On return to London in 1987, he joined Peter Rice and completed the engineering design of Renzo Piano's Stadio San Nicola for the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the structural stone façade for the Pavilion of the Future at Seville Expo '92. After six months in Tokyo, Carfrae returned to Sydney in 1990 and renewed his relationship with Philip Cox working together to design the Brisbane Convention Exhibition Centre. He spent the rest of the nineties designing notable projects such as Sydney Airport Air Traffic Control Tower (architect Ken Woolley), Cairns Convention Centre and Singapore Expo (both with Philip Cox), Munich Airport Centre, with American architect Helmut Jahn and Aurora Place with Renzo Piano. He concluded the nineties with three projects for the 2000 Summer Olympics – Dunc Gray Velodrome (architect Paul Ryder, Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre (architect Lawrence Nield) and Sydney Showground Dome and Exhibition (Ken Woolley).