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TUD Awards Winner: Development of the Year — Hotels & Accommodation

The third annual The Urban Developer Awards, in association with Construction Industry Solutions (COINS), recognises standout property industry performers from across Australasia.

The awards program is a little different this year: delivered digitally, with the previously held black-tie gala dinner replaced with our extended virtual celebration, Winners’ Month.

Today, we celebrate Development of the Year — Hotels & Accommodation proudly presented by SALTO Systems.

This award recognises excellence in the development of accommodation projects.

The finalists for Development of the Year - Hotels & Accommodation are:

Emporium Hotel
Anthony John Group
The Ritz-Carlton, Perth
Cottee Parker Architects
Melbourne City Mission Frontyard
Fender Katsalidis
Vibe Darling Harbour
Icon Oceania
Midnight Hotel, Autograph Collection
Fender Katsalidis
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Queenstown
Pro-invest Group

And the winner is...

Watch the video to listen to a Q&A with the winner.

About this project

Vibe Hotel Darling Harbour blends Sydney’s rich heritage with New York’s chic sophistication to deliver a 4.5 star unique offering to a new wave of lifestyle and business traveller.

The design of the hotel offers a new sense of luxury in the inner-city hotel market, engaging with the streetscape and offering a consistent language at all touch points. The modern aesthetic appeals to seasoned business and leisure travellers as well as millennials.

The hotel’s public spaces and rooms reinforce the New York Loft feel with playful elements such as brass mesh wardrobes to reference a Brownstone elevator. Brickwork was chosen as a façade element to fit the character of Sussex Street and to tie the new hotel in with the local surrounds.

Project details

The project features an all-day dining restaurant, 145 guest rooms, fully-equipped gym, rooftop pool and garden bar overlooking the city skyline.
Designed by WMK Architecture, the hotel draws inspiration from the site’s diverse history and the brick heritage-listed school opposite the hotel.
Corium Brickwork was used on the façade. The clip on system not only saved time on installation but reduced significant waste and cleaning materials required for more traditional brickworks.

A word from the winner...

“We came in with a clear strategy to put a hotel here because of it's location,” Icon Oceania director Nico Tjen said.

“It's in-between town hall, Chinatown and Darling Harbour so in terms of target market we had leisure markets and corporate and anywhere in between.

“Within the second week [of opening] we are at 100 per cent occupancy and leading into November, December it was very well received.

“The design is sympathetic to the streetscape, [incorporating] of a lot of Brickwork. When your looking as a pedestrian down Sussex Street you wouldn't even notice that this building is new. It marries with the existing streetscape.”