3 November 2018: Buildcorp’s transformational lobby refurbishment for Charter Hall has taken home the top award for best ‘Interior Fit-out $3m – $5m’ at the 2018 NSW Master Builders Association (MBA) Excellence in Construction Awards.
The commercial tower located at 65 Berry Street, North Sydney, underwent a $3.7m transformation to refurbish the entire ground floor, removing 1,000m2 of offices to make way for a lobby and collaborative spaces. This is part of an ongoing trend for landlords to reactivate building lobbies with flexible communal facilities, providing a ‘Third Space’ for people to work and interact. Other recent lobby transformations delivered by Buildcorp’s teams include 60 Union Street in Pyrmont, 240 Queen Street in Brisbane and 360 Collins Street in Melbourne.
Buildcorp completed the 65 Berry Street lobby in September 2017 across two stages in just 14 weeks, whilst the building was tenanted and operational. The new fit-out includes a ‘wellness’ area offering free yoga and Pilates, an events auditorium, a not-for-profit café, an artist studio and exhibition space. The end-of-trip facilities were extended to include male and female change rooms, a new bike storage area and lockers.
Extended team effort
The design featured a 20-tonne timber ceiling suspended off the existing slab. In a true team effort, Buildcorp’s joinery arm Euroline, along with their Europanel Acoustic Solutions team, helped to deliver the joinery and feature timber ceiling. While Euroline created the project’s joinery, Europanel worked with the Architect to offer their own ‘heavy duty suspension system’ for the bespoke feature ceiling, which also integrated all the services requirements.
This collaborative approach extended to the whole project design and delivery team which included WMK Architecture, Mostyn Copper and Client Charter Hall.
Contained construction
A key challenge for the project team was managing the live environment to minimise impact on the building’s tenants. This included a childcare centre located above the construction zone and maintaining safe lobby access for hundreds of office workers. Buildcorp engineered vertical and horizontal hoarding solutions to fully encapsulate and contain the construction noise and dust. These efforts, along with extensive services coordination, ensured the building occupants could maintain their ‘business-as-usual’.
