Thriving Barangaroo Reserve sets the standard for landscaping We’re sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss By Robin Powell Normal text size Advertisement Walking under the gums and figs, tree ferns and cabbage palms of Barangaroo Reserve it’s easy to forget that until quite recently this area was a flat concrete slab scattered with shipping containers. The transformation from industrial site to what feels like a headland reserve carved from natural bush has been remarkably speedy. Barangaroo Reserve. Credit:Robin Powell And certainly not uniformly expected. Stuart Pittendrigh, the landscape architect, horticulturist and arborist responsible for the planting, recalls several experts predicting failure. So he’s quietly chuffed as we take a walk around the reserve, six years after we first looked at the planting together.