The contractor who will deliver major construction on the renovation of a landmark Sydney museum has been selected.  

The New South Wales Government has announced that Richard Crooks Constructions has been awarded the main works contract to deliver the $300 million renewal of the Powerhouse Museum site in Ultimo.

Prior to its closing for renovation last year, Powerhouse Ultimo served as the primary venue of the Powerhouse Museum – a collection of four museums in Sydney which is owned by the New South Wales Government and which is one of Australia’s oldest continually operating museums.

The museum’s focused involves exploring the intersections of design, innovation, science, engineering and technology.

The Ultimo building opened in 1988 and is housed in a repurposed electric tram power station that was construed in 1899 to provide electricity for Sydney’s trams.

The site’s makeover is part of a $1.2 billion program to expand and revitalise the broader Powerhouse Museum.

In addition, the Ultimo site makeover, this includes the construction of the brand-new Powerhouse Parramatta, which is currently scheduled to open in late 2026.

Set to take place over three years, the redevelopment of the Ultimo site aims to expand and enhance exhibition spaces, improve visitor accessibility and preserve the site’s historical architecture.

Features include:

• Four exhibition spaces. These will by flexible and dynamic and will enable the museum to create and present high quality, internationally leading museum exhibitions across the applied arts and applied sciences and featuring the Powerhouse Collection.
• New public domain spaces, including 2000 sqm at the northern end of The Goods Line, the Post Office Courtyard on Harris Street and an internal courtyard accessible from Macarthur Street.
• Establishment of a central, intuitive and accessible visitor circulation system that will more readily enable visitors to access exhibition, program and education spaces and will support a high-quality visitor experience.
• Reorientation of the museum’s entrance to the Goods Line that will improve access from the light rail and Darling Square.
• A newly activated façade that will house creative industries along Harris Street and will improve the museum’s contribution to the Ultimo streetscape.
• Separation of front-of-house and back-of-house operations from exhibition and circulation spaces.
• Dedicated spaces which are specifically designed for Powerhouse learning programs. These will enable the museum to create immersive educational experiences, workshops and programs catered to students and learners of all ages.
• Conservation of the heritage-listed original Power Station buildings for their ongoing adaptive reuse by the museum.

A late design change means that much of the modern wing of the current building will need to be pulled down for safety reasons rather than being retained.

Under previously approved plans, the upper steel structure of the Wran Building and Galleria – which form the modern wing of an award-winning architectural adaption to the 1988 museum – was to have been retained.

During the tender process, however, all three contractors advised that parts of the structure would not be strong enough to carry the new brick structure.

If retained, contractors advised that the design would be unsafe, with design of steel structures, load capability, fabrication and erection not being compliant with the National Construction Code.

As such the internal steel structures will be disassembled and replaced.

A modification to the approval to enable this to occur will be lodged with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure next week.

The modifications will be covered within the project’s existing budget, the Government said.