The William Inglis.

One hotel and 850 stables for some of the most valuable horses in the world–that’s a project brief that you only hear once.

When the thoroughbred horse sales company, William Inglis and Sons, vacated their historic equine sales complex at Randwick, Sydney, the renowned company came to us to design their new home at the Warwick Farm racecourse.

The result is a smart new 150-room hotel, sales centre, stable and hospitality complex, in a unique new facility for Australia.

The hotel, operated by Accor under the M Galley brand, converts to a sales centre and accommodation for the horse sales 32 days of the year. The rest of the time the auditorium can be used for anything from large weddings to rock concerts or theatre productions.

Our challenge was to create a hotel that would satisfy the needs of the most discerning racehorse owners flying in from all over the world for the sales days, to the needs of the average Accor guest seeking accommodation in the area.