New features announced for relocated Sydney Powerhouse Museum plus plans for current Ultimo site

Amid ongoing objections over the NSW Government’s plan to relocate Sydney's Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta from Ultimo, as well as questions over its legality, additional elements of the future of both sites has been revealed in recent days.

The relocation of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, which incorporates the Powerhouse Museum, will begin in 2019 and it is expected to open to visitors in 2023.

Its $645 million relocation budget will see the new attraction host a 30-metre-wide domed planetarium, the NSW Government has confirmed. Other features include exhibition and public spaces, play areas and education labs focused on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

Annoucing the addition at the weekend, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian advised "it will be bigger and better than anything NSW has ever seen and will rival global cultural icons such as the London Science Museum and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

"It is so important that young people are excited and inspired by science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics because the jobs of tomorrow will rely heavily on these disciplines."

Premier Berejiklian said an international competition to design the new Powerhouse Museum would open soon. The nearby Riverside Theatre in Parramatta will be upgraded too.

She added “this is about making sure arts is accessible to the whole community," emphasising that Parramatta was the "geographic heart of Sydney".

The Sydney Business Chamber's Western Sydney branch said the relocation was "a victory for the people of Western Sydney".

Chamber Director David Borger told the ABC “this is cultural justice for Western Sydney.

"Our tax dollars have paid for Sydney's cultural institutions and it's about time one of them was located in the region where more than two million people live."

"I hope the critics of this move understand that the Powerhouse Museum has a universal collection on behalf of the people of NSW - not just an exclusive collection for the inner city community.”

While the Museum’s existing site will be redeveloped for commercial and residential purposes, Premier Berejiklian said the precinct will include a lyric theatre and a creative design and fashion museum.

Image: Artists impression of the planned Planetarium at the new Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta (top) and its riverside site (below).

5th August 2017 - NSW GOVERNMENT TO PURCHASE PARRAMATTA RIVERFRONT SITE FOR NEW POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA

21st June 2017 - NSW BUDGET INVESTS IN ARTS, EVENTS AND TOURISM

7th May 2017 - SYDNEY’S POWERHOUSE MUSEUM TO HOST INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

24th April 2017 - SYDNEY MUSEUM ALLIANCE SAYS MOVING POWERHOUSE MUSEUM COLLECTION TO PARRAMATTA ‘ABSOLUTE MADNESS’ 

31st March 2017 - NSW GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES $30 MILLION FUNDING COMMITMENT FOR NEW PARRAMATTA POOL 

25th September 2016 - STUDY DISCOVERS THE CULTURAL TASTES OF MODERN AUSTRALIANS 

28th June 2016 - FREE ENTRY DRAWS CROWDS TO SYDNEY’S MUSEUMS

14th April 2016 - CONFIRMED MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS AND SCIENCES DIRECTOR TO LEAD INSTITUTION INTO A NEW ERA 

11th April 2016 - POWERHOUSE MUSEUM TO BE RELOCATED TO THE BANKS OF THE PARRAMATTA RIVER

13th August 2015 - ROOTY HILL RSL PLANS NEW $55 MILLION ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

27th February 2015 - WESTERN SYDNEY ARTS COMMUNITY BACKS REPORT INTO ARTS AND CULTURAL FUNDING IN THE WEST

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