Commonwealth Parliament offices

Spanning three high-rise floors, the new Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Sydney includes an interior designed by Architectus. The space seeks to take advantage of the qualities of the award-winning office tower, 1 Bligh Street, while providing the ultimate working environment.

The design team, working with Schiavello Construction, was tasked with creating a space that reflects the nature of Sydney, harnessing qualities such as natural daylight, coastal form, local materials, and transparency. Also key to the design brief was maintaining a timelessness that would endure a significant lease period of more than 25 years.

Transparency is a key theme throughout, and the arrangement of the floorplate allows for deep light penetration and access to views. Sweeping, double glazed tenancy walls and ergonomically positioned pods allow patrons walking within the generous circulation to gaze through workspaces out to the views.

For Schiavello, the project afforded the opportunity to showcase the company’s deep set of capabilities, from construction to in-house design, engineering and furniture manufacturing. When the team ran into a critical timing challenge securing the architecturally-designed metal pendant lighting required for two conference rooms, Schiavello’s metal fabrication division stepped in as the manufacturer. Schiavello also harnessed joinery expertise to deliver some of the most highly crafted items of furniture, such as the main conference room table. Meanwhile, Schiavello Signage developed a detailed laser-cut metallic Australian crest designed by Architectus – one of the key focal points in the fitout.

The Schiavello Furniture team worked closely with the interior architect to develop the workplace furniture solutions. The open plan work areas, offices, and visitor suites are supported by a combination of Schiavello’s customised Centric and Marina workstations, paired with bespoke joinery developed to optimise aesthetics and functionality to achieve Architectus’ vision.

Our NSW team managed the design process in great detail, spearheading design workshops to ensure each buildability issue was resolved to achieve the highest quality design and application.

Value engineering was an important consideration for the client, and a level of redundancy was factored into the design, enabling the use of the fitout to be easily amended without having to undergo a retrofit or refurbishment every time the staff members changed. Further, materials and products were assessed on a whole-life-cycle basis to determine the upfront costs as well as maintenance, with a goal of minimising ongoing costs.

From a sustainability perspective, the fitout creates synergy with 1 Bligh Street, which is known for world leadership in environmentally sustainable construction.

Photography by Tyrone Branigan