Carlton Renovation
Fox Building Group was appointed to deliver a meticulous, award-winning renovation of a historic apartment in the heart of Carlton, Melbourne. Working from an interior architecture and design scheme by London-based practice Ng Feathers Interiors, in collaboration with local design agency The Stylesmiths, the brief called for a sophisticated, space-efficient transformation that respected the building’s heritage character while introducing a fully bespoke, contemporary interior. This Carlton Renovation had to work within the fixed floor plate of a heritage-listed building, meaning every efficiency had to be found in joinery, storage and finishes rather than in reconfigured walls.
Every custom joinery run, marble benchtop and handcrafted fitting was executed to exacting tolerances — a level of craftsmanship that went on to win the 2023 SBID International Design Award for Residential Apartment Under £1 Million.
Residential renovation
Project status : Completed
Year completed : January 2022
Client : Private
Interior Architecture & Design : Ng Feathers Interiors (London)
Design Agency : The Stylesmiths
Builder : Fox Building Group
Location : Carlton, Victoria
Value : $650k
Award : 2023 International SBID Design Award – Residential Apartment Under £1M (Winner)
Carlton Renovation: Build Challenges & Solutions
The kitchen and dining spaces presented some of the project’s most technically demanding work. The barrel-vaulted bay window dining nook required the joinery for the built-in banquette seating to be scribed precisely to the curved masonry walls, with no two panels the same. In the kitchen, book-matched Carrara marble was fitted across the island, benchtops and splashback, with a floating marble shelf cantilevered above the cooktop.
Every tap, handle and fitting was selected in an aged brass finish and installed to a consistent height and orientation across the kitchen, ensuring the fluted island base, cabinetry and brass detailing read as a single, cohesive design moment. This attention to sequencing and tolerance is characteristic of how Fox Building Group approaches every Carlton Renovation-scale heritage project: trades are programmed around the constraints of the existing structure rather than the other way around.
Outcome
In the bathrooms, dual custom angled mirrors and marble-topped vanities were fitted to make the most of compact footprints, finished with antique brass tapware and hand-painted joinery in a soft sage palette.
The result is a fully bespoke interior, delivered by Fox Building Group in close collaboration with Ng Feathers Interiors and The Stylesmiths — one that went on to win the 2023 International SBID Design Award for Residential Apartment Under £1 Million, recognising the calibre of craftsmanship carried through every room of this Carlton renovation.
See more of our completed renovation projects or get in touch to discuss your own heritage renovation in Melbourne or regional Victoria.
