(below: view from Druitt St, Hamish McIntosh). Nestled amongst office and commercial buildings at the southern end of Clarence St, the building is substantially lower than its neighbours. The works involved facade restoration and repainting, a key concern of which was the desire to make people notice this little but significant piece of Sydney's history. Prior to the renovations, painted an orange/ochre colour, the building had garnered the informal nickname of "the Pink Police Station" - a moniker we felt worthy and a playful way to highlight this piece of the city.

(right: Clarence St elevation, Hamish McIntosh). The new additions to the building sit largely invisibly above the parapet, set back from the main elevation and in dark colours receding from the streetscape. The key works to the heritage facade included new timber window joinery at the upper levels, new steel balustrades and general facade render restoration works.

(right, Hamish McIntosh): the central atrium was once an outdoor yard, providing the ground floor prison cells with light and ventilation. At the rear of the atrium are the original iron bars that secured the courtyard from the rear of the site, then used as an exercise yard.

A key outcome of the project was the incorporation of an elevator accessing all levels, improving the accessibility of the premises to the general public and all abilities. Slotted into the narrow atrium, the lift provides public access through to the communal roof terrace.

(left and below, Hamish McIntosh) : new additions are generally brightly coloured or in rich materiality, establishing a simple contrast between old and new.

(below) Culminating in the rooftop extension, the project involved what may be the final vertical extension of this significant heritage asset with a communal roof garden and cantilevered glass awning to provide an outdoor exhibition space, and common-use space for the building occupants. A rare opportunity to contribute to the public life of the city, the building now has a public ground floor and a new room-in-the-city on its rooftop. (Hamish McIntosh)

(right) The third floor terrace is principally associated with the refurbished level 3 commercial space, with a curved, standing seam zinc facade acting as a final 'cornice' capping the building and creating a relationship with the various horizontal bands of the heritage facade to Clarence St. (Hamish McIntosh)

The project involved the complete refurbishment of the interiors. Stripping back the layers of history in the building, 281 Clarence is a mix of construction types, of periods of construction logics and as more was revealed, more complex interfaces between heritage and intervention have been revealed. The project increasingly required careful consideration of its found state, at once reconnecting with history as much as revealing that history of intervention and strange junctions.