Entire Powerhouse Ultimo complex gains heritage status

Powerhouse Museum Ultimo has had its heritage listing broadened, ensuring the site will continue to operate as a museum after nearly a decade of redevelopment controversies.

The 1988 Wran Building, the 1988 Galleria and the 1899 Harwood Building will now be protected by heritage status alongside the original power station, preventing the entire complex from further sale or commercial development.

In 2015, the then-state government proposed to sell the site to fund the relocation of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta. They revised the plan in 2020 following public outcry, opting instead to demolish the Wran building and redevelop the site into a mixed-use cultural and commercial complex.

This plan was met with another wave of backlash, particularly as the Powerhouse Museum Ultimo project and its architects, John Whyte (Ian) Thomson and Lionel Glendenning, were awarded a Sulman Medal in 1988, which is the highest honour for public architecture in New South Wales.

A 2022 design competition for this $481 million redevelopment was won by a consortium comprising Architectus, Durbach Block Jaggers Architects, Tyrrell Studio, Youssofzay and Hart, Akira Isogawa, Yerrabingin, Finding Infinity and Arup.

In 2023, the plan to redevelop was abandoned after reports emerged that the former government had buried studies that had recommended that the entire site be heritage listed.

At that time, arts minister John Graham announced the government had decided to respond to "community calls for a more modest redevelopment," and would instead opt for a $300 million heritage revitalisation that protected the Wran Building.

A state significant development application was submitted in early 2024 for the "more modest" heritage renewal, designed by Durbach Block Jaggers, Architectus and Tyrrell Studio. The proposal to restore buildings, reorient the museum's main and introduce a new garden square was approved in 2024 and is now currently underway.

The heritage revitalisation project is still compatible with the expanded heritage listing and is expected to be complete in 2027.

Heritage NSW executive director Sam Kidman said the extended heritage listing "reaffirms" the site's significance as "a cultural landmark."

"This amendment ensures that the architectural and historical significance of the entire Powerhouse Museum Complex is recognised and protected," Kidman said. "An integral part of our state's cultural and educational heritage, the Powerhouse Museum Complex is, and will continue to be, an iconic cultural institution for the people of NSW."