The Sydney Opera House, inaugurated in 1973 after more than 14 years of work, is one of the most important concert halls in the world. In 2007, this ambitious project was formally recognized as one of the most outstanding places on Earth with its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. With its shimmering sails, this innovative building has come to define Sydney and even the nation of Australia itself. The final shape of the shells, inspired by the surface of a single imagined sphere, required complex design work demanding revolutionary engineering and building techniques in equal measure.

The Sydney Opera House was the first building in the world to use structural silicone and suspended vertical glass on a large scale. The central bay - over 34 m (111.5 ft) high - is suspended without any intermediate supports. With its innovative high-tech, futuristic design, the project represented an architectural challenge which the Group successfully overcame with 6,500 sqm (70,000 sq ft) of custom made curtain wall.