Powerhouse Ultimo Revitalisation

Six years ago the plan was to move the Powerhouse out of Ultimo. The NSW Government reversed that in 2020, and the A$300 million job now under way is a retention-and-renewal scheme inside the heritage-listed Ultimo Power Station rather than a relocation. Richard Crookes Constructions is the builder. Main works started in March 2026.

Project Scope

The site runs to 1.7 hectares and the state significant development application covers the Ultimo Power Station, the Wran building, the former Post Office, the Boiler House and the Turbine Hall. Durbach Block Jaggers leads design in partnership with Architectus and Youssofzay + Hart, with Tyrrell Studio on landscape. The core of the work is four flexible, international-standard exhibition spaces sized for large travelling applied arts and sciences shows, which the existing building could not take. Heritage fabric in the original power station buildings is conserved and, in places, uncovered rather than boxed in. The form and scale of the Wran building is retained, a direct answer to the objections that sank earlier demolition-heavier schemes. The entrance is reoriented toward The Goods Line, the elevated pedestrian corridor, which fixes the museum’s connection to public transport. A 2,000 square metre Museum Entry Terrace links to The Goods Line and Macarthur Street and is designed to be programmed for civic use; its first concrete slab was poured in July 2026. The Harris Street facade is being reactivated. Front-of-house and back-of-house operations are being separated from exhibition and circulation space, which in a converted power station is the fix that makes daily operations work. The adjoining Harwood building stays in museum use and is out of scope.

Why It Matters

Construction is forecast to support around 750 jobs and put roughly A$225 million into the local economy, but the more useful number for anyone bidding is that a second SSDA modification went on public exhibition from 4 to 18 September 2026, while the job was already under construction. The design is still moving. Two things worth stating plainly: Infrastructure NSW has not published a reopening date, and this is not Powerhouse Parramatta, which is a separate new building on a different site. Completion figures circulating for late 2026 belong to Parramatta, not Ultimo.

Project Team & Details