Berrys Bay
Designed with community in mind, Woodley’s Shed community pavilion design update
The design for the reimagined Woodley’s Shed community building at Berrys Bay has progressed, with the final design agreed in February 2026 as part of the Western Harbour Tunnel project.
Pictured: Artist's impression of the reimagined Woodley's Shed community pavilion, day time view
Pictured: Artist's impression of the reimagined Woodley's Shed community building, interior view (subject to Council fit out)
Pictured: Artist's impression of the reimagined Woodley's Shed community pavilion, night time view
Pictured: Artist's impression of the foreshore parkland (entry stairs and ramp from Balls Head Road)
The updated design for the community space has been developed in consultation with North Sydney Council and with consideration of feedback received from the local community during the mid-2025 draft PDLP public exhibition. The community building has been designed to support a range of future community uses while responding to the site’s heritage and foreshore setting on Sydney Harbour.
Woodley’s Shed community pavilion includes a glass-walled indoor community building located within an open-air pavilion structure. Large opening doors allow connections between indoor and outdoor spaces, enabling future flexibility for community gatherings like workshops, classes or markets. Publicly accessible bathrooms and support spaces will be provided within the new building, with internal fit-out to be completed by North Sydney Council.
The design reflects the former Woodley’s Shed main building as well as the site’s history as a shipyard and boat-building location. This is expressed through the pavilion roof form, roof structure and materials, alongside contemporary design elements to meet current accessibility and safety standards. The pavilion roof will showcase translucent panels to bring natural light in and enable backlighting to diffuse during evening community gatherings.
The Woodley’s Shed community pavilion connects with the broader parklands and continuous foreshore pathways. Visitors will be able to move through the pavilion as part of their park experience, whether attending an event, accessing the water, using the foreshore promenade or visiting nearby picnic and play areas.
A new public plaza will improve access to areas of the site that has been closed to the public for more than a century. The parkland includes step-free access, access for non-powered watercraft such as kayaks with storage space, upgraded seawalls and native planting through terraced garden beds.
The Woodley’s Shed community pavilion will provide a large, covered space suitable for year-round use and adaptable to future community needs. North Sydney Council will operate and maintain the pavilion and will undertake future consultation on its use with local community.
Opportunities to reflect Cammeraygal Country are being explored as part of the detailed design phase. This work will help inform how cultural values, stories and connections to Country can be recognised within the Woodley’s Shed community pavilion and surrounding Berrys Bay foreshore parkland.
Detailed design work is continuing, with construction of Woodley’s Shed planned to commence in the second half of 2026. Construction work underway during March 2026 includes earthworks and seawall rectification.
While the draft WHT Place, Design and Landscape Plan (PDLP) Part 2 – Berrys Bay community feedback period closed in mid 2025, learn more about the PDLP here.
The new parkland is planned to open for community use ahead of Western Harbour Tunnel’s opening in 2028.
Berrys Bay foreshore parkland schematic plan, February 2026. Subject to change.
Delivering the parkland sooner
In December 2022, Transport awarded the second and final stage of the Western Harbour Tunnel project to ACCIONA, changing the construction methodology to use tunnel boring machines to dig under Sydney Harbour. The new construction methodology was approved in January 2024.
This change in tunnelling methodology means that the temporary construction site at Berrys Bay is no longer required for the project, allowing construction to start sooner on a new foreshore park at Berrys Bay, for the local community.
Early work construction now underway
Since late June 2025, work to establish a temporary work area in readiness for construction of the Berrys Bay foreshore parkland commenced. Read more about the work activities underway between January and June 2026 in the six-month lookahead work notification.
Work completed to date includes installing fencing and temporary worker facilities, safe removal of the derelict buildings and overgrown vegetation on site.
In advance of the sea wall stabilisation work planned to start in Q1 2026, we have safely removed over one hundred derelict maritime structures from the bay. The work will also improve access for recreational activities like kayaking, once the parkland opens.
Safe salvage of the iconic Woodley's Shed facade signage for reuse
Looking west across Berrys Bay, now clear of hazards
View of Berrys Bay from the air showing early work progress and bay clear of hazards (within silt curtain exclusion zone)
Keep up to date
The draft WHT PDLP (Part 2 ) - Berrys Bay closed for community feedback on 24 August 2025. We have released a summary of the 104 submissions received and the next steps in progressing the WHT PDLP (Part 2) - Berrys Bay will be submitted to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) for approval, in accordance with the WHT project’s Conditions of Approval during 2026. All 104 submissions received during the public exhibition period are all carefully reviewed and considered in shaping of the final design.
We will continue to provide updates on the project including the WHT PDLP (Part 2) – Berrys Bay as it progresses via email, community notifications, via this website and our interactive construction map portal.
To stay informed, subscribe to our ‘Future use of Berrys Bay’ email distribution list here.
Project history
Transport awarded the second and final stage of the Western Harbour Tunnel project to ACCIONA in December 2022, changing the construction methodology to use tunnel boring machines to dig under Sydney Harbour. The new construction methodology was approved in January 2024.
This change in methodology means that the temporary construction site at Berrys Bay is no longer required for the project, allowing construction to start sooner on a new foreshore park at Berrys Bay for the local community.
In consultation with North Sydney Council (Council) and community representatives, Transport prepared a landscape master plan to transform the former industrial land at Berrys Bay into a foreshore park. The draft master plan was on public exhibition from 30 September to 23 October 2022. The final master plan was released on 8 February 2023.
The new parkland is planned to be open for public use ahead of Western Harbour Tunnel’s opening.
Transport for NSW worked closely with North Sydney Council, key stakeholder groups and community representatives to prepare a landscape master plan to transform the former industrial land at Berrys Bay into a foreshore park. This draft Berrys Bay master plan was on public exhibition for consultation from 30 September to 23 October 2022.
We asked the community for their views on the draft l master plan for Berrys Bay through a survey, to understand the key values and sentiment on the vision to transform the bay.
Feedback showed that people value open space for passive and informal recreation. It also highlighted support for the vision to turn Berrys Bay into an accessible public space, offering a variety of community benefits and recreational opportunities.
The survey results revealed the community’s top priorities, in order of preference: picnic areas with seating, BBQs and shade
tidal steps to provide connection to water
continuous and accessible foreshore path
open space for informal recreation.
Transport prepared a Submissions Report (PDF) to document how we engaged, who we heard from and what we heard.
In March 2021, community members were invited to apply to be part of the Berrys Bay Community and Stakeholder Working Group (CSWG) alongside representatives from the NSW Government and North Sydney Council.
The purpose of the CSWG was to help determine the optimal vision and design of Berrys Bay and to consider perspectives and preferences across the community and the NSW Government to provide the best outcome for both the local and wider community.
This collaborative forum enabled a fair, sustainable, productive and sensitive outcome. It provided advice and assisted the Berrys Bay project team in understanding the current and future needs of the local community.
The Berrys Bay master plan development was informed by the outcomes of the CSWG meetings.
The final master plan was released on 8 February 2023, click here to view. Thank you to the group for their input and time.
Contact us
If you would like to get in touch with the project team, please contact the Western Harbour Tunnel project, you can contact the team by calling 1800 931 189 (ask for ACCIONA Berrys Bay team) or emailing us at whtbl@transport.nsw.gov.au