Keeping Australia's most famous building running like clockwork

An international icon, a very busy performance venue, Australia's most-visited tourist site and our most valuable and complex 20th century heritage building. The Sydney Opera House is a facility manager's dream and nightmare.

Two million people attend 3,000 events every year. Millions more visit just to wander through J¿rn Utzon's masterpiece. Over 1,000 rooms, 45,000 square metres of floor space, 6,225 square metres of glass, more than a million roof tiles and 5,696 seats. Just a few of the elements Lucas Stuart manages every day.

As a listed heritage building, maintenance has to be carried out without damaging any of the building's fabric or altering the original design details. Lucas Stuart has developed special techniques to retain the finish on concrete, the building's bronze doors, original carpets and many more details.

Apart from our responsibility for the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the House, Lucas Stuart has carried out some of the recent renovations to the building, including the new recording studio and work on the Utzon Room, the first full Utzon interior, built under the direction of Utzon Architects.