Watch out Hong Kong, Sydney is fast becoming the most envious harbour skyline in the world. Enter, the Sofitel Hotel Darling Harbour.
The Sofitel was arguably the most exciting hotel opening in Sydney for almost 20 years. This luxurious home away from home is the first 5-star hotel to be built since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Representing the third stage of the $2.5 billion Darling Harbour revitalisation, Rondo was given the chance to assist with the build through Contractor, Sydney Projects.
Rondo’s unrivalled ability to provide Seismic designs and our strong working relationship with Sydney Projects made choosing our products a no-brainer. Importantly, this was the first major hotel project where seismic requirements needed to be addressed, and therefore Rondo supplied designs for internal wall partitions, ceilings, seismic walls and seismic bulkheads.
Levels 5-33 required seismic consideration and on level 34 of the building, the fire-rated ceilings and bulkheads presented some challenges that were soon overcome using the Rondo Technical Services Team’s ingenuity in design and flexibility. The guest lift lobby ceiling also featured the KEY-LOCK® Concealed Ceiling System and separate stud framed coffers on three sides relying on bulkheads to provide extra seismic support.
Supporting the International Convention Centre and overlooking Cockle Bay, the outstanding $129M development by Builder, Lend Lease took just three years to complete (October 2014 – October 2017) and is now one of Australia’s largest hotel establishments. Jointly designed by FJMT Sydney and Lend Lease Design, the project features 590 guestrooms and suites, all with 5-star views of Sydney harbour. Not to mention a rooftop infinity pool and helipad.