Innovative proposals submitted for ambitious Sydney harbour development

Tenderstream members BVN, Cobe and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste are all members of shortlisted teams invited to progress to the next stage of the Bays West international design competition, which is set to shape Sydney’s newest suburb. The first stage expression of interest process attracted 165 submissions from leading designs teams across Australia and around the world. 

Bays West is one the last strategic pieces of Sydney's inner harbour land, and one of the city's most extraordinary urban renewal opportunities. The NSW Government is seeking to maximise this opportunity to support housing supply by delivering up to 8,500 homes across the broader Bays West precinct. Critically, this project will open public access to this waterfront for the first time in more than 100 years.

The proposal by Tenderstream members BVN + Cobe with LUDO partnership is led by Country principles, grounded in complementary skills and experience, with co-authorship across key disciplines. Overlaps in design discipline experience among the three practices enable multiple perspectives to challenge and test assumptions and ideas within the team. Peter Titmuss, BVN Principal, stated: "This is a rare chance to rethink a truly significant site, opening it back up to the public and creating a shared vision for this part of the harbour and the city. What makes it especially exciting is the opportunity to put Country at the centre from day one, while drawing on the most creative local and international thinking."

The team comprised of Herzog and de Meuron (H&dM), Silvester Fuller, Buro Happold, and Tenderstream member Michel Desvigne Paysagiste submitted a design that unites a highly complex site of interlocking buildings under a new roof, creating a major new public centre. The roof was conceived as an elevated landscape, housing exhibition areas and punctuated by creative and social hubs for education and entertainment. Jacques Herzog, founding partner at H&dM, explained: “Bays West is one of the most ambitious and exciting urban renewal projects anywhere in the world. The project will be based on so many values we all share and wish to be the foundation for how we — as a society — will live in cities in the future. H&dM will contribute with all its experience and design skills to transform Bays West into a model for such urban renewal.” 

In all, six shortlisted teams were selected, who will now develop a design-led urban framework for a distinctive, connected, and memorable place that supports the NSW Government’s housing ambition. The results will be announced in February 2027.

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

This tender was first published by Tenderstream on 02.07.2026 here

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