Gabriel Metcalf, CEO of the Committee for Sydney: 

“If you believe, as we do, that Sydney’s growth should be concentrated around public transport, then Central Station is one of the best places to go big. 

This is absolutely a location where it makes sense to develop at a large scale.

The real test is whether they can resolve the public realm issues of such a complicated site, with level changes and lots of passenger movements, to make it feel like a nice place to be. Over station developments are notoriously tricky, and places like the Hudson Yards in New York have achieved only mixed success. 

For all of those reasons, this is going to be one of the most closely watched projects in Sydney: an incredible opportunity, but also one that will be quite a challenge.

In my opinion, they’ve done a good job with a complicated site. While I’m sure some people will feel like the towers are too close together I am impressed with the public space the plan creates. It looks to me like it’s well framed by the buildings, activated at the edges, and designed to handle the crowds. I also think the scheme handles the elevation changes successfully. I’m impressed.”