‘TBC’: How $190 million was blown on Circular Quay revamp before the first sod is even turned

Consultants, lawyers and public servants account for almost one-third of the $190 million spent on planning the Circular Quay revamp before the much-hyped project stalled and tens of millions more were wasted drawing up schemes that will never be built.

More than a year after a $716 million election promise to rebuild the symbolic gateway to Sydney faltered due to a lack of future funding, the Minns government is no closer to approving construction despite the vast sums spent so far.

The redevelopment has been plagued by false starts, funding uncertainty and a political dispute over whether the Cahill Expressway, the much-maligned freeway that separates the harbour from the city, should be turned into a New York-style highline as part of the overall revamp.

Minns pledged to scrap the expressway element before the 2023 election but he pledged to push ahead with a major rebuild of the five main ferry wharves and pre-Sydney Olympics-era promenade between the train station and the harbour edge.

The government last year conceded that nearly $190 million had been spent on planning – much of which began under Coalition governments led by Gladys Berejiklian and Dominic Perrottet.

“This was a Mad Men-style spending splurge as the former government plotted from 2016 to bring a slice of the Big Apple to Sydney in the form of a New York highline transplanted on the Cahill Expressway,” Transport Minister John Graham said on Sunday. “It was always headline first, substance a long last.”

A breakdown of costs seen by the Herald shows for the first time how the money has been spent. At least one-third – or $60 million – has been directed towards an unnamed “project team” as well as “other consultants, approval fees and legal”. More than $15 million has been paid out for “site investigations” and $10 million on initial architectural and engineering “concepts”.

The spending continued after the Minns government took office, before plunging last year as Labor signalled doubts about whether it could afford to proceed with the revamp.

The government is unable to say whether the project will proceed, citing a tight budget and the risk of cost blowouts. However, the government is in a quandary as the vast sums spent on consultants and contractors will be money down the drain if the project doesn’t move to the construction phase.

The $190 million is about one-third of the cost of the Ryde Hospital redevelopment, or enough to build four new primary schools.

Since Labor took power in 2023, nearly $108 million has been spent on Circular Quay project planning. But the rate of spending dramatically slowed in 2025 as the planning process wrapped up and Labor cast doubt over the project’s fate. Just $1.8 million was spent last year compared with $65 million the year prior.

Graham said the government would push ahead with a scaled-back redevelopment but he did not elaborate on when it would begin.

“We are bypassing the highline to focus investment on what is really essential at Circular Quay: upgraded ferry wharves and a wider, accessible harbour-front promenade that befits the location,” he said.

There are more than 50 million visits to the Circular Quay precinct every year, climbing to a forecast 81 million by 2041.

An Infrastructure Australia report said despite Circular Quay’s strategic importance, its infrastructure has deteriorated, and the wharves and promenade were nearly at “their end of life”.

“Amenity is poor, and public spaces are disjointed and managed by multiple parties, resulting in safety concerns and diminishing visitor experience,” the report says.

Vehicles over two tonnes are banned from the promenade because of the safety risk, limiting access for emergency vehicles. The wharves do not comply with accessibility standards.

The government is conducting basic maintenance on the existing wharves to make sure they are safe but it will not do more until the funding becomes available to replace them entirely.

The federal government has promised $220 million towards rebuilding the promenade, First Fleet Park near the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the ageing Circular Quay train station, provided the NSW government contributes the same amount. A landing page for the project on the Department of Infrastructure’s website lists the expected start and finish date as “TBC”.

Premier Chris Minns said in May that Circular Quay was a more worthy project than Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s $150 million plan to demolish a cluster of buildings across from Town Hall to create a new public plaza.

“It’s too expensive, majorly disruptive for Sydney [and] would close down a lot of businesses that are in that area,” he said of Moore’s plaza scheme.

“It’s hard to see why this project is such an urgent priority for Sydney when compared to upgrading existing areas like Circular Quay and Darling Harbour.”

The idea of redeveloping Circular Quay took off under former premier Mike Baird, whose government vowed to help fund the project by selling the leasehold over the Shangri-La Hotel and the Four Seasons Hotel in the CBD, Novotel hotel and Grand Mercure Apartments at Darling Harbour and commercial offices at Darling Quarter for an estimated $200 million.

A spokeswoman for Placemaking NSW said the Shangri-La and Novotel hotel leaseholds were ultimately not divested.

The Coalition government also entered into a 2022 agreement with a consortium led by Capella Capital, Lendlease and construction and civil engineering firm BESIX Watpac to deliver the revamp. The breakdown of costings seen by the Herald shows $21 million was spent on “early consortia involvement” and “bid cost contribution” in 2021 and 2022.

The Circular Quay precinct is at the centre of a construction boom as developers restore existing spaces such as the AMP building at 33 Alfred Street, or construct new towers like the $3 billion One Circular Quay project, the $2 billion Salesforce Tower at 180 George Street, and the award-winning Quay Quarter at 50 Bridge Street.

Developer Andrew Richardson is also reportedly in talks to build Sydney’s tallest tower nearby.

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