[3] Former Lord Mayor of Sydney Frank Sartor was the driving force behind the development when he unveiled preliminary plans for a $30 million revamp of the site in September 1996.

[4] The strategy for the Centre was applauded by architecture critic Elizabeth Farrelly, who said that it would be "substantially increasing the city's open space quotient, creating a new public amenity and offering an exciting urban opportunity, you'd have to say it's pretty hard to beat".

[3] The City of Sydney appointed co-designers in Bligh Voller Nield and landscape architect Spackman Mossop with construction commencing in November 1997.

[4] Lawrence Nield was the leading architect for the design, with his past sporting projects including the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

[6] On the development, Nield said that he felt a "special affection" for the Cook and Phillip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre "whose innovative structure supports a system of pools and paving that make its roof into a fine civic space in a sensitive area of the city, forming a complex piazza that serves both as the parvise of St Mary's Cathedral and as the forecourt for the Australian Museum.

[1] Architect Clive Lucas said that "it's full of skateboarders, seagulls and pigeons and it's just become a slum",[4] Farrelly labelled it a "gloomy underground pool"[3] and former Prime Minister Paul Keating described the area in front of the Centre as a "wasteland".

[9] Along the walls of the 50-metre pool within the Cook and Phillip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre are eight paintings by Sydney artist Wendy Sharpe that depict the life of Australian Annette Kellerman, a swimmer and performer who overcame a number of obstacles to become a world champion.