The suggested relocation of the popular design museum, from Ultimo to Western Sydney, continues to spark debate.

The proposed move of the Sydney Powerhouse Museum from its current location in Ultimo to Western Sydney’s Parramatta continues to spark debate a year after the NSW Government first mooted the idea. 

“The government has made a top-down decision with no assessment or consultation, and as a result, the inner city will lose something it wants, and Western Sydney will get something it never asked for,” said inner-city MP Alex Greenwich in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. More than 170 prominent figures, including Cate Blanchett and Marc Newson, have signed an open letter titled “Please Don’t Destroy the Powerhouse.” The letter argues that the current site in Ultimo is a “world class museum”, and that its creation was a “major investment for the people of New South Wales” that “will be squandered if the museum’s site is sold to developers.” 

The Museum has existed under various guises for over 125 years and has been housed in its current location, in an old converted electric power station in Ultimo, since 1988. The property boom in Sydney, which...