Sydney Metro is about to get bigger — Hassell-designed Sydenham Station connects it

As Sydney’s Metro network prepares to grow again, Hassell’s award-winning Sydenham Station design continues to prove its value at scale — a marker of what enduring, functional infrastructure design looks like in practice.

The Sydenham to Bankstown extension of Sydney Metro has moved into Trial Running, the last operational testing stage before independent rail safety regulators assess whether the line is ready for passengers. 

Once testing and regulatory sign-off are complete, the extension will link into the existing M1 line at Hassell-designed Sydenham Station, forming one continuous 51.5-kilometre metro service from Tallawong to Bankstown. At full capacity, the integrated line is expected to move around 17,000 passengers in each direction, every hour, through the Sydney CBD during peak periods.

SYDENHAM STATION: WINNER OF THE WALTER BURLEY GRIFFIN AWARD FOR URBAN DESIGN

It’s a timely moment for Sydenham Station. Designed by Hassell in collaboration with Weston Williamson, it won the 2025 Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design — Australian architecture’s top urban design honour — and is one of six Sydney Metro stations recognised at the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards.

The award recognises the full Sydney Metro City Stations undertaking — six new stations and two upgraded stations spanning the city’s inner corridor. 

The jury described the project as a strategic, financial and urban design triumph, noting its dramatic effect on mobility through Sydney’s inner city.

At Sydenham, Hassell served as both architect and landscape architect, working alongside Weston Williamson, with construction delivered by John Holland and Laing O’Rourke, engineering by Aurecon and GHD, and public art by Agatha Gothe Snape. The station forms part of a network the jury praised for pairing rigorous engineering with distinct architectural character — noting that while each station understands its role within the network, the architecture remains committed to celebrating the unique qualities of place.

ELEVEN STATIONS, ONE REFERENCE DESIGN: THE GROUNDWORK BEHIND SYDENHAM

Hassell’s involvement in Sydenham dates back to the reference design phase, where our team completed technical design work across all 11 stations on the former Bankstown Line — working through some of Sydney Metro’s toughest questions, including how new metro infrastructure could integrate with heritage buildings, how platform alignments would work within tight urban constraints, and how interchange conditions between old and new networks should function. Hassell was subsequently successful in the tender for delivery of Sydenham Station itself, carrying that early technical resolution through to the station that has now been recognised on the national stage.

Judges for the Walter Burley Griffin Award also highlighted the successful integration of Indigenous knowledge and public art across all stations, along with the project’s broader urban impact — revitalising streetscapes and driving commercial and capital investment in the surrounding precincts. 

The Walter Burley Griffin Award, presented annually since 1988, recognises excellence in urban design across Australia. Sydney Metro City Stations joins a list of past winners that includes major civic and precinct-scale projects, cementing the network’s place among the country’s most significant recent infrastructure achievements.

Hassell’s contribution reflects the firm’s established presence in large-scale transport and civic infrastructure.