office, to the end user sub tenants, to fishmongers, to the site’s operational activities.  

“Each came with their own agendas, requests and perceptions of the agreement,” says Stewart.  

Navigating this broad range  of stakeholders while progressing design and delivery works demanded an applied diligence at every step. 

Proven capability in turning vision into reality 

An established track record is crucial to delivering a civic landmark that balances a response to industry specifics, multi-purpose use, design excellence, and community needs. 

CBRE Development & Infrastructure was recognised by the NSW Government as a partner that could provide subject matter expert advice and support through the initial phases of the business case and approval pathways. Forming this strong partnership wasn’t left to chance by INSW.  

“The team at CBRE was selected through a competitive tender process to develop and implement the project procurement strategy,” says Greg. 

It was a move that included market sounding for the early works and main works design and construct packages for the new Sydney Fish Market. 

“After the successful delivery of those works, key CBRE personnel were retained to continue the management of the Agreement for Lease on behalf of INSW and later for expanded services such as defects management. Across these varied workstreams, CBRE’s Development & Infrastructure team continually supported INSW from start to completion.”  

This collaboration steered a complex development process with multiple stakeholders, approvals, and interfaces across key areas: 

• Managing costs: The overarching business case represented the Government’s approved funding. The team broke the budget up into manageable components, such as early works, consultant design phase, main work contract, and various and miscellaneous scope budgets. Regular reporting and consolidated budget check-ins by delegated contract owners proved successful using this approach. 
• Managing timelines: While the overall project program was largely dependent upon the Main Work Contract by Multiplex, activities which ran in parallel to the main works needed to be monitored and measured from a management and interactive input perspective for stakeholder engagement. Prioritising stakeholder inputs ahead of critical path activities and assigning team members to work streams was crucial to achieving continuity and relationships and driving accountability across the team. 
• Managing stakeholders: The team aligned stakeholders with the intended workstream of scope subject matter. This involved understanding the viewpoints from both sides before massaging these inputs into tangible outcomes which would make up the contracted works and agreements. Understanding the overarching formal agreement and translating it into digestible pieces to enable stakeholders to understand the relevant scope will continue post-completion and throughout early operational phases. 
• Integrating sustainability:  A 5 Star Green Star (GBCA) was benchmarked for the project – an achievable target within industry expectations. However, the project’s vast multipurpose role presented unconventional challenges across every floor. Each floor reflects models which are typically applied to logistics and distribution, wholesale refrigerated warehousing, large scale retail, commercial office and public space. The project team settled on a plan for energy use, water use reduction and reuse, and public amenity targets applied across the site as a wholistic and integrated approach. 

From fish market to an urban renewal gateway 

For lovers of seafood, the new Sydney Fish Market could simply be a place to secure the country’s finest catch. But to the wider community, the potential is endless.  

“It's a development that forms part of a 15 km Sydney foreshore walk connecting Woolloomooloo to Rozelle Bay,” says Stewart.   

“The Sydney Fish Market supports the NSW fishing industry by providing them with a significant uplift in facilities and wharf berthing access to better serve the market auction.” 

The project also anchors the Blackwattle Bay precinct which is poised for renewed development as a mixed-use and residential precinct to be developed on the old fish market site.  

“The old fish market was beyond its use by date and in need of renewal. Although it long sat in the top five visited tourist destinations in Sydney, the new market is set to keep that reputation while also becoming one of the most recognisable destinations alongside the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.” 

How is this achievable? Through the merger of purpose, architecture, and culture.   

“The innovative design allows the new facility to stand out as a landmark tourism destination with its own identity,” says Greg.   

“The external and internal architecture and engineering approaches provide sustainable concepts which were key to the Government’s initiatives for the development.” 

Any new icon built on tradition is rare for most global cities. And it’s why the specialised team behind the project personally see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.   

 “It’s hard to benchmark what we have achieved as I reflect on the project post-completion,” Greg admits.  

“The project has thrown up what seems like every conceivable challenge, and the project team has been the only constant force methodically moving workstreams forward. I am extremely proud of the team we assembled to take on this task and how they responded and supported each other in the good times and the tougher ones.” 

Stewart shares a similar sentiment, emphasising the depth of experience and intuition needed to overcome challenges ranging from the highly technical to the scale to the uniqueness. 

“I’m proud to have carried the mantle and fostered our ongoing professional advisory service to a point where INSW will consider CBRE as a proven partner. Most importantly, I’m proud of the Government vision being realised through our achieved outcomes. This project will be a defining addition to the community and the state’s assets - and in time - recognised the world over.” 

A 360-degree solution like no other 

CBRE’s involvement in the Sydney Fish Market doesn’t just end with the doors opened. The recent appointment of CBRE’s Property Management team as the site’s Property and Facilities Managers enables this iconic landmark to benefit from the full breadth of CBRE’s proven expertise, from developing world class infrastructure, right down to servicing the precinct to ensure it thrives for generations to come.