Realm
South Australia
Sectors
Commercial
Location
333 Kent Street, Sydney CBD, NSW
Date Completed
2024
Architect
WMK Architecture
Builder
FDC Construction & Fitout
Merchant House is a commercial redevelopment on Kent Street in Sydney’s CBD, delivered with architect WMK and builder FDC Construction & Fitout. Completed in 2024, the project involved redesigning an existing building while its street level was being renovated concurrently, all within an area with extremely tight access between neighbouring buildings. The custom curtain wall façade includes embellishments throughout, with breakout levels featuring bespoke arched windows and fully prefabricated arched surround frames.
Challenges
Access was the defining constraint on Merchant House, with extremely tight clearance between buildings limiting how the curtain wall could be delivered and installed. The street level was being renovated at the same time as the façade above it, requiring close coordination between trades. The breakout levels added further complexity, with bespoke arched windows and fully prefabricated arched surround frames built to fit precisely within the existing structure.
Strategy
Our strategy was to plan delivery and installation methods around the site’s tight access constraints from the earliest stage, rather than adapting on the fly once work was underway. We coordinated closely with the project team so both scopes could progress in parallel, and prefabricated the arched surround frames for the breakout levels off site, reducing the amount of complex fitting work required in a difficult access environment.
The result was a fully reskinned curtain wall façade delivered in one of Sydney CBD’s tightest access sites, without compromising on architectural detail.
