Sydney's Town Hall Square: First Look at the $150M Green Oasis Coming to the CBD

The City of Sydney has unveiled detailed designs for its long-awaited Town Hall Square, a A$150 million civic space that promises to transform the heart of the CBD into a leafy urban sanctuary.

The project, which has been in the pipeline for over four decades, received planning approval back in May. Now Sydneysiders can finally see what the ambitious public square will look like: a curved canopy of native Australian trees framing a flexible plaza with circular paving, flowing water features, and abundant seating designed to work with the seasons.

Architecture firm JPW is leading the design, with ASPECT Studios handling the landscape architecture. Their brief was to create a venue that can shift effortlessly between hosting major public events and serving as an everyday escape for city workers grabbing their morning flat white.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who has championed the project since the City first began acquiring properties for it more than 40 years ago, describes it as essential for a growing metropolis. The council notes that roughly 200,000 people already pass through the Town Hall transport hub each day, and with the CBD population projected to double by 2050, demand for quality public space is only set to increase.

Beyond hosting markets and concerts, the square is designed as a much-needed decompression zone between transport connections — a place where visitors and locals alike can pause without having to spend a dollar. The City intends the completed square to carry a First Nations name drawn from a local Aboriginal word, with plans to incorporate spaces for recognising and practising Indigenous cultures.

Work will also begin next year on upgrading the stretch between Sydney Town Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral, adding fresh paving, seating and lighting to knit the precinct together as one cohesive public space.

A development application is expected to be lodged in the coming months for public feedback. Demolition is scheduled to start in 2028, with the square set to welcome its first visitors in 2031.

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