More storage for Sydney

Construction of Sydney Harbour’s newest and biggest dry boat storage facility has commenced at Rozelle Bay, with the capacity to house close to 300 powerboats.

This is the first major storage facility on Sydney Harbour since the Birkenhead Point dry storage facility closed down and was replaced by residential units.

The storage facility will accommodate powerboats ranging in size from 5m up to 11m in length and is due for completion in the last quarter of 2014, in time for summer.

James Markham, co-founder and Director of Sydney Boathouse, said the facility would deliver much-needed boat storage for the recreational boating community of Sydney Harbour.

"There is an urgent requirement for more boat storage close to the Harbour and Sydney Boathouse will provide the boating community of NSW with this much-needed facility as well as managed access for the public to the foreshore," Markham said.

Recent Government studies point out the urgent need for more boat storage spaces for Sydney Harbour. In 2012, there were 217,000 recreational vessels in NSW, which are forecast by Government increase to almost 335,000 by 2026. The same studies also note that there are currently only just over 10,000 boat storage spaces on Sydney Harbour.

Since the onset of the GFC, the implementation of the Sydney Boathouse project has been divided into a number of phases, with the floating marina and hardstand boat storage business completed in early 2011, allowing Sydney Boathouse to commence trading.

Michael Fountain, co-founder and Director of Sydney Boathouse, said the team had decided to build the business before financing and constructing the first dry boat storage building.

"Now we have nearly 80 boats being stored on the hardstand ahead of completing the dry boat storage building, we are very confident of the market demand," he said.

Sydney Boathouse’s marina manager, James Thompson, said: "The hardstand boat storage business is at, or close to, full occupancy so we can’t wait for the dry storage building to be finished later this year."