Berrys Bay
Project update - Start of site establishment work
Western Harbour Tunnel (WHT), including the Berrys Bay foreshore parkland in Waverton, is being delivered by Transport for NSW with delivery partner ACCIONA. We are committed to reconnecting people to the history, land and waters at Berrys Bay through the delivery of a new foreshore parkland.
We are excited to start the transformation of derelict waterfront land in Waverton into safe, green open space for the community. We appreciate your patience as we finalise plans to reimagine Woodley’s Shed and integrate new community space into the foreshore parkland design.
Site establishment work starts
Early work to establish the construction site will start progressively from Monday 23 June 2025, weather permitting. It is expected to take up to six months, ground conditions and weather permitting.
We will start work to establish a temporary work area in readiness for construction of the Berrys Bay foreshore parkland, installing fencing and temporary worker facilities, and the removal of some derelict buildings and vegetation.
Our standard construction work hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. There may be some instances when we need to work outside of these hours and if this occurs, we will notify nearby community before work starts.
The safe deconstruction of Woodley’s Shed will not start as part of this early site work.
New community pavilion planned for Berrys Bay
Transport has collaborated with North Sydney Council regarding the future of the former boatyard including Woodley's Shed main building.
Following endorsement from Council in November 2024, the Shed will be deconstructed with the materials salvaged and stored before being integrated into a new community facility built at the site, as part of the Berrys Bay foreshore parkland.
This creates an exciting opportunity to:
deliver a new community pavilion at Berrys Bay which reflects the form of the historic Woodley's Shed main building
complete the Waverton peninsula foreshore pathway and boardwalk, providing public access to more areas
safely remediate the ground conditions after decades of shipbuilding activities
enable repairs to the sea walls and improve the foreshore.
Next steps
Permanent features of the future parkland will not be installed until the final design is confirmed, following public consultation of the WHT Place, Design and Landscape Plan (PDLP) Part 2 - Berrys Bay (expected to occur in mid-2025) and approval of the PDLP by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
We will continue to keep you informed as the project progresses. To learn more about the early work activities over the next six months, please view the work notification (PDF, 1.35MB) and work update portal map.
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 worked closely with Council and key stakeholder groups including the CSWG throughout development of the Berrys Bay master plan.
Feedback showed that people highly value open space for passive and informal recreation. It also highlighted that the community strongly supported the vision to see Berrys Bay be developed into an accessible public open space, providing a range of community benefits and recreational opportunities.
Transport asked the community for their views on the draft landscape master plan for Berrys Bay via a survey, to capture key values and sentiment on the vision to transform the bay.
The survey responses identified some preferred features of the draft master plan, which were, 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.
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
