Fort Street Public School
Lendlease Building
Established in 1849, Fort Street Public School on Observatory Hill is one of Australia's oldest public schools. Its multi-year upgrade, designed by FJMT and built by Lendlease, blended old and new: heritage buildings were restored, the former Bureau of Meteorology building became the school library, and a new Flagstaff Wing with rooftop play areas was added, lifting capacity from around 200 to 550 students. The school reopened on its original site for Term 1, 2024.
Time-lapse Coverage
Blackbox captured this rare heritage transformation in the heart of the Sydney CBD, documenting the restoration of some of the country's oldest school buildings alongside brand-new construction. Working on a tightly constrained, heritage-sensitive site ringed by the Cahill Expressway, the Observatory and the National Trust building, our cameras recorded every stage of the rebuild. The result is a striking before-and-after story of old and new brought together.