Artemus Group has received approval for a $500 million expansion of Howard Smith Wharves, bringing Brisbane’s first over-river swimming pool, a 106-room boutique hotel and 8,500 square metres of new public space to the heritage-listed precinct beneath the Story Bridge.
The development approval, granted this week, fires the starting gun on a transformation the Fortitude Valley precinct’s developers have been planning since lodging the application in September 2024.
Dubbed HSW 2.0, the expansion represents the most ambitious change to the site since the original $110 million redevelopment opened in November 2018, and it lands with a clear deadline in sight: the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Brisbane’s first over-river pool
The standout element of the approved design is the over-river pool, the first of its kind in Brisbane. Positioned to extend out over the Brisbane River, the pool forms part of a broader bar and dining precinct that will replace the existing Rivershed venue.
Renderings show an open-air structure that puts swimmers directly above the river, with the Story Bridge and cliffs of Kangaroo Point as the backdrop.
No Brisbane venue has built a pool over the river before. The concept draws on precedents in cities like Paris, where floating pools on the Seine have long been part of how the city uses its waterway, and it fits the broader pattern of cities reclaiming their rivers as recreational infrastructure rather than industrial remnants or backdrop scenery.
Artemus Group founder Adam Flaskas framed the approval as a defining moment for both the precinct and Brisbane’s relationship with its river.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Brisbane,” Flaskas said. “Howard Smith Wharves has always been about connecting people with this magnificent river, and with this announcement we take that vision to an entirely new level.”
A precinct built on Depression-era foundations
Howard Smith Wharves carries genuine historical weight. The wharves were built between 1939 and 1942 as part of a relief employment programme during the Great Depression, constructed in conjunction with the Story Bridge directly above them.
The site served the Howard Smith Co Ltd coastal shipping company until the 1960s, hosted World War II air-raid shelters, and then sat largely abandoned for decades before being listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1997.
Artemus Group secured the site in 2015 and spent three years transforming it into the vibrant precinct locals know today. The riverside hub features 13 restaurants, cafes, and bars, including Felons Brewing Co, Yoko, Greca, Stanley, and Ciao Papi, alongside Crystalbrook Vincent hotel and Howards Hall.
It became the first site in Brisbane to achieve Heritage Hero Status from the National Trust, recognised for its management of built, environmental and cultural heritage across the one development.
The 2018 version of Howard Smith Wharves gave the precinct its identity. HSW 2.0 is designed to deepen it.
Everything else the expansion includes
Beyond the over-river pool, the approved plans include a nine-storey, 106-room boutique hotel to be built atop a substantially upgraded Felons Barrel Hall. The revamped hall will be designed to attract larger music and entertainment events, addressing one of the current site’s capacity limitations.
Two new cliffside lifts will improve access to the precinct from Bowen Terrace above, addressing a long-standing friction point for visitors who find the staircase descent from the valley’s upper streets steep or difficult. Cascading riverfront stairs will create a more gradual connection between the precinct and the water’s edge.
The pontoon infrastructure, which will provide private boat mooring and improved river access for tourism operators, is designed to be flood-resilient, a significant engineering consideration for any structure built over the Brisbane River. The new public realm totals 8,500 square metres, a 30 per cent increase on the current site’s outdoor space.
Howard Smith Wharves chief executive Luke Fraser said every design decision had been guided by a single question.
“How do we create something that Brisbane will be proud to show the world in 2032 and for decades beyond?” he said.
What comes next
The full build is targeted for completion ahead of the 2032 Games. Construction timelines have not yet been confirmed publicly, though the development approval means the project can now move into detailed design and tender phases. The Bougainvillea House event venue will also be redeveloped from its current single storey into a two-storey building as part of the broader works.
Howard Smith Wharves is at 5 Boundary Street, Fortitude Valley. For updates on the HSW 2.0 development and precinct bookings, click here.
Published 28-May-2026
