The Sydney Fish Market has tested its 200‑metre floating roof lighting system, giving Sydneysiders a first glimpse at one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest hybrid timber‑and‑steel roofs illuminated at night. The system features more than 400 light fixtures and four kilometres of cabling, with each of the 400 roof cassettes able to be lit individually for multi‑coloured and moving displays. It will be used to mark major events and could feature in the Vivid Sydney festival or upcoming World Cups.
“This lighting is just a taste of what’s to come with this iconic destination,” NSW Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper said. “The roof with its wave‑like form and fish‑scale design is a sight to behold during the day, and even more spectacular at night when it is lit up. We are now well and truly on the home stretch and look forward to the new Sydney Fish Market being completed by the end of the year.”
The Fish Market — described as the city’s most important harbour development in decades — is also a showcase of complex timber engineering. In June, Gianlugui Traetta and Nicola Leonardelli of Rubner Timber Engineering told Wood Central that the roof is the largest ever built for a fish market in the Southern Hemisphere. Fabricated in Rubner’s facility near the Dolomites in northern Italy, it incorporates 1,800 cubic metres of spruce glulam and 50 tonnes of steel.
“This is one of the most complicated parts of the project,” Traetta said. “We shipped 594 glulam parts in 160 packages inside the vessel’s hold, not in containers, with the longest piece 32.7 metres — far larger than the 12‑metre maximum size of a container. After eight weeks of transit, the timber arrived at Glebe, where it was unloaded and barged directly to the site’s harbourside entry.”
Leonardelli, who leads Rubner’s structural engineering team, said preassembling as much as possible in a controlled factory environment “allowed for much better quality on site” and faster installation. Paolo Aschieri, director of Theca Timber, said the canopy’s shape uses wind to extract warm air while shielding workers from southerlies. “The canopy is a blend of wood and steel, designed to be outwardly as porous as possible while blocking direct sunlight and minimising the need for building cooling.”
The $1‑billion‑plus project, delivered by Infrastructure NSW and built by Multiplex, will include seafood retail, restaurants, a seafood school and public spaces, and is expected to attract six million visitors annually. Designed by 3XN with BVN and Aspect Studios, the glulam roof clicked into place earlier this year. Sydney Fish Market CEO Daniel Jarosch said the venue will be “a world‑class destination — blending fresh seafood, vibrant retail, diverse dining, and unforgettable entertainment all under one iconic roof.”
- Wood Central understands that the new Sydney Fish Market remains on track to open in time for Christmas.
