CEO Update - Working Together and Supercharging into Spring
Friday 1 September 2023
I am excited to report on yet another busy few months for our great Waterfront, with real progress being made towards formally establishing the Business Improvement District (BID) model in New South Wales.
Our Chairman Geoff Parmenter and I have been active in meeting with NSW Government representatives including Minister Graham (Jobs & Tourism) and Minister Scully (Planning & Public Spaces) to progress Business Improvement District (BID) enabling legislation and to build support for our Precinct partnership model. We are looking forward to continuing this work, with a view to securing an outcome in 2024. Our partnership with local government is also going from strength to strength, and I acknowledge and thank the City of Sydney for awarding New Sydney Waterfront Company an Innovation and Ideas Grant to deliver our ESG Leading Precinct Analysis and Pilot.
Football fever took over our Precinct for the Women’s World Cup, with the largest FIFA Fan Festival live site in Australia, based in Tumbalong Park, attracting over 250,000 attendees according to Destination NSW and brilliantly delivered by Placemaking NSW with its partners. Our Colliers insights data has reported a boost to our Precinct, up 42% year-on-year and up 23% compared with July 2019, with particularly strong performance for Darling Square and Cockle Bay. I’m thrilled to report the entire Precinct saw 8.5m precinct visits in July, representing a 11% increase month-on-month, well ahead of the Sydney CBD which is currently sitting around 16% below 2019. A strong and growing performance for our Waterfront Precinct!
A particular congratulations to our Board member ICC Sydney, Australia’s premier convention, exhibition and entertainment venue based in our Precinct, who have delivered incredible results this financial year, attracting 500 events and welcoming over one million visitors that delivered close to A$600 million in expenditure during FY23.
In September we’re ready to paint the town pink with the arrival of Sydney Fringe Festival to our Waterfront! Officially opening TODAY! The festival will run until 30 September, proudly supported by New Sydney Waterfront Company and Lendlease at Darling Quarter. The brand-new Hello Darling Tent will bringing explosive performance and fabulous mayhem to the green. This is just the start of our work with Sydney Fringe Festival, supporting our growing and thriving live performance sector, and part of our aim at the New Sydney Waterfront to work together with partners to create ‘Australia’s Biggest Stage for All’.
Looking forward to seeing you, our valued members and partners in and around our Great Western Harbour this Spring.
Yours in Partnership,
Jace Tyrrell
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Image Credit: Destination NSW