Roof Going on Sydney’s ‘Masterpiece’ Fish Market

The much-anticipated Sydney Fish Market has taken a major step towards completion with the installation under way on the largest timber roof in the southern hemisphere.

Several years in the making, construction is moving towards completion of the Infrastructure NSW project’s distinctive floating roof design, a key feature of the project and an example of “cutting-edge engineering and environmental sustainability”, according to the state.

Offering 6000sq m of new public space, the Sydney Fish Market will be an “iconic tourist destination” akin to the Opera House when that long-awaited project opened in 1973, it said.

The roof of the Blackwattle Bay project is constructed of exposed glue laminated timber (glulam) beams and roof lights, which where assembled on nearby Glebe Island and delivered by barge “significantly reducing the number of trucks on the road”.

It uses natural light and collects rainwater for recycling, as well as having solar panels to help reduce the daily energy consumption of the building.

The building was designed by 3XN Architects alongside BVN, with landscape architects Aspect Studio. Multiplex is the builder.

Sydney Fish Market will reportedly be the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, and will support the state’s fishing industry as well as being an “architectural masterpiece”, Infrastructure NSW said.

Multiplex NSW regional director Daniel Murphy said that delivering the roof structure had taken extensive planning and collaboration over the years. 

“The delivery and installation of 594 sustainable glulam timber beams, along with the added complexity of the offsite manufacture of 407 roof pods, posed significant logistical and engineering challenges,” he said.

The Sydney Fish Market is due to complete next year and is expected to welcome 6 million visitors a year.

Meanwhile, the old Sydney Fish Market site is being turned into a major mixed-use project after plans were unveiled in 2021 and rezoning completed last year. 

The NSW Government put out an expressions of interest request this year, later upping the residential component in light of the ongoing housing crisis.