Waterloo Integrated Station Development

The new Sydney Metro Waterloo integrated station development revitalises the Waterloo precinct and provides the community with a safe and seamless transport interchange, along with a mixed-use precinct to boost liveability. Waterloo Station connects with the CBD metro railway stations at Martin Place, Gadigal (formerly Pitt Street) and Barangaroo, and the new metro platforms at Central Station.

Location

Sydney, Australia

Client

John Holland Group and Mirvac

Project Status

Scheduled for station completion in 2024, OSD completion 2025 and beyond.

AWARDS

The Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design – Sydney Metro City Stations | Sydney Metro | The Cammeraygal and Gadigal People of the Eora Nation

Banner Image: An artist’s impression of Waterloo metro station’s southern entrance from the Cope Street plaza. Courtesy of John Holland Group

Our multidisciplinary team helped to deliver the new Sydney Metro Waterloo integrated station development (WISD), which is comprised of the Waterloo Station and the over station development (OSD) buildings.

The WISD is a mixed-use precinct and has been recognised as a state significant development. The precinct is the catalyst for the urban revitalisation of Waterloo, sustainable job creation and an integrated mix of community facilities, commercial space, and new homes including social and affordable housing.

The OSD buildings comprises of four buildings above and next to the station, it includes two high-rise and two mid-rise buildings in a gross area of 12,871m2 and GFA of just under 70,000m2.

The WISD project provides the community with commercial and residential spaces, including affordable and social housing and student accommodation, as well as a new public plaza off Cope Street.

Waterloo Station was completed in 2024. It was opened as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. The OSD buildings will achieve completion from 2025 and beyond.

Overcoming complex design challenges

Waterloo Station is one of the six new stations that make up the transformative Sydney Metro City & Southwest project that span from Chatswood in the north, before heading under the harbour, through Sydney’s CBD, onto Sydenham.

The station is being designed for durability with a design life of 30 years on all services. Our team took a Future Ready design approach that responds to future trends, including design considerations for climate adaptation, temperature and flooding, along with robust blast requirements for the security of passengers, and operations and maintenance.

Sydney’s transport network is predominantly above ground: ferries, trains, buses and light rail. Overcoming the complexities of designing buildings to be constructed over a station has required substantial coordination with the broader tunnel and station systems design teams, to enable integration of the below ground station interface. Transitioning the movement of people to travel underground has meant that the customer experience from a design perspective is everything.

img-Waterloo-Intergrated-Station

An artist’s impression of the Waterloo metro station’s northern entrance at the corner of Cope and Raglan streets.
Courtesy of John Holland Group.

Image: Concourse and platforms 25 metres below ground

Labyrinth of services

What lies beneath the grandeur of Waterloo Station, accentuated by a design that appreciates a connection to heritage, is a labyrinth of services that serves the station.

A network of cable trays was designed to support the HV and LV power distribution through the station with an Uninterrupted Power System.

WSP provided the electrical containment, mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning design that supports the station and rail systems. The tunnel exhaust, vent systems and smoke exhaust systems have fans that are comparable to the size of a bus. Our building services team facilitated space proofing and equipment delivery pathways and routes to accommodate these features.

Along with the successful integration of the rail and track control and operating systems, all this was made possible by delivering the design of the project in the Building Information Modelling (BIM) space as Level of Development (LOD) 300. LOD 300 models contain information about the quantity, size, shape, location and orientation of each project element, as well as non-geometric data. Integrating it within BIM 360 with other software models enabled our design engineers to create digital representations of the building and its systems, producing construction documents, and permitting different disciplines to work in a coordinated fashion.

This is a successful showcase of incorporating digital innovation in a challenging design environment. The coordination with the rail designers in the BIM space was successfully carried out with clear assigned actions to the responsible designers from clash detection reports. All penetrations were fully coordinated in the BIM space through a systematic approvals process between the architect, structural engineers, and building services designers to ensure seamless team collaboration.

Sustainability at the forefront

Waterloo Station has achieved a 5 Star Green Star Design and a 6 Star Green Star As-Built rating rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. This achievement showcases Australian excellence in leading highly efficient buildings and sets an aspirational benchmark for the industry. The green star credits achieved span across all mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services.

WSP’s services for this project include MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering), Specialist Lighting, Sustainability, Durability, Pedestrian Modelling, Geotech Engineering, Water Services, Utility Services, Civil Engineering, Fire Engineering, Reliability, Availability and Maintenance (RAM) Analysis.

Image: Youth Dance Workshop by artist Nicole Monks

Creating a comfortable passenger experience

Michael Boy, WSP’s Mechanical Engineer, explains the significance of thermal levels in this customer-centric design. “The station design provides customers with a high level of thermal comfort in summer. This ensures a comfortable transition as people move from outdoors, down to the concourse level and onwards to the platforms, which sits 25 metres below ground. Customers board the air-conditioned train en route to their next destination.”

Thermal modelling by Computational Fluid Dynamics was conducted to demonstrate how comfort conditions could be achieved for both the concourse and the platform areas.

One of the key challenges was accurately resolving the transient and turbulent airflow mixing and heat exchange in the platform space, including interface with the tunnel airflows, both from train movement and the Tunnel Ventilation System. WSP used computer modelling and ASHRAE acceptability ratings to achieve optimum thermal comfort levels.

Activating the public realm

A key feature of the Waterloo integrated station development is the activation of the public realm for the enjoyment of the local community.

Our pedestrian modelling and civil engineers introduced a range of initiatives to improve accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists. These include reducing traffic to 40 kilometres an hour, removing a roundabout, creating a new bike lane and providing bike storage at the station.

Cope Street plaza will boast flourishing greenery, along with public amenities, such as seating and retail outlets as a component of the over station development buildings.

Our specialist lighting design team worked closely with the landscape architects on the lighting design for the public realm, that will support wayfinding and ambience.

Reimagining movement and place

Great places that are easy to access don't happen by chance. Supporting placemaking and movement within communities requires careful thought. At WSP, we work collaboratively with all levels of government, private organisations and local communities to design vibrant community-centric places.

As our cities grow and diversify, the transport task changes. Rather than moving people around faster and further, and spending more on transport infrastructure, we can focus on healthier cities with more transport choice. Building a transport future that is place-based and people-centred begins with weaning ourselves off our dependence on private car travel.

Explore how WSP is reimagining movement and place in transforming cities and neighbourhoods from congested, car-centric spaces into more active, connected, liveable and sustainable places.

Green Star Design

6 Star

Service Design Life

30 years

Station Platform (below ground)

25 metres