Parramatta Powerhouse (MAAS)

Powerhouse Parramatta outdoor facade on a sunny day.

Located in the Parramatta CBD, and on the Parramatta River foreshore, Powerhouse Parramatta is one of the world’s most significant new museum projects.

Powerhouse Parramatta will:

Deliver more than 18,000 square metres of exhibition and public space, providing increased access to the museum's extraordinary collection and education programs.
Be the first major cultural institution to be built in Western Sydney. Communities across the Greater Sydney region will have increased access to exhibitions, educational and community programs.
Be a high-quality built form and landscape design that achieves design excellence. The project will deliver a new museum connected to the Parramatta River foreshore, delivering public domain and open spaces for the whole community.

Powerhouse Parramatta is currently under construction, with completion forecast in 2025.

You can register for, and read about, construction updates at the NSW Government’s project website.

Project Benefits

A world class museum in Parramatta will be an important new focus for cultural and education development.

Together, Powerhouse Parramatta and the enhanced and enlarged Riverside Theatres will be a first-class educational resource for students as well as a vibrant forum for local cultural industry development.

These two institutions form part of a cultural precinct which is predicted to be both a local and an international tourist destination, with the potential to draw up to one million visitors a year.

Modelling by Deloitte(PDF, 954KB), which was commissioned by Council, shows that by 2028 the new cultural precinct will grow the local economy by between $106 million and $422 million.

Once the museum is operational, local jobs are expected to increase by between 150 and 600 new full-time equivalent jobs.

Council’s Involvement

Council has strongly supported the Powerhouse Parramatta project, due to the cultural and economic benefits it will bring the City of Parramatta.

In 2017, Council and the NSW Government signed a Heads of Agreement (or contract) for Council’s Riverbank site and to create a new cultural precinct on the Parramatta River.