The capital of New South Wales will have a Wavegarden surf pool by 2018.
There are roughly 200,000 surfers in Sydney. The new man-made wave park will be built at Sydney Olympic Park, and the entire structure will occupy an area of 3.2 hectares on an abandoned car park located near ANZ Stadium.
Urbnsurf Sydney will be Australia's second artificial surf pool. The first announcement made by the Wave Park Group was Urbnsurf Melbourne, a project that will be concluded and ready to pump waves by 2017.
The new artificial wave park will be accessible to over two million residents in under 30 minutes. The A$26.5 million inland surfing complex by Wavegarden will help minimize the issues of overcrowding in Sydney's traditional surf spots.
"Waves will range from up to 1.7-meter high, pitching waves, that are designed for the highest levels of performance surfing, down to 0.6-meter high, rolling white water waves, which are ideal for beginner surfers," underlines Andrew Ross, founder of the Wave Park Group.
"Sydney is blessed with a number of great surfing beaches, but access to those beaches and overcrowding in the line-up is becoming an increasing issue. UrbnSurf Sydney will bring the beach to your backyard, unlocking the geographic limitations of ocean-based surfing."
Urbnsurf Sydney will also be an alternative to the sharky waters of New South Wales, and will open its doors to the public two years before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in which surfing will likely make its debut.
"Forget about Bondi or Manly: you can come straight here to Sydney Olympic Park and get the best waves you’ll find anywhere. The UrbnSurf Park is a massive vote of confidence in the future of western Sydney tourism," added Stuart Ayres, the NSW sports minister.