Sydney Opera House VAPS Redevelopment (NSW)
The Vehicle Access & Pedestrian Safety Project (VAPS) redevelopment at the Sydney Opera House is the biggest construction project undertaken since the Opera House opened in 1973.
Work initially will focus on repositioning the Bennelong Drain – a subterranean stormwater drain servicing the northern part of Sydney’s CBD that runs underneath the Forecourt – to make way for a new tunnel that will be dug from the bottom of Macquarie Street to a new underground loading dock, leaving the Forecourt a truck-free zone.
Additional tunnels will connect the new underground loading dock to new lifts for food and beverage deliveries as well as deliveries to the Concert Hall and the three smaller theatres on the House’s western side. A new scenery platform lift will also be built underground to load and unload large and often cumbersome sets to the existing Opera Theatre dock.