Western Sydney Aerotropolis: Next steps for lift-off
Extensive rezoning of land has cleared the way for the fast-tracking of the Aerotropolis development in Western Sydney. Guests at a Westpac-sponsored event were given an update on progress.
With the first aeroplanes due to take off from the new Western Sydney Airport in 2026, the NSW government is now actively planning and building the infrastructure to help businesses and residents move to the Aerotropolis, as it considers a multitude of ways to grow the capacity of the region’s skilled workforce.
At a recent Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) lunch, Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney delivered a keenly-awaited update on how the massive project is taking shape.
A key stroke for the region’s development happened in 2020 with the extensive rezoning of 11,500 hectares of land – comparable to the area of land that stretches from the centre of Sydney to the existing airport and out to Auburn, 20km west of the city – that has allowed the government and the community to start making tangible plans for how the land will be used, Ayres reported.
This widespread change means the government can now talk about what future opportunities exist in Western Sydney, particularly from an economic perspective, encompassing industrial, commercial, mixed use and residential developments, the minister explained. It’s now able to define locations for infrastructure, from local roads to utility corridors, and the crucial riparian corridors where land and waterways meet.
The land rezoning means that landowners whose properties are acquired for roads, utility corridors or parkland will be compensated at the full community value – a critical factor aimed to ensure that the local community continues to support the project.
As it plans the new airport precinct, the government will focus on building a grey grid – the transport links and infrastructure that enable people to live and work there; a green grid – the parklands and green corridors that will make for a cooler and more liveable city; and a blue grid – water corridors to mitigate flood risk.
The susceptibility of parts of Western Sydney to flooding was demonstrated in March when several thousand people in the region were evacuated from their homes. “Running right through Western Sydney is a series of rivers and creeks and they do change where people can and can't live,” Ayres said.
The new airport, one of Australia’s largest ever infrastructure projects, will put 3.6 billion customers in the Indo-Pacific Region within in a single night’s flight of Sydney and bring benefits to Western Sydney, including advanced industry and manufacturing, further capabilities for higher education, better public transport and more opportunities for locals to work in the region.
The Aerotropolis development will create 200,000 jobs for knowledge workers in the next 20 years by attracting the industries that will create those jobs.
Considering the scale
Western Sydney’s economy is already Australia’s fourth biggest economy and has seen an acceleration in investment since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alastair Welsh, Managing Director, Corporate and Institutional Banking at Westpac Institutional Bank, told the audience.
Welsh noted that of the 89 infrastructure projects the NSW government said would be fast-tracked last August, 41 were in Greater Western Sydney.
“As you drive around there are projects everywhere and it's just great news for the local economy and for the economy more broadly,” he said.
Minister Ayres said that just as the economic recovery from 1919 ’flu pandemic ushered in the Roaring Twenties in the US, more than a century on Australia is on the cusp of its own Roaring Twenties and much of the growth will be driven by the Aerotropolis.
“The scale of the Aerotropolis is sometimes hard for people to comprehend,” he said. “I think Western Sydney has the capacity to lead – not drag, but lead – the rest of Sydney and New South Wales into this incredibly dynamic and exciting decade.”
The NSW and Commonwealth governments don’t just want to build an airport, they also want it to be a catalyst for economic growth across the entire Western Sydney region.
“We've started with the airport. We've built into roads. We've committed to rail. We've rezoned land. And now we're talking to individual landowners about changes through our precinct plan structure, which is really laying out that local road network and giving people the clear understanding around where land can and can't be developed,” Ayres said.
At the core of the Aerotropolis precinct will lie a 114-hectare city to be named Bradfield, after the engineer who electrified Sydney’s train network.
Ayres said he and the people of Western Sydney were unable to think of a person who better reflected the vision for the new city, with its jobs and industries focused on technology, engineering and advanced manufacturing.
Step-by-step planning
Ayres outlined the next steps in the development of the Aerotropolis.
Next year will see the enabling of infrastructure built in Bradfield City, paving the way for the construction of the first buildings there.
In 2023, the government will start construction of its Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility, which Ayres said will be focus for many businesses wanting to expand into the Aerotropolis. The CSIRO will also start building its new Sydney research hub.
In 2025, construction will start on the new metro rail station at the centre of the Aerotropolis and it could be finished that same year. And, in 2026, the first planes will lift off from Western Sydney International Nancy-Bird Walton Airport. “It’s a pretty exciting runway,” Ayers said.
A new gateway to the world
In terms of job opportunities, Ayres said Western Sydney already had a skilled workforce, with backgrounds from 170 nations who, as a collective, are able to speak over 100 different languages.
“There is not a place anywhere in the country that is ready to do business with every other nation on the planet better than Western Sydney,” he said. “And we're giving it its own gateway through an airport and a whole new city to capture every element of that economic advantage.”
However, many more workers will be required in the future. The government, industry and universities and TAFEs are working together to build up the vocational skills needed for the new industries, but that takes time. In the meantime talent from overseas will be needed.
It’s not just engineers the government will be seeking. Service providers, such as chefs, will be in demand to come to the area to help create the sort of city that the most talented knowledge workers want to live in.
Ultimately, Ayres’ ambition is that Western Sydney becomes a magnet for the rest of Sydney, for Australia and for the world.
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