Community Newsletter - Quarter 1, 2025

First Building grand opening

Bradfield City Centre celebrated a major milestone with the grand opening of the First Building by NSW Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday, 5 March 2025.  

The event was a huge success, attended by Deputy Premier Prue Car, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully, local Mayors, industry leaders, and community leaders.

The First Building, housing the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF) and AMRF Connect, marks the launch of an innovation hub that will drive advanced manufacturing in Western Sydney. This world-class facility is set to create high-skilled jobs, foster business growth, and strengthen the NSW economy.

The event highlighted the collaborative efforts of government, industry, and community stakeholders in building Bradfield—Australia’s first new city in 100 years.

Premier Minns remarked, "A new city requires a big dream...it is incredibly exciting to see that dream taking shape in Bradfield."

The opening of First Building signals an exciting chapter for Western Sydney, paving the way for a vibrant, sustainable future.

Stay tuned as Bradfield continues to take shape!

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Video transcript

Opening of First Building in Bradfield

Ken Morrison

There's a lot of excitement in the room which is fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to what is the first building of a brand new city. This is a major milestone in the creation of Australia's first new city in 100 years.

Chris Minns

Friends, a new city requires a big dream, and today it's incredibly exciting to see that dream taking shape here in Bradfield. 

Jennifer Westacott

This city will drive new industries new skills and new jobs. This new city will drive opportunities in advanced manufacturing, new approaches to research and development with our university partners.

Tom Gellibrand

The building itself is fantastic, it is just the beginning of something that's going to be much larger of course.

Chris Minns

Inside these four walls serious work will be done.

David Borger

You often don't see this great tech all in one place that's purpose designed to create an innovation future for our city and for our country.

Ned Mannoun

We're in this beautiful place, and right behind us you have a valve for a nuclear submarine. It's amazing to see such a big vision finally come into reality.

Jennifer Westacott

The creation of well-paid jobs close to where people live will be at the center of everything we do.

Tony Scholes

This land has always been a place of knowledge, sharing and gathering.

Ashleigh Cagney

Having an employment hub like this so close to home is brilliant for us and our community.

Matt Gould

There is just massive opportunity for our entire region that we we haven't seen before.

Ned Mannoun

This is not for us, this is for our kids, this is the future this sets the benchmark and it's only go higher and higher from here.

Green light for Bradfield's iconic new Central Park

The world-class design for the two-hectare Central Park on the doorstep of the Bradfield Metro Station has now been approved.

Set to open in line with the Bradfield Metro Station, the stunning two-hectare park will welcome visitors arriving to the city through bus and the Western Sydney Airport line currently under construction.  

A welcoming public space in the heart of the city, Central Park will provide important early green, open space for workers, residents, and visitors to gather, play, and relax.  

Designed with Country at its core, Central Park showcases the rich cultural heritage of the Dharug people. More than 550 mature trees and over 70,000 species of native plants will create a green oasis with public art, active learning, and gathering spaces.  

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Key features of Central Park include:

• An iconic Skyring installation celebrating Sky Country.
• Gathering Ground for community and cultural events, with a capacity of more than 5,000 people.
• Interwoven Heart featuring Dharug weaving and woven play to enhance exploration, play, education, shade and celebration of First Nations culture.
• Integrated public art encouraging curiosity and discovery of the landscape.
• Extensive greenery, with minimum 65 per cent tree canopy cover of native species. 

Ancient custom cleanses First Building

In a powerfully spiritual moment, Dharug elder Uncle Colin Locke led a Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country ahead of the First Building’s official opening.  

Smoking Ceremonies, deeply embedded in ancient custom, are believed to hold spiritual and physical cleansing properties while warding off bad spirits.

Uncle Tony Scholes, Chairperson of the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council, also spoke at the ceremony, emphasising the importance of true partnership as Bradfield continues to take shape.

Following the Smoking Ceremony, Uncle Colin brought together Dharug Traditional Custodians, Gandangara representatives, AMRF team members, and Bradfield City Centre leaders, including CEO Ken Morrison, for a yarning circle. This meaningful gathering offered a space to share stories, knowledge, and concerns in a safe and respectful environment.

This important event was held as part of our commitment to Reconciliation, Respect, and Partnership with First Nations peoples as we deliver Bradfield City Centre. 

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Video transcript

Bradfield City Centre First Building Smoking Ceremony

Ken Morrison 

This might be the first building of a new city, but it's been created in an ancient country.

Uncle Colin Locke 

I'd like to warmly welcome you all here today and to pay our respects on the land that we stand upon. A smoking ceremony. It's not only done by Aboriginal people but by many cultures around the world. It's used for cleansing of the body, spiritually, physically. 

Ken Morrison 

Today we're recognising that continuing association and the importance of Aboriginal people, First Nations people in the life of Bradfield.

Tony Scholes 

This land has always been a place of knowledge sharing, innovation and gathering. 

Dr Melissa Williams 

We've been with Bradfield City since inception and it's been a big journey and it was good to catch up with the designers and the architects and I think they've done a great job.

Uncle Colin Locke 

Ladies and gentlemen, while you're here on Dharug Country by the good spirit Biiami, watch over you from the high country. 

Ken Morrison 

This journey to create this building, and indeed for the whole planning here at Bradfield, has been one that's been done in collaboration with First Nations communities. As we commit and recognise and celebrate Country, culture and community. 

Natalie Camilleri 

We consider all of you our greatest friends and to walk for a long time with us on this city building journey. 

Tony Scholes 

It's through working together that we can build places and spaces that truly reflect the past, present and future of this land. 

Ross Tangye

It's even like looking now. The wood, instead of being concrete and bricks, you've got nice wood and exposed beams, glass. You can see through the place. It's got a nice feel about the place. Suits me.

Civil works making inroads

Did you know we are delivering civil and enabling works covering 38 hectares of land at Bradfield to support future development in the city?

In partnership with the team at local Western Sydney business WEM Civil, we are moving full steam ahead with laying the essential groundworks required for the city.

With services delivered to the boundary, the enabling works will support future land releases in Bradfield, helping to deliver 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs in the new city.

While this means moving and leveling over 150,000 cubic metres of material to lay the foundations, we are also rehabilitating and revegetating to improve native biodiversity within Bradfield with an average 40% tree canopy cover for a green, cool city.

Building a sustainable and resilient future

At Bradfield City Centre, we're building a sustainable and resilient future for Western Sydney from the ground up.  

CEO Ken Morrison showed Nine news through the First Building to learn more about how we're setting a strong precedent in sustainability for future development.

Sustainability features of the building include:

• Modular design allowing components to be disassembled, reconfigured or reused in the future
• Large roof structure with water harvesting, solar energy generation and shading to the façades below
• Green roof with 14,000 biodiverse native low-maintenance plants adapted to Western Sydney’s heat
• Sixteen rammed earth walls connecting to Country and maintaining a constant internal temperature through high thermal mass
• Natural ventilation to cool the building through atrium and façade panel opening

AMRF making history

The AMRF team were excited to make history in February, as the first business in Australia’s newest city in 100 years.  

The AMRF will play an important role in Bradfield City Centre as the anchor organisation creating a new industry ecosystem in the city. It is paving the way for Western Sydney’s transformation with state-of-the-art technology that promises to drive innovation, support businesses, and boost economic growth.

Moving high tech machines into their new home was no easy feat! Precision was key in positioning the DMG MORI DMU80 and NT4250 within the manufacturing hall, using the built-in crane and lots of the team to make it happen successfully. The cutting-edge machines are now ready to tackle industry challenges and deliver advanced manufacturing solutions.

This milestone is just the beginning of an ambitious journey to establish a world-class facility that will empower industries and foster collaboration across Western Sydney.  

Watch the video of the machine moving into the building, and learn more about how the AMRF is helping businesses to grow. 

AMRF's first project signed, sealed and delivered

Western Sydney engineering company Marley Flow Control is the first to benefit from the AMRF.

The time-study project identified operational efficiencies in Marley Flow Control’s manufacturing processes that could generate up to six times the current productivity of the business and an estimated 20% reduction in production costs – huge impacts!

Keen to build on this increased productivity, Marley Flow Control are now working with the AMRF to further enhance production efficiencies. 

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Video transcript

AMRF Marley Flow Control case study

Kalolo Matavesi

We are at Marley Flow Control. This is the workshop that we build our stainless steel cooling towers from.

Gareth Jones

We knew where we wanted to go, but we needed to go the next step, which was to get cost out of manufacturing, improve our manufacturing process. 

Maegan Baker

When we first started working with Marley Flow, we were really fortunate to be going into a fantastic manufacturing company. They had a great team and a great product. But to become more competitive on that global scale, we needed to figure out how we could best support them.

Nick Hurley

When we're working with the AMRF where they're sort of helping us innovate things. 

Maegan Baker

Part of that exploration was looking at how they do business now and really understanding where the greatest impact could be through changes recommended by the AMRF team.

Nick Hurley

And push it further. So we could be pushing it from a small scale to something much larger. 

Gareth Jones

Our long-term goal was to take our product internationally. We couldn't do that because we didn't have the production capacity until the AMRF came to us and made those recommendations. They want to push manufacturing in Australia, so they're helping us develop this to be even more, I guess you could say, efficient.

Kalolo Matavesi

The majority of us are from Western Sydney, so we kind of all have the same humour and same attitude. So I think that's why we connect really well and work together really well as a crew.

Gareth Jones

Here in Australia, we've lost a massive knowledge base of manufacturing, whether it be personnel, whether it be expertise, whether it be machinery. The AMRF can bring that all back to us. 

Nick Hurley

We've had blokes like Nathan and James who actually come from composite backgrounds. They know, you know, more than anyone really. We've definitely been teamed up with the right people.

Gareth Jones

All we've seen is cooperation. 

Nick Hurley

We're actually the first to deal with them in this manufacturing process they want to do. So yeah, they've been nothing but, you know, overly helpful. So it's been great.

The AMRF is a key part of the NSW Government strategy to grow the advanced manufacturing sector in Western Sydney and beyond. The AMRF also anchors the new city of Bradfield at the heart of the Aerotropolis which will be a home for high quality jobs in advanced manufacturing and education training.

The pipeline of current AMRF projects span across high-priority industries such as aerospace, agriculture, defence, energy, medtech and more.

Have a business that could benefit from a project with the AMRF? Contact the team.

Innovation through collaboration

The AMRF has partnered with 11 NSW and ACT universities to boost advanced manufacturing in Western Sydney.  

By combining strengths, this partnership opens new doors for research to become reality and strengthens ties between academia and industry.  

A paid internship program launching in 2025 will also equip university students with invaluable hands-on experience, nurturing the next generation of advanced manufacturing leaders.

Universities partnering with the AMRF under the agreement include:

• Australian Catholic University (ACU)
• The Australian National University (ANU)
• Charles Sturt University (CSU)
• University of New South Wales (UNSW)
• Macquarie University (MQ)
• The University of Newcastle (UON)
• The University of New England (UNE)
• The University of Sydney (USYD)
• University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
• University of Wollongong (UOW)
• Western Sydney University (WSU)

Funding boosts to connect Southwest Sydney with the Aerotropolis

Recent funding announcements aimed at connecting Sydney’s southwest growth areas to the Aerotropolis have highlighted the generational opportunity of the Western Sydney International Airport, the Aerotropolis, and Bradfield City Centre to drive innovation, jobs, and economic growth.  

In February, $1 billion was committed to upgrade Fifteenth Avenue. This will create an important transit corridor from Liverpool, meaning faster and easier travel for people to access thousands of high quality jobs and opportunities at Bradfield.

Announced in March, an additional $1 billion federal funding was committed to purchase land corridors for rail connections from Bradfield, which will support plans to connect the booming southwest population with the jobs of the future in Australia's first new city in 100 years.

These funding boosts add to the $25 billion of existing major infrastructure investments in the Aerotropolis, connecting the rest of Western Sydney and NSW to the enormous economic opportunities Bradfield and the Aerotropolis offer.

Shape the future of Bradfield City Centre

Want to shape how Australia’s first new city in 100 years grows? We’re looking for insights from the community on how we can make sure that Bradfield City Centre is a vibrant, exciting place to live, work, and visit.  

Our community survey takes just 15-20 minutes to complete and will have a big impact on the future of the new city. Complete the survey now.

Community Open Day

You’ve heard about it and seen it on the news – now come see First Building for yourself at Bradfield City Centre’s inaugural community open day in June 2025.

Discover our stunning, sustainable and resilient First Building for yourself and learn more about what’s next for Bradfield and the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.  

Keep your eyes peeled for an invitation in your inbox in coming weeks. 

School tours now available

Learning about cities, sustainability, or jobs of the future with your class?  

Bring your students for a tour of the First Building at Bradfield City Centre!  

The Authority is now hosting guided school tours. Over 50 minutes, your students can explore the building and discover more about architecture, sustainable design, city building, and advanced industries and jobs of the future.

We are accepting group bookings on Mondays and Wednesdays. Learn more or book a tour by sending an email to venuesevents@bda.nsw.gov.au or calling us on 1800 312 999.  

BDA in the news

Missed our stories?  

We've been talking to the media about all things Bradfield City and the Western Sydney Aerotropolis. Catch up here:  

• TimeOut – A huge new city is being built in Sydney – the first major city to be built in Australia in more than 100 years
• @AuManufacturing – Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility’s First Building opened
• Australian Manufacturing – NSW universities partner with AMRF to boost advanced manufacturing
• Innovation Aus – NSW manufacturing facility launches with uni partnership
• Inside Construction – Bradfield’s new Central Park approved as city takes shape
• Bradfield Bulletin – Green light for Bradfield’s iconic new Central Park