2 Market Street, Sydney

A glass box that functions as a business centre fills the double height void in this architectural Sydney office refurbishment.

Stone cladding extracted and imported from a quarry near Lake Iseo, Italy, is in abundance throughout the spaces on the floor and walls. A feature ceiling occupies over 260m2 of the floor plate.

The brief for FDC for Stage 1 of the 2 Market Street Lobby Refurbishment was to bring to life a purposefully designed, professional environment to meet the needs of Australia’s next generation of businesses.

The refurbishment, aimed at driving office space leasing and commercial returns, involved major works in the ground floor lobby area and levels five, six and seven.

This project was entirely bespoke in its design and called for innovative construction techniques to be utilised in order to achieve the desired outcomes.

Installing 27 tonnes of large glass panels required a new vertical lifting method to be developed to deliver the works.

The refurbishment was undertaken in a completely live environment, that attracted circa 5,000 visitors daily during the construction and fitout period.

Innovative construction sequencing and methodologies to ensure no disruptions occurred were essential to our successful delivery,” FDC Project Manager James Munro said.

Creation of new amenities to appeal to the prospective tenant market included a business centre, networking lounge, auditorium space & large café / retail offering.

Teams at Cox Architecture and Mostyn Copper collaborated with FDC to deliver the quality-first, bespoke project.

“It’s very rewarding to see that 2 Market Street, Sydney is now successfully repositioned as a premium commercial district that inspires and engages with the people and business teams that visit daily.

Despite the current pandemic climate, it promises to sustain quality, longer-term commercial returns for our client for decades to come,” Mr Munro said.

The project was also the recipient of a prestigious Master Builders Association NSW Excellence in Construction Award, in the “Refurbishment/Renovation/Extension, $7M – $15M” category.

FDC’s success in delivering Stage 1 of the 2 Market Street Lobby Refurbishment resulted in the team being awarded Stage 2 of the project, which is currently underway.