The “Plan B” the Premier is looking for: Sydney Olympic Park

Making headlines this week, the bold plan to make Rosehill Gardens racecourse a mini-city of 25,000 homes has failed, but the “Plan B” that Premier Chris Minns said he was looking for could be just one metro stop away: Sydney Olympic Park.

An artist’s impression of Sydney Olympic Park in 2050 under the masterplan. Source: Sydney Olympic Park Masterplan

Former Chief Planner for NSW Gary White, has called on the Minns government to develop the hectares of underused public land at Sydney Olympic Park into a “TOD-like” precinct centred around its future metro station - "it's like a great big greenfields site in the middle of metro Sydney, it doesn't have the friction points of dealing with local councils and fragmented ownership".

He has called for a review of the draft masterplan for Sydney Olympic Park to address the current housing need and the TOD priorities of the government - “just align it with what the government is saying around density and TODs as opposed to putting forward a product that doesn’t necessarily reflect that conversation.” The masterplan currently budgets for an increase of 13,000 homes, well short of the potential capacity of the site which Gary believes could reach up to 70,000 homes.

You can read the media coverage here:

Rosehill won’t become a mini-city, but there’s a Plan B just down the metro line - Sydney Morning Herald May 29th 2025

Spare space around the Brick Pit at Olympic Park may become the latest Sydney suburb - 7 News, 29th May 2025

6 Rosehill alternatives that could help fix Sydney’s housing crisis - Australian Financial Review, May 30th 2025