Sylvia Park Farmers department store

The flagship Farmers department store we built at Sylvia Park is the anchor tenant of the new Galleria level, which we built concurrently. The department store added a further 8,000m² of retail over two levels.

The structure was a hybrid of insitu concrete columns, precast beams, double tees and a structural steel roof. This allowed us to progress immediately with the insitu works while shop drawings were being produced simultaneously for the precast and structural steel, leading to a significant programme saving.

The envelope was a combination of Espan and Dimond cladding. The base build included extensive staff and corporate facilities, with bathrooms and changing rooms, training areas, a cafeteria, meeting rooms and management suites. The front of house base build works included passenger lifts, scissor escalators and a central display atrium.

We managed delivery of the project while maintaining full 24/7 access to the neighbouring stores, including a sprinkler valve room for the Fire Service and fire egress doors from The Warehouse. Despite the global pandemic, Naylor Love handed the building over defect free to Farmers ahead of programme in May 2020, ready for them to complete their specialist fitout and stock the shelves for their October opening.

Adding a large building to an existing shopping centre required meticulous planning and close coordination with the centre management and project management teams. It was this collaborative relationship that led to the project’s success.