Base Farm Agri-business Hub, Western Sydney Aerotropolis

Key collaborators: Terroir, Realm Studio and Yerrabingin

Located within the Western Sydney Aerotropolis’ Agribusiness Precinct, Base Farm is a proposed 438-hectare logistics, industrial and commercial precinct positioned adjacent to the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. Atelier Ten was engaged by Project Managers Cerno to lead the sustainability vision and strategy, contributing critical technical and place-based guidance to inform the Master Plan submission.

With Aerotropolis planning controls introducing new requirements for 6 Star Green Star Communities ratings, circular economy infrastructure and cultural landscape integration – it was critical that the masterplan connected regulatory obligations with design outcomes.

Additionally, Atelier Ten provided support navigating the emerging TAP (Technical Assurance Panel) process. As one of the first privately led master plans to proceed through the new pathway, Base Farm faced the dual challenge of developing a pioneering vision whilst maintaining regulatory clarity and development feasibility.

Atelier Ten worked closely with the master plan design team to deliver a fully integrated Sustainability Strategy, aligned to eight core themes, and structured to guide the site’s journey from vision through to staged implementation. The team delivered value for the client and design team in several ways including:

# Co-leading a Design Challenge Workshop with design partners to embed sustainability into the masterplan,
# Defining a Green Star Communities compliance pathway,
# Embedded sustainability into place, co-designing priorities around resilience, ecosystems, climate, circularity, mobility, technology, and equity,
# Led a sustainability-focused exploration of what Australia’s first 22nd Century City could mean for an Agribusiness Precinct,
# Collaborating with Yerrabingin to embed Country as the unifying principle across site design, landscape and governance.

Under Atelier Ten guidance the masterplan responds to Aerotropolis-specific planning controls embedding sustainability into key design and infrastructure planning decisions. As one of the first projects to pass through the TAP review process, the master plan sets a new benchmark for precinct scale development across the Aerotropolis.