Venue 62

Dedes Group’s Salaryman Gets Paul Kelly Grit

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What the Fook?

Victor Liong Comes to Town Monumental: Sandstone Point Super-Pub High & Dry: Prohibition in the ‘Valley’ $9.95 inc gst

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ne of the most deadly presents you can give unsuspecting newly weds is a breadmaker.

I’m not suggesting the gift-wrapped Breville bread machine will kill you instantly — that there’s a greater risk of a shock hazard; or a rogue yeast outbreak will lay waste to the neighbourhood — no, it’s far more insidious than that.

A bread maker will kill you one Wholegrain Buttermilk Sour Dough slice at a time.

Here’s how it works: You take delivery of your breadmaker. Load it with your desired flour mix. Set the timer for 6.30am. And then like mustard gas wafting over the Somme, the deadly aroma of freshlybaked bread seeps from the device and permeates the house.

Inevitably the intoxicating whiff of bread baking enters your nostrils as you snooze. As you stir from your slumber you’re already punchdrunk. Like a heroin addict after a night of cold turkey you stumble through the house fighting off children and pets to get first crack at the contents of your breadmaker. Before you know it, the entire loaf has been demolished… all 10,000 calories gone. Add another couple of thousand calories as you stare in disbelief at the empty jars of jam and Nutella strewn around you, and you’ve stuffed yourself with enough starch to feed all of Eretrea.

A couple of weeks of this and you are a breadmaker Boomba — a blob, powerless to resist the dawn raid of delectable dough.

There’s nothing for it, you have to destroy the appliance. Like some kinda dark-magic horcrux you decommission the infernal machine with extreme prejudice before another poor blighter is caught in its thrall.

Some 10 months of bootcamp later and you’re back to your normal fighting weight.

I got to thinking about the deadly allure of breadmakers when I was considering Baker D Chirico. The boutique bakery’s Carlton outlet created a stir in all the right ways: the amazing design and the amazing bread. As it happens, Baker D Chirico is building a new HQ in Brunswick. Again, built by the deft hand of Leeda Projects, the new site will take care of the the commercial supply as well as having a café.

Not fair really. Who can withstand the Siren call of freshly baked artisan bread? It’s like hipster cat nip. I’ve no doubt Baker D Chirico will be obscenely successful. And good luck to them.

On just about every listicle, Freshly Baked Bread heads people’s best smells. But don’t panic, you too can lead your customer by the nose: Develop your own signature aroma.

All the best operators are doing it.

Hotels have known about the pervasive power of smell for years. I first encountered the concept of the a signature smell during a stay in a W Hotel in Hong Kong. Marvellous.

Not to be outdone, the Star’s Darling hotel in Sydney has a very impressive signature aroma.

Elsewhere this issue, you can read about the new Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at Crown Melbourne. As you’d expect from the molecular mad scientist of the kitchen, Heston has concocted a signature smell for his restaurant’s foyer. It’s a tantalising combo of damp moss, wood smoke and leather.

What smell best describes your venue? Beer-soaked carpet and wet dog? One should hope not. Certainly there’s enough received wisdom on the web regarding which essential oils you can ‘burn’ and their physiological impact on your patrons — pep up, relax etc — to have a crack at something genuinely special.

In the meantime, here’s a tip to double your breakfast turnover: turn on a bread maker. Just check Gumtree… there’s about a gazillion of them. Now you know why.

Christopher Holder Editorial Director, chris@venuemag.com

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CONTENTS

January 2016 No 62

issue sixty two 2016 Salaryman • Sandstone Point Hotel • Belmont 16s • Prohibition

‘Salaryman’ is a term for a Japanese big-city wage slave.

Men who work hard, play hard and keep coming back for more

Dedes Group’s Salaryman Gets Paul Kelly Grit

+

What the Fook?

Victor Liong Comes to Town Monumental: Sandstone Point Super-Pub High & Dry: Prohibition in the ‘Valley’ $9.95 inc gst

9 771832 143005

Venue: Salaryman Interiors: Paul Kelly Design

Pubs, Bars & Nightclubs

Hotels & Resorts

24 Sandstone Point Hotel 38 Prohibition, Fortitude Valley 40 Hunters Hill Hotel 52 Griffith Uni Student Bar, Southport 54 Cruise Bar, Sydney 34 Capri by Fraser, Brisbane 50 Silky Oaks, Port Douglas

Restaurants

CONTACTS: Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353 Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@venuemag.com)) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@venuemag.com) Art Direction & Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Graphic Designer: Daniel Howard (daniel@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Enquiries: (subscriptions@alchemedia.com.au) Accounts: Jaedd Asthana (accounts@alchemedia.com.au)

18 Salaryman, Surry Hills 20 Lee Ho Fook, Melbourne 46 Transformer, Fitzroy 48 Los Vida, Crows Nest 56 Woody.P, Melbourne 66 You Wish: Dinner by Heston

Clubs

30 Belmont 16s,

Lake Macquarie 36 Asquith Bowling Club 42 Bankstown Sports Club Alchemedia Publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright © 2015 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title Venue is a registered Trademark.

Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication.

They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy.

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16 That’s the Shot – Coffee Club

Staff Training

Regulars

13 Smooth Operator 14 Music Connection 60 F&F News 62 AV News 64 LX News

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Now

A technical lighting expert is waiting to speak to you. Phone your nearest Show Technology office now.

Ms Collins, Melbourne

SYDNEY

MELBOURNE

BRISBANE

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102 Derby St, Silverwater NSW 2128 T: (02) 9748 1122

8/339 Williamstown Rd, Port Melbourne VIC 3207 T: (03) 9681 7511

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18 Milly Court, Malaga WA 6090 T: (08) 9248 8119

www.showtech.com.au | projects@showtech.com.au

I

n 2000 we opened our first pub using the 10-year-old twin-tape system that came with the place. Seriously. Tape decks.

We’d mix together tapes and label them Open Music, Arvo Music, Dinner Music, Dance. This was just coming out of the end of the ’90s, so there was plenty of crap music to navigate through. Bobby Brown? Nuh. Whitney? RIP. We didn’t want our mixed tapes to sound like a retrospective on one of the worst eras of music production in human history. So we had to turn to new names and new sounds.

And, gulp for the budget, new technologies.

So our partner, Tom, invested in a six table CD system. Frickin’ awesome. Mind-blowing.

And it even had a remote control! Our other business partner, Douggie, invested his time in finding new sounds — Moby, Avalanches, Fluffy Duck, Beth Orton. It was amazing what was happening in our business through our considered music curation. People were coming, they told us, because they heard we played really cool tunes. And more importantly, people were staying. Just to put all this into perspective: a DJ booth is a given in most venues today. But 15 years ago you only ever saw them in nightclubs or roller-skating rinks. And even if we’d had one in our pub, we could never have afforded the actual DJ. Music came down to us.

It came down to watching and following our patrons’ moods and movements. What happened to behaviour when we lifted the tempo?

Could beats per minute actually influence buying? If we slowed the beat down, would patrons stay longer through meal times and keep buying wine? When the beats hit mid-tempo could we transition them to move into booths?

Maybe order some cocktails? And what happened to the tills when the beats per minute coaxed people to dance? We learnt it was easier, faster and safer to clear our pub at lights-up if the last two songs were classic sing-along anthems with slightly less pace than if we’d ended on a thumping house beat.

CURATE & CONTROL Music ultimately seemed to be more important to our patrons than any other sensory consideration. And we knew that if we got that right we were ‘half way there’, as Jon Bon Jovi so famously put it (and hey, laugh all you like, but go play Living On A Prayer at 11pm in your venue tonight and even the coolest gin joints in town will turn anthemic!). So yeah, we reckoned we were onto something: curate the music, control the people. And that was all well and good, until we started to expand our operations.

Over the next 15 years we’d open nine more venues, approximately one every 18 months.

And the reality was, we couldn’t be everywhere at all hours of the day and night. We had to put music in our managers’ hands. And that often led to diabolical results! Now, don’t get me wrong here, I love all music: from Opera to Gangsta Rap; from Hard House to Folk; from Jazz and Blues to Drum and Bass, but playing Tool at 3pm on a Friday arvo or Suicidal Tendencies at midnight? Disaster! Turned out when we weren’t there, our staff took turns at ‘playing the DJ’. So not only was the song wrong, but the volume was 50 decibels too loud, and it was swinging wildly between genres, from metal to house and onto electro through rap.

We’d left music to the better judgement of our people, but they had no better judgement! From that moment on, we ditched CDs and iPods and enlisted a music company to curate our music for us. We had immediate upward results. We

got back to the science; beats per minute, consumer transaction trends, buying behaviours.

Then digital happened.

DIGITAL HAPPENED Douggie was the first one to shoot streamed music across our bows. He’d gotten into Pandora first, then Spotify. It seemed a crock to me. “You mean I never actually get to own my own music?!” Streaming would never catch on.

But it did. Like wildfire. Subscriptions to music streaming services have grown 39% in the past 12 months, while digital downloads have declined by 8% over the same period. Even in the digital music space, streaming is the preferred method of consumption.

So the music landscape had been transformed once again. And given the priority we place on its importance to our businesses, we knew we had to be on board.

Our first thought was to simply stream music through Spotify. Easy. Our managers could do that through their iPhones! Two problems: firstly, it was illegal (Spotify is a consumer product only and doesn’t carry the licenses for B2B transactions). Secondly, the lists weren’t curated. So we’d be back to Suicidal Tendencies.

We kept poking around and we soon found QSIC: two Melbourne lads under 30 who’d managed to build the bridge between what we needed as venue operators and what the music companies demanded for their copyrights, namely payment for their artists’ work.

We met with Matt and Nick from QSIC and we couldn’t quite get our heads around their service at first. It’d be cheaper, better curated, better sounding streamed music backed up by detailed analytics of consumer spending patterns? Nuh. It was too good to be true.

We asked to meet their international licensing partner, Omniphone, who hold commercial music licenses for 80% of the entire planet’s music.

They’re based in London but they had a guy out here, who happened to be their Asia Pacific Managing Director. We met with him, asked our questions and we signed up all our venues on the spot. The results have been phenomenal.

Music ultimately seemed to be more important to our patrons than any other sensory consideration

SMOOTH OPERATOR Mix Tapes & The Sweet Science of Music Matt Mullins is a partner in Sand Hill Road hospitality group

MUSIC AS A SALES TOOL From our first days in pubs, we managed to identify the subtle nuances music had on our business. By changing beats per minute, genre and volume, we really could influence our customers’ behaviour for the better. Fast forward to today, systems like QSIC have taken this knowledge and supercharged it, taking into account everything from who’s in the venue to weather and even point of sale data. The QSIC guys are turning music systems into a sales tool, rather than the service utility it’s always been.

Music changes. And it will keep on changing. Couple that with such rapid advances in how we receive then curate and listen to our music, and we know things will change again, soon. But just as we reluctantly accepted that vinyl is dead, so too it seems is anything nonstreaming. We have more ability to influence our business now through streaming with QSIC than we ever dreamed 15 years ago as we pressed Stop to switch off the Dinner tape and flick on to Dance.

13

MUSIC CONNECTION Boutique Accommodation, Boutique Playlist Matthew Lymbury is Director of Music at Nightlife

14

E

very venue is seeking a new way to stand out, to be different, attract customers and foster brand loyalty — without resorting to tired tactics or inauthentic advertising. Music goes a long way to creating the atmosphere and ambience of a venue and it’s such an easy lever to pull — to create a space, set the right tone and get people in the right frame of mind.

Individuality is a massive trend at the moment in the accommodation world, and music is an easily accessible tool to create another important point of difference. Music works as a catalyst to unlock the elements of the environment as a whole. When you add music, suddenly the decor looks different, the way people experience the food changes, even the way people regard the marble-finished bar or the view from the window is affected. It paints a different picture; a picture imagined by the operators of the venue, amplifying the look and feel. Music makes people understand the intended experience and also helps people understand the brand.

I’ve been working on two standout venues recently – The Old Clare Hotel and the State Buildings.

With a music brief that was unexpected and off the charts, the owners of the Old Clare in Sydney have created a magnificent example of boutique accommodation done perfectly. The owners took a classic live venue that had a rich and colourful past, and decided to match the original ambience of the hotel. They wanted to go down what some might consider a risky road of an ‘edgy rock’ playlist but the owners were confident it was a theme that would fit brilliantly.

It was a tough brief, to mesh together a nonrepetitive musical list pulled from a narrow

genre. Thankfully we had the team, scope and skill to pull it off, and the Old Clare Hotel GM, Michael Gavaghan, was delighted.

In addition, by using our commercially-produced platform, Old Clare customers are enjoying their edgy rock at any volume management chooses with absolutely no degradation in sound quality. It’s basically like having a rock concert experience while sitting in a fivestar restaurant.

On the other side of Australia, the State Buildings in Perth are creating a unique precinct, offering a crucial differentiation in an accommodation venue thanks to its music. Catering to a staggering 12 zones in a single venue, this has been a sensational job to work on, allowing us to flex our music curation muscles and showcase the diversity of our catalogue.

Picking music for a library versus an underground nightclub versus an elegant wine bar requires a deft hand – what you leave out is as important as what makes the final cut. The focus was on mixing a blend of welcoming vibes with a high-end luxury feel but still incorporating an exciting edge.

This is the perfect demonstration of the level of detail expected of boutique accommodation. The standards the discerning traveller demands are high and relentlessly rising.

Music is now no longer an optional extra but underpins the entire experience. Both examples have reaffirmed something you’ve heard from this Music Connection column every issue: it’s time to step away from leaving such a critical aspect of the accommodation experience up to amateurs and allow passionate experts to guide the way to creating the ultimate atmosphere.

Start Now A technical lighting expert is waiting to speak to you. Phone your nearest Show Technology office now.

SYDNEY

MELBOURNE

BRISBANE

PERTH

102 Derby St, Silverwater NSW 2128 T: (02) 9748 1122

8/339 Williamstown Rd, Port Melbourne VIC 3207 T: (03) 9681 7511

3/459 Tufnell Rd, Banyo QLD 4014책 T: (07) 3267 3177

18 Milly Court, Malaga WA 6090 T: (08) 9248 8119

www.showtech.com.au | projects@showtech.com.au

But we also talk about who we are as a brand and focus on what the brand is, what the business is, what the customers want, and highlight areas where we might have training or performance gaps, and bring those to the attention of staff.

STAFF ON BOARD

THE PEOPLE MOVER The Coffee Club Group People Manager Tammy Ryder talks about her innovative Learning & Development Program.

16

e know the hospitality sector has some of the highest turnover of any within Australia, so anything we can do increase our staff engagement is going to have a direct impact on our sales, profitability and performance.

It’s a proven fact that better trained staff and more engaged staff lead to better outcomes. So we went to a whiteboard and said, “How can we improve our training? Where are we at now and where do we want to be?”

Luckily, I’ve got team full of Gen Y’s, and they got excited by the process and came up with some amazing ideas. Some were too ‘out there’ to implement, but many were fantastic and shaped the program.

We’ve got over 92% of our staff who are actively engaged with the program, which means they’re logging into the program at least once a month and completing activities — which is just huge.

Most businesses can only dream of getting those sorts of numbers, but this isn’t the end of the journey. We’ve mapped all of our training to the National Qualification Framework. So by completing our training, staff can then do the assessment and be issued qualifications as a barista, or earn a Certificate III in Hospitality, Certificate IV in Hospitality, and even Diplomas, depending on what level of training and what levels they perform at in store.

We’ve recently had our first graduation ceremony. Having staff who’ve worked in hospitality for several years getting really excited about all of that hard work being recognised in a national qualification through doing their job and doing our training program… well, it’s really exciting.

GEN Y OPTIMISED

TRAINING WORKS

We started by asking ourselves who our core staff were (a lot of Gen Y’s) and defined how they wanted to learn based on what they wanted to get out of the process.

The result is an online portal packed with short, fun training modules — some 300 in all.

There are four academies: Good Food, Great Service, Excellent Coffee and Leadership & Management — each with bronze, silver and gold levels.

As staff get into the program, it moves along quite quickly and it allows them to move up through levels and feel that sense of achievement, which then encourages them to complete more training in the system.

We supplement the online training with instore materials, so there’s a lot of visually attractive cards that reinforce concepts in-store, and maintain those standards they’ve learnt.

Reinforcing the education with strong internal communications is important. We have a monthly staff newsletter with a focus on fun.

There’s no question the value of training is undervalued. It’s easy to be frustrated by underperforming staff but very often they’re not shown the correct way.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking to our franchisees about why training is important and reinforced those conversations with statistics.

Our top 10% of training completion franchises perform a good 6% above the network average in sales growth. There’s a direct correlation. We see it in operational execution, we see it in mystery shopper scores, we see it in all our metrics — better trained staff get better business results.

And that was pretty eye-opening for our franchisees and helped a lot of them get on board..

W

Since opening its doors in Brisbane in 1989, The Coffee Club has become Australia’s largest home-grown café group with more than 360 cafés throughout nine countries.

Salaryman.

East meets West through food and design — Paul Kelly Design has created a true fusion of style in Surry Hills.

Pay DIRT Dedes Waterfront Group and chef Stephen Seckold launch edgy restaurant without so much as an ocean glimpse.

Story: Christopher Holder Salaryman: 52 Albion St, Surry Hills NSW

18

a PAUL KELLY DESIGN project

C

on Dedes is the waterfront don. Fly ing Fish on Jones Bay Wharf, Sydney, is the jewel in the Dedes Group crown, serving up high-flying fish for 10 years or more.

Flying Fish Executive Chef Stephen Seckold was there from the beginning and a key part of the restaurant’s success. “He’s earned his stripes,” noted Con in a conversation with venue. So when Steven came to Con with a new restaurant concept, Con was all ears: “Let’s do it. I’ll back you.”

Turns out the concept would take the Dedes Waterfront Group a long way from the water and a long way from the group’s piscine sweetspot.

Salaryman is a Japanese restaurant with a difference and definitely a restaurant without sparkling harbour views. It’s urban, fast paced and loud.

SALARYMAN CLOCKS ON The clue is in the name. ‘Salaryman’ is a term for a Japanese big-city wage slave. Men who work hard, play hard and keep coming back for more.

It might not evoke visions of long, relaxed dinners, and neither is it intended to. This is a restaurant that throbs. Ramen for lunch. Shared plates in the evening. A challenging drinks menu. Food comes quickly. Food changes quickly; the menu often alters daily. Come in a group or camp solo at a high bar. Get what you need. Soak up the buzz. Move on cowboy.

OFFICE TRANSFORMED Sydney’s Surry Hills is fast becoming Australia’s excitement capital of food and beverage and Salaryman is deep in the huddle. Chur Burger

is doing obscenely good business next door, and Firedoor around the corner is the ‘it’ restaurant of the moment. To secure such a foothold, the Dedes Waterfront Group took on a 480sqm office shell.

Bland in the extreme; long and cavernous with little natural light — there was little to commend it other than the strategic position.

Con Dedes put in the call to Paul Kelly Design.

Con loved what Paul Kelly and his team had done with his Italian Kitchen fitout in Miranda. But this was a very different kettle of raw fish.

“It’s a cavern,” noted Paul Kelly. “The raw space could have been any office shell anywhere in Australia. We spent time making the place looking lived in. We employed Diemme to age the concrete floors; age the concrete panels on the kitchen counter front; age the copper on the bar front; Diemme also realised our concept for the lady on the wall.”

It’s ‘Penelope’ (as Con Dedes has christened her) that goes a long way to setting the tone. There’s some authentic Tokyo sass about her but the grindhouse-drizzle down the wall is quintessentially Sydney.

the kitchen counter, with the natural ripple of the tree’s edge beckoning barstool diners.

NICE TOUCH

CONTACT:

Salaryman might be a fearless departure for the Dedes Group but it’s also something Paul Kelly Design wouldn’t normally pull out of its kitbag — edgy, unforgiving and unadorned. The intentional dim patchiness of the lighting reinforces some of the danger in the design. The furniture choices are comfortable without ostentation. Copper conduit snakes across the ceiling like it had been retained from some former light industrial incarnation. One long length of timber constitutes

TAKE THE SALARYMAN CHALLENGE Stephen Seckold and Dedes Waterfront Group have laid down the gauntlet to Sydney . This isn’t a restaurant that’s clamouring for affection like a labrador with abandonment issues, it’s largely indifferent – more like a Burmese with its own trust fund. Sure, grab a bowl of noodles, but really the excitement is in the izakaya sharing plates and the matched drinks menu replete with tipples you’re unlikely to find next door.

The location of Salaryman is crucial. In fact, word has it that Stephen and Con nearly pulled the trigger on, not one, or two, but three other potential sites around the city, before bedding down in Albion Street. And despite Paul Kelly’s protestations — “it’s all about the food; the interiors is No. 3 or 4 down the list of priorities” — it’s the design that helps Salaryman successfully focus that frenetic energy. Come and get it.

Paul Kelly Design: (02) 9660 8299 or www.paulkellydesign.com.au

Diemme: (02) 9550 0811 or www.diemme.com.au

19

Lee Ho Fook 11-15 Duckboard Place, Melbourne (03) 9077 6261 or www.leehofook.com.au

Look who’s all grown up and moved to town

Old China, New Melbourne

20

A

balance of the classic and contemporary, modern Chinese restaurant Lee Ho Fook has graduated to a new location. It’s left its old digs in Collingwood for a sophisticated spot in Melbourne’s CBD — in a laneway adorned with the right kind of graffiti. Inside, the classic warehouse space retains its exposed brick and beams, but has been warmed up with polished wood, custom carpet and flashes of brass.

Accomplished Melbourne restauranteurs David Mackintosh and Peter Bartholomew (of Movida and Rosa’s Canteen fame) decided on a move to the city to fit with Lee Ho Fook’s growing profile and, as Mackintosh says, “to take the opportunity to create a slightly more considered dining space”.

The duo, with their head chef Victor Liong, tasked Techné Architecture + Interior Design with the development of the new interiors, as they had done with the previous Lee Ho Fook location. Leeda Projects handled the construction.

PEKING DUCKBOARD The new space on Duckboard Place has two storeys, but with a footprint of only 100sqm it was compact enough to provide a spatial planning challenge. Dumb waiters carry Liong’s modern Chinese creations from the ground-floor kitchen to the main dining space upstairs, which seats 60.

The ground floor also accommodates a private dining area, with a steel and oak banquette sheltered from the doorway with timber and glass partitions.

The benefit of starting afresh in a vacant, atmospheric warehouse is that the architects had “a bit more of a narrative to work with”, as Mackintosh describes it. He explains that elements of the existing structure could be combined with motifs of Chinese culture and cuisine, such as brass and gold. “And then little elements of Lee Ho Fook’s branding, in terms of colour, with some purples and greens which are part of the corporate identity of the restaurant. The guys at Techné picked up on these and used them with some bespoke carpet.”

TRUE ORIGINAL Senior Interior Designer at Techné Jonny Mitchell says that it’s possible to describe Lee Ho Fook’s food and feeling as “old China meets new Melbourne”. He explains that his team worked on keeping as many pieces of the original industrial building in place as possible — for example, the timber window frames, roof trusses and concrete staircase — and matching them with refined joinery and custom lighting. “Leather upholstery, coloured glass, and custom-made carpets provide a richness to the materials palette,” he says.

The inclusion of brass is significant. “Gold is an important cultural reference in China and we wanted to allude to that without being too obvious, and brass felt like an appropriate material choice,” says Mitchell. “The brass is used both as a standard off-the-shelf angle, used in a repetitive linear format in joinery creating a focus for

key elements including the bar and waiters’ stations, and also in a more crafted application in the custom-designed light fittings.” Over time the unsealed brass will attain a natural patina.

One of Mackintosh’s favourite parts of the new fitout is a small, but interactive one — a tiny enclave by the dispense bar. “It’s just a small little thing and there’s two barstools there, which I think is actually pretty fun,” he says. “You can sit there and eat if you’re just a solo diner, or a duo, or you can sit and have a drink while you’re waiting for the rest of your group to arrive — perched in your own little world, right in the middle of the dining space.”

STARTING ON THE FINISHES Frank Rossi of Leeda Projects says the construction team worked to a strict deadline to bring the slick new restaurant to life. “The major point of difference of Lee Ho Fook in the CBD is the unique design and fitout, which has certainly given the venue a distinct character in comparison to the simpler 45-seater Collingwood location,” he says, adding that the modern acoustic ceiling of the top floor and the custom dark stained American Oak joinery are some standout features of the project.

The restaurant’s finishing touches include the mysterious, eye-catching art pieces that firmly place Lee Ho Fook in the present, pulsing city, including a circular painting of birds fluttering against a stormy sky by artist Datsun Tran, and landscape photographs by Brooke Holm.

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MOVING ON UP: INTERVIEW WITH VICTOR LIONG Victor Liong, head chef and partner in Lee Ho Fook, talks about his move from Smith Street Collingwood to the pointy end of Flinders Lane in Melbourne’s CBD. I think there was a sense that Lee Ho Fook had grown up and needed to move to the city. But there aren’t many empty tenancies left in this neck of the woods. When Peter Bartholomew, my business partner, saw this place come on the market he just snapped it up, he loved it so much.

The premises were empty — it was formerly used as carpet storage for a nearby high rise — so we could make it our own. Normally, if you want to move into this part of town you have to buy an existing business and the bones of it would have to be someone else’s, and you’d build over the top of that. We had the luxury of designing something entirely to our specifications.

We used Techné Architects for our previous restaurants

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and they were really effective. We gave them a restrictive ‘no budget, no time’ brief and they responded. Similarly, Leeda Projects built our old restaurant, and I really liked what Frank Rossi did with that and the quality of the finish.

So we decided to engage both of those companies again for this fitout.

The brief here was to not make it like every other Melbourne restaurant, with light timber finishes and polished concrete.

I wanted carpet and dark finishes. I didn’t want to launch yet another trendy Asian, I wanted Lee Ho Fook to be a stylish reflection of a Melbourne restaurant.

The bespoke joinery really contributes to that special finish.

Leeda has always done a great job with joinery. Techné has some amazing ideas but it’ll be Frank and his team who fill in the gaps and realise that vision. The chairs and tables, for example, are all custom and we’re very happy with the result. In fact, we’re delighted with the finish of the whole

build. Leeda is adaptable and creative enough to respond and make all that happen without needing everything to be documented down to the last nut and bolt. Frank’s really demanding on the quality — you know it’s going to be a great finish and of the best quality.

Having the restaurant over two levels with most of the seating upstairs meant the design didn’t lend itself to an open kitchen. Which was fine by me. I think the open kitchen trend is over, especially with staff costs being so high — if you only have three or four guys in kitchen it can look terrible.

I like the idea of an old-school dining room where the food just appears and you have an experience, rather needing to feel the energy.

The general feedback from the clientele is that they’re loving it. We haven’t changed the menu, it’s simply a nicer room to enjoy it in — we’ve taken it up an experiential notch.

THROWBACK TO THE FUTURE

CONTACTS

While Mackintosh praises the elegance of chef Liong’s food and says that its sophistication is more at home in its new surrounds, he notes that part of Lee Ho Fook’s appeal is its affection for the kitschier things in life — such as carpet.

“There’s an element of slightly naff old-school cool about Lee Ho Fook — and about Victor who’s our business partner there,” he explains. “There’s not an open kitchen, or some of the things that have become a bit passé, and a bit ‘everywhere’ in restaurants now. Whereas almost everyone does a Nordic, lean, polished concrete and slightly awkward furniture sort of thing. This restaurant has a little bit more comfort, which is a bit of a throwback to ’70s and ’80s. But then it’s got this contemporary overlay.”

However, don’t look for anything that isn’t thoughtful and unique. As designer Mitchell puts it, “The ubiquitous red paper lanterns were banned straight away!”

Leeda Projects: (03) 9357 6320 or leeda.com.au Techné Architecture: (03) 9600 0222 or techne.com.au Hank (Custom Designed Lighting): hank.com.au Above Left (Custom Carpets): aboveleft.com.au Astra Walker (Tapware): astrawalker.com.au Mary Noall (Sanitaryware): marynoall.com.au Caroma (Sanitaryware): caroma.com.au Arte Domus (Wall Tiles): artedomus.com Robertsons Building Supplies (Brick Wall Tiles): robertsons.net.au Signorino (Floor Tiles): signorino.com.au Atkar (Acoustic Ceiling): atkar.com.au Bromley & Co Gallery (Art): bromleyandco.com Modern Times (Art): moderntimes.com.au

a KP Architects project

W E I V D N A R G A family-friendly, somewhere you’d want to take your kids, have some fish and chips by the water and kick around a football – that whole relaxing Sunday vibe – and that’s what we’ve achieved

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If you build

d picnic.

ome… an it, they will c

emm Story: Jen T Hotel:

Point QLD Point Sandstone land Road, Sandstone l.com.au Is te ie ho onepoint 1800 Brib 01 or sandst (07) 3475 30

W

hat to do with 35 hectares of waterfront property far from the madding crowd? The Comiskey Group wasn’t entirely sure when it acquired the land three years ago but knew the opportunity was unique: previously owned by a single family for 135 years and run as a commercial oyster lease, the site is perched on the mainland side of the bridge to Bribie Island and overlooks the pristine waters of Pumicestone Passage and Moreton Bay, about 40 minutes’ drive north of Brisbane.

“It was a project that morphed into what it currently is; we just knew it was a special block of land,” Comiskey Group director Robert Comiskey tells venue. “The location is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and we knew we could do something unique.”

With nature and KP Architects on their side, the Comiskeys came up with a grand plan for a multipurpose destination venue with the newly completed Sandstone Point Hotel as the first stage.

So far the facility includes the three-storey hotel and a sweeping grassed outdoor live entertainment area with a major events licence for up to 20,000. A newly completed outdoor children’s playground offers a supervised farm experience with a petting zoo, while down by the water an old oyster shed is being renovated into a fish and chippery; an old boat house will become a function space; and an adjacent historic 90m jetty extending into Pumicestone Passage is being restored. Stages 2 and 3 of the project will see the addition of a Big4 caravan park, cabin and camping site in 2016, and a six-storey 50-room 4.5-star motel.

ON POINT The pub rises out of the sloping contours of the site as though it had stood there for decades and not mere months thanks to a restrained use of natural finishes: recycled timbers and brick, raw sheet metal and concrete. The external cladding is a thermally-modified durable softwood with a silver patina that looks weathered and blends seamlessly into the surroundings, echoing the old timber jetty.

“Architects do like building monuments,” laughs KP Architects’ Kon Panagopoulos. “It is very large, and there’s nothing else around it. The challenge with such a big building is introducing materials that help create warmth and comfort, and breaking it down into smaller, more human-scaled spaces to make it feel intimate so people feel comfortable whether there’s two people in there or 500.

“Imagine a beach shack with weathered brick, concrete floors and timber, that’s the look we wanted: very humble, honest finishes so when you walk in there’s nothing too sharp or reflective. We wanted it to feel like it had been perched on that hill for the last 10 years.”

But the ambience is more ‘casual sophistication’ than ‘beach shack’: recycled timbers, many from the original jetty and buildings of the site, have been used throughout the 3000sqm hotel along with recycled bricks which add a tapestry of colour and texture to the muted natural tones.

Three levels start below ground with an atmospheric brick-lined wine cellar and function room seating 120, in a nod to pubs of old. The ground floor is a traditional if urbane pub with a public bar, gaming room and dining area/bistro and the upper level is the main function space with capacity for 220 seated guests that can be broken down into smaller configurations, opening onto a wide terrace with panoramic water views.

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“The connection to the outside was very important to us, to maximise the views of the water and bring in all that natural light,” Kon says. The building is wrapped around a magnificent old poinciana tree with several outdoor decks including a beer garden and a dining area with a rotisserie and wood-fired oven.

“There’s all these different spaces; you don’t just walk out and there’s a whole bunch of furniture, there’s nooks and gathering corners where people can feel comfortable. For us it’s all about the experience – it’s not about the wallpaper or the finishes; people don’t remember that. They remember the view, the spaces, the natural light.”

BIG GIG At upwards of $50m, it’s an ambitious venture, particularly with a local population of only around 30,000. But it’s not the first time the Comiskey Group has stepped up to a challenge. The company has a 30-year history in Queensland and operates hotels including the Eaton’s Hill Hotel in Brisbane’s north, touted as Australia’s largest tavern at 6500sqm, and a raft of other businesses including childcare and shopping centres.

Like its older sibling, Eaton’s Hill, there’s a big focus on entertainment and functions with rolling lawns to the water’s edge providing a natural outdoor amphitheatre. Free Sunday concerts have hosted the likes of The Eurogliders, Pete Murray and Alex Lloyd, and a massive official opening with The Beach Boys will be the hottest ticket in

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Style

Sensibility

Hospitality Architects & Commercial Interior Designers

Clubs: Belmont 16s, St Marys Leagues Club, Moama RSL, Warilla Bowling Club, Breakers Country Club, Narrabri RSL, Club Central Menai, Croydon Park Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Cabramatta Bowling Club, Davistown RSL, Panania Diggers, Campsie RSL, Seven Hills Toongabbie RSL. Hotels: Gregory Hills Hotel, Plumpton Hotel, Lakes Hotel, 50 Kings & Noble Bar & Canteen, Zanzibar, The Mill, Tea Gardens Hotel, Golden Barley, Colonial Hotel, Allawah Hotel, Coolibah Hotel, Three Swallows Hotel. Restaurants: Mexican Cantina-Terry Hills, Watergrill Restaurant-St Marys, Caliniere, Oriental Canteen, Mill Bistro.

T 02 8920 1499

E info@bergstromarchitects.com.au

www.bergstromarchitects.com.au

town. The venue has just announced Icehouse for January, supported by The Whitlams and Diesel, with plenty more on the books including food festivals, rodeos and functions.

“People were saying ‘are you crazy, who is going to go?’. But there’s a huge demand in Brisbane and in Queensland, and there’s really nothing quite as special as this for a wedding or function,” Kon says. “Locals have been starved of entertainment up there and there’s a large suburban sprawl happening, you can see the area growing. It’s one of those parcels of land that will inevitably become suburbia so the local market is growing, but you’re getting a lot of people travelling in already on the weekends as well. Brisbane hasn’t really got anything like it in such a prime location so they’ve gauged that well and truly. It’s the old adage: if you build it, people will come. It’s easy to say but it takes a bit of courage.”

“We’re taking postcodes from people booking into the restaurant and they’re coming from a lot further afield than we expected,” adds Robert. “People are regularly driving 45 minutes to an hour to come out for lunch and dinner, and weekends are constantly booked out.

“It’s been an overwhelming success. We intended the development to be very family-friendly, somewhere you’d want to take your kids, have some fish and chips by the water and kick around a football — that whole relaxing Sunday vibe — and that’s what we’ve achieved.”

CONTACTS

KP Architects (Architect, Interior Design): (07) 3216 1466 or kparchitects.com.au Comiskey Group (Owner, Builder): (07) 3261 7333 or www.comiskey.com.au Flooring Xtra (Carpets): www.flooringxtra.com.au SAS Roofing: sasroofing.com.au Amber (Tiles): 1300 139 868 or www.ambertiles.com.au Uptiles (Tiles): (07) 3881 0116 or www.uptiles.net Urbanline (Timber): (07) 3281 8433 or www.urbanline.com.au JVG Sound Lighting & Visual (Audio, TV, Alarm System): 1300 584 584 or www.jvgsound.com.au Fire & Ice Food Equipment (Kitchen Fitout): (07) 3855 9956 or www.commercialkitchenbrisbane.com.au Page Furniture: (07) 5485 1888 or www.pagefurn.com.au Specialized Refrigeration Services (Coldroom): 07 3390 6752 or www.srspl.com.au Nightlife Music: 1800 679 748 or nightlife.com.au

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ConcepttoReality CALL OUR DESIGN TEAM ON

(02) 9914 0900

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Pushing the Boat Out The Boatshed Bar & Galley is a pub within a club built to catch the winds of change.

Belmont 16 Foot Sailing Club: The Parade, Belmont NSW (02) 4945 0888 or www.16s.com.au

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a BERGSTROM ARCHITECTS project

Gazeway was the first Belmont 16s boat to win the Australian championships, now it’s a share table. Perfect.

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he “Belmont 16 Foot Sailing Club.” As a non-‘yachtie’ (and I’m sure ‘yachtie’ is laughably wrong terminology for a start), who has never owned a pair of boat shoes let alone a water-borne craft, it feels like quite a specific classification. A little like calling your licensed sports club ‘Under 21s Ladies’ Lacrosse Club’. Regardless, Belmont 16s is anything but exclusive or niche. Quite the contrary, it’s made a concerted effort to embrace everyone.

Belmont 16s has decided the best way to attract the younger market is to launch a venue specifically for that demographic: the Boatshed Bar & Galley.

Club CEO, Scott Williams puts it this way when he spoke to venue: “We’re a large club of 30,000 members, but like most clubs, we are strong in the 55-plus market but under-represented in the 2545 sector. The Boatshed Bar & Galley is our strategic investment to address that issue — it’s about demographic diversification.”

PUB IN A CLUB The Boatshed is a pub within a club. But once inside, you’d never know you were in a club at all.

You won’t hear the bingo call and you won’t be looking at flyers for the Wednesday night roast dinner promotion while in the bathrooms. The Boatshed Bar & Galley is urban and contemporary with an F&B offering to match.

Chasing the fashionable youthful crowd requires a different sensibility. Apart from the edgy industrial aesthetic of the Bergstrom Architectsdesigned fitout, and the craft beer and sharing plates, there needs to be a new approach to mar-

keting, for example. Scott Williams again: “The easy path would have been to build a sports bar, but that would only have served to move our existing customers from one part of the club to a newer part. This new venue was built to attract new customers with a different product range at a different price point and a different feel to the rest of the club, which is largely open plan.

“The marketing is more about social media rather than a traditional communications strategy and at this stage it’s proving to be the right way to go.”

SHED LOADS The Boatshed Bar & Galley occupies a structure that once was, literally, a boatshed. Part of the design brief was to maintain that DNA. The club commissioned three architects to present design concepts for the venue, along with other refurbishments in the pipeline. For all intents and purposes, it was a design competition; a competition won by Bergstrom Architects.

“Clubs everywhere are losing business to smaller wine bars and pubs,” noted Ania Bergstrom.

“The 20-30 somethings, the metro crowd, can find clubs a bit stuffy and boring. We came up with a pub within a club — almost a standalone offering — using the history of the boatshed as inspiration.

As such, to keep it separate from the club, it has its own small TAB area and there’s even a small gaming offering, which is quite unusual for a club in one of its venues.”

The aesthetic of the venue is raw but the materials are warm and tactile, such as the recycled timbers and handmade tiles. What the photos

don’t reveal is just how much of a departure the fitout is to the rest of the Belmont 16s which adheres more to the club design playbook. But the playbook hasn’t been entirely thrown out the window. A club venue such as the Boatshed Bar needs to be comfortable and durable.

“There are things you could get away with in a small wine bar you can’t in a club,” observed Ania Bergstrom. “It has to be durable; it has to be bulletproof.

“You can’t spec vintage-style furniture without knowing it can last the distance, and be comfortable. Clubs can’t go out on a limb by being too trendy. But I think the Boatshed Bar strikes a happy balance.”

TECH DECK Belmont 16s invested heavily in the AV aspects of the fitout. First step was to engage an AV consultant, Umow Lai, to guide the club through the latest tech developments it could be leveraging to do better business.

The big ticket items are the video wall (for superior game-day viewing); an IPTV system which individually addresses every screen in the club to display free-to-air, pay TV, music video or digital signage; and a superior audio install for clear/ crisp sound in the somewhat cavernous space.

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The Tripleplay IPTV system, integrated by Streamvision, has provided enormous flexibility to the club’s programming and marketing, as Streamvision’s Greg Bassine explains: “The system takes human intervention out of the equation. The club is now automating the whole solution — scheduling what each screen is displaying — as well as being able to speak to guests with the right messaging. In my experience, clubs suffer from having screens showing bland and generic messaging, because they need to be shared across multiple screens. That’s not the case at Belmont 16s. For example, the two screens in the men’s bathroom display different messaging to the screens in the ladies’.”

Club boss, Scott Williams, is equally excited about the marketing and cross promotion possibilities: “We have a large 600-seat auditorium so we can promote Thirsty Merc or Pete Helliar in the Boatshed but not the Elvis Tribute Show.

“It certainly beats the days of running around with memory sticks and relying on someone to take an advertisement down when it was out of date! We can schedule our programming and messaging now.”

CONTACTS Bergstrom Architects: (02) 8920 1499 or bergstromarchitects.com.au Umow Lai: (02) 9431 9431 or umowlai.com.au Streamvision: 1300 300 407 or streamvision.com.au

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HIP HIP CAPRI Capri by Fraser: 80 Albert Street, Brisbane QLD (07) 3013 0088 or brisbane.capribyfraser.com

H

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otel chains the world over are frantically attempting to keep up with its nimble, savvy, always-on Gen Y guests. New sub-brands are being launched every year to tap into the spending power of this growing cohort. Apart from wanting high-speed internet in every last nook and crevice of the property (“what do you mean I can’t Instagram in the lap pool!?”), this contemporary breed of ‘on point’ traveller likes style — more than a comfy bed, thanks, they desire some flair, and a handful of feel-good luxuries.

Frasers Hospitality has made a name for itself by combining the public’s penchant for the leg-stretching space of serviced apartments with the actual service of a luxury hotel.

Based in Singapore, Frasers is a rapidly expanding hospitality group without any of the ‘baggage’ that comes with spending decades adhering to the stuffy status quo of the 20th century hotel handbook.

Capri by Fraser is what it calls a ‘hotel residence aimed at the Millennial business traveller’, and the first in Australia has popped up in Brisbane this year.

Capri by Fraser is set in the thick of the Brisbane downtown action. The fitout took an existing high-rise, gutted and transformed it into a design-led dormitory. Each suite features

free and fast WiFi, king-size bed, kitchenette with Nespresso coffee machine and microwave, ergonomically designed desk and Herman Miller work chairs, Malin & Goetz bath amenities, an iPod docking station and 48-inch LED TV. It’s comfortable, spacious and schmick.

As far as shared facilities go, the indoor heated pool is a treasure, with a steam room and sauna for those who don’t find Brisbane’s weather close enough.

On the ground floor, the hotel’s signature Asana by Pete Evans, is cleverly designed to be public facing, while ‘Paleo Pete’ is a great fit for Capri’s target market.

Capri by Fraser is a perfect next-gen fit: from the iPadbased check-in, to the free wireless, and the flexibility of cooking yourself, doing your own laundry, or indeed not lifting a finger with 24-hour room service… it’s a hi-tech, small carbon footprint gem.

In fact, just five months after opening, Capri by Fraser scooped the Best Superior Accommodation category at the Queensland Hotels Association Awards for Excellence, fending off some tough opposition from Four Points by Sheraton, Next Hotel, Tryp by Wyndham, The Glen Hotel & Suites and The Calamvale Hotel.

Bravo Capri by Fraser. — Christopher Holder

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BOWLS OF PLENTY Asquith Bowling Club: 1 Lodge St, Hornsby NSW (02) 9477 1364 or www.asquithbowlingclub.com.au

T

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he old ’80s interiors of the Asquith Bowling Club were tired, compartmentalised and not keeping pace with the changing demands of the North Shore suburb, where high-density apartments line the Pacific Highway and Hornsby railway line.

Lawn bowls remains a key part of the club’s life but only accounts for 20 percent of the membership. Like most suburban clubs, functions, F&B and gaming keep the tills ticking over.

The board decided to green light a much needed refit. It’s a relatively modest upgrade: it utilises the same footprint; the bowling greens weren’t tarmaced over; and the world’s largest crane wasn’t dropping prefab bingo halls on site from a great height. The club’s Secretary Manager, David George, describes the process as “maximising our assets”.

“The space we had wasn’t allocated properly. We now have a more efficient use our available footprint. We’ve moved pillars, knocked through walls, relocated offices — the configuration is far more functional, and inviting.”

2RKS Architects were engaged to handle the sensitive task of shepherding Asquith Bowls into the 21st century, designing an open and flexible layout allowing for versatile options and simultaneous functions. Key aspects of the 2RKS fitout included: custom-designed carpet, bespoke reception counter, custom-made entrance cabinetry, bar joinery, hand-selected furniture for main lounge and dining area, wall murals com-

CONTACTS 2RKS Architecture + Design: (02) 8904 0000 or www.2rks.com

memorating local history, clear story windows, and new ceilings. Thanks to 2RKS’ project management the club was able to trade through all of the renovations.

“Prior to the refit, patrons would walk into the restaurant and then walk out again without seeing any of the club,” noted David George. “The flow has now changed for the better. Our bar trade since the renovations is up more than 10 percent on this time last year and membership is up over 10 percent from pre-renovation figures to record levels.”

2RKS principal architect Richard Salman reflects on a satisfying job: “Although the key aim of the renovations was to modernise Asquith Bowling, the flow-on affects of opening up the space and using the floor plan more efficiently are evident to all the staff and members. We’re delighted with the bounce in revenue and membership, and are more than pleased with the response to the refined, more sophisticated aesthetics.”

So what are members most pleased about? David George again: “Members are pleased with every aspect of the renovation. They weren’t so pleased during the renovations but they can now see the bigger picture and are uniformly delighted.

“What’s next? Our gaming area will be our next project. Once we’ve upgraded that area the club won’t need any significant work done for another 10 years.”

— Christopher Holder

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ON THE DOWN LOW Prohibition: 206 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley QLD (07) 3852 5876 or www.prohibitionbrisbane.com.au

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he entertainment precinct of Fortitude Valley is an entertainment mecca and tenancies are highly sought after. So for a venue in the Valley to remain fallow for 10 years… well, there’s got to be something seriously amiss. It stands to reason that the site won’t have a lot going for it. It may have problems in the past with fire regulation issues; no natural light; termite infestation; low ceilings… a place where you’d have to be nuts to move in.

Prohibition’s backers spotted something they liked about this particular site and decided it was worth the risk. The location was perfect, the venue itself was seriously problematic, but with some tenacity and creativity the impossible became possible.

THOROUGHBRED CLUB

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Prohibition is a nightclub. There are two smaller spaces apart from the main room but at its heart this is a thoroughbred club, the likes of which don’t come along very often this decade.

The main room is a 1000sqm pleasure palace with a 1920s prohibition theme. Really, the team didn’t have too many theming options when faced with the single entrance and stoop-inducing 2.7-2.9m ceilings. That said, the look is execut-

CONTACTS FortyFour Twelve: (02) 6239 1112 or fortyfourtwelve.com.au Funktion-One: 0411 747 369 or funktion-one.com.au

ed with a high degree of speakeasy panache.

The design favours private booths that are currently the toast of the town — two grand down payment will reserve you and your companions one for the night.

The island bar itself is a tour de force. Central, four-sided, immense and streamlined to keep queueing to a minimum, thus reducing staff stress and increasing turnover.

FULLY FUNKTIONING A world-class nightclub can’t afford to skimp on its sound.

Funktion-One is a brand that’s well regarded worldwide, especially among the clubbing cognoscenti. In this case the Gold Coast’s very own Stafford Brothers put their vote in for a Funktion-One rig, they may have even used the words ‘can’t go wrong’.

Taking care of the audiovisual installation was FortyFour Twelve, headed up by Director George Chrysostomou: “Funktion-One sells itself in the nightclub market. Dead set.

“We did a design with it, based on the quite unique Prohibition space with its low ceiling, compact designated dancefloor, but large general space that needed high quality even coverage.”

A hefty main FOH system is combined with a distribut-

(Main Room Opposite) Existing drainage and services from the upper tenancies all become part of the environment. Finishes are recycled materials used in innovative ways to convey the aura and patina of the ‘age’.

Wall Street VIP lounge (left) offers invitation-only swipe card access and premium tipples. The foyer (below) lays on lashings of Gatsby, while the spacious Ladies’ powder room (bottom) hosts three make-up artists during peak periods.

ed PA dotted about the room, carefully directed as to keep sound from the prevalent hard surfaces and ceiling. Funktion-One’s Resolution 1.5TT (based on two 12-inch speakers and a central HF device), with its 25° horizontal coverage, is especially designed for venues with low ceilings. Elsewhere F55 double five-inch speakers, with wide dispersion help cover the booths and other areas. Rounding out the low end are a combination of 21-inch subs (for the mains) along with 15-inch and 12-inch subs in the rest of the room. George estimates the main rig is ticking away at only 60 or 70% of its capacity in peak periods, such is the Funktion-One’s renowned horn-loaded efficiency.

GANGBUSTERS For 10 years hospitality operators have overlooked and dismissed the Prohibition basement site as too hard, too cramped, too problematic and too costly. The Prohibition team, perhaps because the financial backer wasn’t part of the Fortitude Valley hospitality oligarchy, had the guts to take on the site and turn those limitations into advantages…

Prohibition is going gangbusters.

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In The Hunt Squillace and SJB tag team on the new phase of this bastion of a cosy inner north enclave.

Hunters Hill Hotel: 64 Gladesville Rd, Hunters Hill NSW (02) 9817 2188 or huntershillhotel.com.au

Story: Lucie Robson

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he sports lovers and families who frequent Hunters Hill Hotel, on a lively street in the well-heeled northern banks of the harbour, now have more to love. The inside now has new patterns, mirrors, petite light fittings and brassy details that pay tribute to the venue’s Art Deco conception; outside is now a two-level beer garden reminiscent of a ‘home among the gum trees’, with views through the eucalypts down to the Lane Cove river below.

The hotel’s management, Iris Capital, commissioned a joint project between Squillace Architects and SJB to transform the sprawling suburban pub. Vince Squillace’s team was tasked with the redesign of the wider building complex, which encompasses the hotel and the extensions to its outdoor courtyard, the adjoining shops and apartments and the basement carpark. “You’ve got the hotel on the eastern side, the basement under the hotel development, shops on the ground floor on the western side and then the apartments above the shops,” he says.

It was a challenge to recreate the hotel, explains Squillace, without erasing what made it special in the first place, which was what it represented for the locals. “You have to consider the different types of users, you don’t want to alienate the locals who are used to coming to the bar, and using it in more of a traditional way, treating it like a pub, a sports bar,” he says. “But there’s a new crowd that you need to design for, a popular crowd who likes going to a gastropub.”

Squillace was keen to preserve the 20th-century Moderne style referenced by original architect Sydney Ancher, and work any new developments around the framework of the existing heritage building. “There were lots of horizontal lines and interesting textures,” he says. “The extension to the rear is a modern interpretation of some of the original elements of that building. Designing the building next door we had to make sure the building complemented, rather than copied the original design.”

KEEN LOCAL EYE

CONTACTS:

The local community has surely been keeping a keen eye on the developments. “Everybody in Hunters Hill knows it,” says Jonathan Richards from SJB, and he should know; both he and his colleague on the project, Georgia Hickie, grew up in the area. The owner of Iris, Sam Arnout, is a local as well. After Squillace was given the architectural commission, Iris engaged SJB to add a substantial layer of interior design styling. Iris and SJB had previously worked together on venues in Parramatta, Drummoyne and Clovelly.

“It’s known as a sports pub,” Richards explains of the Hunters Hill Hotel. “There are a couple of private schools nearby, St Ignatius and Riverview, that are big sporting schools, and they support local rugby clubs here so there’s always been that sporting overtone.”

Appropriately, then, guests strolling in from Gladesville Road find themselves in the classic sports bar. It has black and brass detailing, mirrors and new custom carpets. “We wanted it to be a fairly rich, intense kind of arrival point for the public,” Richard explains. “So that’s why we used the curve of the space to have all these facets and mirrors, to give it a lot of impact.”

The designers installed the lighting, in particular, with a view to referencing the “classic Art Deco elements that previously stood out in this room,” he adds.

SJB Interiors: (02) 9380 9911 or sjb.com.au Squillace Architects: (03) 9639 3777 or squillace.com.au Nightlife Music: 1800 679 748 or nightlife.com.au Xcite AV: 1300 568 571 or xciteav.com.au Big Screen Projects (Displays): 1300 278 118 or bigscreenprojects.com.au Designer Rugs (Carpets): 1300 802 561 or designerrugs.com.au Euromarble (Marble): euromarble.com.au Bindi Furniture: (02) 9773 4042 or www.bindifurniture.com.au Surface Gallery (Fish Scale Tiles): surfacegallery.com.au Coco Republic (Shelving): cocorepublic.com.au Café Culture+insitu: (02) 9699 8577 or cafeculture.com.au

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TAKING IT OUTSIDE SJB redesigned the existing sports bar, and Vince Squillace’s new building works begins once guests go outside. SJB provided styling and decorations in the courtyard, where the brass of the sports bar gives way to the still-pinkish tones of copper, and there are an eclectic array of pot plants dotted about. The new outdoors is timbered with a variety of seating areas and chairs for different groups and families.

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“The idea is that you’ll also come into this very dark, masculine space with tan leathers, black timbers, brass detailing, and you’ll walk out into this very light, garden — a spacious beautiful space that’s resplendent in the daylight,” Richards says. “We’ve put this canopy over the top which the vines will grow up and over — it’ll be lovely, green and daylight-fresh.

EATING OPTIONS Around the corner, where patrons can enter from the complex’s carpark, the team have created a homely “kitchen pantry” area with extra seating capacity, next to the real bistro kitchen. Patterns sit side-by-side and the shelves are decorated with cute jars and bottles, just like a real pantry.

“The idea again is that it feels more like a residential garden experience,” says Richards.

As time goes on, the teams plan to add more layers of outdoor decoration, particularly plants, to the beer garden, just as might happen with a real backyard. Above this courtyard is a semiverandah with a pastel green floor, that can be closed up with timber louvre windows. This leads into another bar with more mirrors, and then to the more intimate small rooms for private dining and functions.

SEVEN YEAR ITCH Rod Lawson, Iris Capital’s Group General Manager, says that the Hunters Hill Hotel’s new look was seven years in the making, being part of the overall makeover of the Hunters Hill Village — which was itself part of the master-planned Town Centre development in the suburb. Works will continue here for some years. Iris acquired the hotel in 2006. “The hotel was renovated in 2008 to bring it up to modern standards at the time,” says Lawson. “We then went about constructing a master plan for the site which has finished with a 1600sqm hotel, 120 basement car spaces for patrons, 51 luxury units and 1100sqm of retail.”

The renovations have proven popular with guests. “The response has been overwhelming,” Lawson says. “It’s great to walk in there on any night and see all areas buzzing and people enjoying the facilities. It has become a community meeting place.”

CREATING ATMOSPHERE Nightlife Music helped create a soundtrack to reflect Hunters Hill Hotel’s new identity. “It’s based around cool jazz and smooth vocal tracks so that it transitions between their spaces with a relaxed and sophisticated feel,” says Nightlife’s Music Director, Matthew Lymbury. “The managers on the ground have also been using our apps to jump in and get hands on with the music, making it easy for them to react to the venue in real time.”

The audiovisual capacity of the hotel has had a major overhaul. Xcite AV had the gig, led by Brendon Fava. “We have upgraded the whole venue to state-of-the-art digital technology,” explains Lawson. “We currently have over 40 screens throughout the venue.” One of these is a big drawcard, the biggest in fact: the 160-inch LED screen outside in the beer garden is, according to Lawson, the largest of its type in NSW. But on a sunny day, the loveliness of the hotel’s location might distract you from the big-screen sport. “I really love this look in this setting, where it’s really transparent during the day — fresh and light — and you’re looking into the trees,” says Jonathan Richards, admiring the view from the courtyard. “It’s a beautiful spot.”

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A big sports pub needs a big screen, and Hunters Hill Hotel’s is one of the biggest going around (top). The copper theme works through the venue from the pillar lighting to the copper table and shelving frames.

The Seville barstools were thriftiliy retained.

To Get The Best You Need To Work With The Best

The Best Sound Reinforcement, Audio Visual, IPTV, Digital Signage, Performance Lighting & Paging Pictured: The state-of-the-art Royal Randwick Racecourse. Other key venue technology facilities with fit-for-purpose audio visual solutions include: ANZ Stadium, Sydney Cricket Ground, Etihad Stadium, Adelaide Oval, Bankstown Sports Club, Metricon Stadium, Suncorp Stadium, Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Town Hall and many more.

Experience | Independence | Assurance P. (02) 8755 8700 / E. sales@papeople.com.au / 9-11 Leeds St, Rhodes NSW 2138

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SPORTS' BIG WIN Bankstown Sports Club partners with The P.A. People to get the right AV. Bankstown Sports Club: www.bankstownsports.com

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ydney’s big clubs don’t get much bigger than Bankstown Sports Club. With more than 65,000 members it’s a huge multivenue enterprise, with large-scale audiovisual needs and challenges. There are eight restaurants, seven bars, 13 event spaces, an enormous indoor kid’s play area, and more venues planned along with an expansion of its Travelodge Bankstown Hotel.

As a big, integrated multi-venue entertainment hub Bankstown Sports Club has struggled to find a ‘big, integrated’ AV partner that had the vision, knowledge and professionalism to understand and respond to the club’s challenges. The club was looking to take large strides forward to meet the AV and technology expectations of its members and paying audiences, and needed an AV partner that not only met those expectations but exceeded them.

INTEGRATED PLAN The P.A. People has plenty of expertise in highuse, multi-function venues and quickly grasped what The Bankstown Sports Club’s masterplan meant for its AV requirements. Jason Klippel, AV

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Manager for the Club said: “We embarked on a collaborative relationship with The P.A. People system designers, firstly giving them a list of requirements for our basic needs. We asked them to respond with how that might work and how the brief could be improved upon.”

Jason Klippel could be forgiven for being a little surprised with The P.A. People’s response, which provided initial concept briefs and budgets, instead of a traditional quote. From there both parties put their heads together to finesse the concept designs to a detailed scope and finalised cost, before installing and training staff on the new solution.

If you’re anything like Bankstown Sports Club you don’t necessarily object to spending a few extra dollars upfront if you can be assured that you’re getting the best solution for the job that doesn’t require unnecessary maintenance or replacement. The P.A. People have more than enough experience in operating large performance venues to know about the true total cost of ownership in a system and didn’t hesitate to recommend AV that would go the distance rather than plug a hole.

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS People expect things to work: for screens to drop down; projectors to spark up; microphones to function… when they don’t you hear about it and it damages your reputation. The Bankstown Sports Club and The P.A. People have gone beyond that.

They realise that if you exceed expectations: if it’s the best concert they heard; if it’s the best presentation they seen; if it was the perfect lunch date… well, then you win friends for life.

The Bankstown Sports Club has figured this out. Found the right AV partner and is gaining a competitive advantage.

Andrew Kelly, General Manager, Bankstown Sports Club, confirms this: “people take technology for granted and we must meet that expectation.

We pride ourselves on positive patron experience and customer service; and we seek to influence everything we can towards that outcome. That’s also why we’ve invested in quality audio/AV solutions in partnership with The P.A. People”.

CONTACTS: The P.A. People: (02) 8755 8700 or www.papeople.com.au Nightlife Music: 1800 679 748 or nightlife.com.au

THE RAINFOREST

The challenge was an open, informal seated area and stage, where ‘sound spill’ affects adjacent areas – an acoustic nightmare that had stumped previous AV suppliers: “The Club had made various attempts to resolve PA issues in recent years. Customer experience was being compromised at very busy times — with upwards of 1000 people affected,” said Andrew Kelly, General Manager. The Club now has a purpose-built system solution that effectively manages audio for an area which has its own performance and patron entertainment function, as well as being the intersection of several access ways and with an open mezzanine above. The directional PA installed includes JBL VRX932 and VRX918 loudspeakers.

THEATRE RENOVATION

It started as a simple modification of a room that hadn’t been touched for 30 years — a ‘tables and chairs’ function room. It now provides patrons with a plush-seated theatre experience and an upgraded PA system. “The biggest component of the room was the PA, to meet customer demand for capability and flexibility; a rock concert one day, a high school speech day the next, then a dance school performance. We were looking for a consultative approach to achieve a solution,” said Andrew Kelly.

For ticketed shows, Bankstown Sports needed a solution that met needs of a variety of hirers requiring simplicity and flexibility. Different audio formats mean system settings and room dynamics change. The Theatre (venue) can be a literal theatre at one point, then a multi-camera live broadcast location the next. “We’re dealing with a broad spectrum of users, with varying expertise and knowledge of systems,” said Jason Klippel. “We need to rely on the science behind getting the correct solution, rather than the badge on the front of the speaker box.” The substantial PA solution now installed, provides the performance outcome required by hirers and their artists of enormous variety. “Positive response has been unequivocal” said Andrew Kelly.

The specialised PA in the Theatres is a Bose RoomMatch comprising four Modules l/R, two Modules C, 4 x 218 subs, and Bose PowerMatch amplification.

FUNCTION & MEETING ROOMS

The Club had dated systems that weren’t capable of meeting the needs of their clients. This is a professional clientele with customers in commerce, education and government sectors. Technology in their world is constantly evolving and they expect capable, technology-enabled facilities. “Working with The P.A. People, we were able to scope a system that works ‘today and tomorrow’ by providing a high-quality meeting environment,” said Andrew Kelly. The systems utilise Screen Technics screens, NEC projection, AMX control, Kramer digital video switching, and BSS audio processing.

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MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE Transformer: 99 Rose St, Fitzroy VIC (03) 9419 2022 or www.transformerfitzroy.com

Photos: Preshan John

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en Guru Raw Soul Food. Now that’s a name for a vegetarian restaurant. Restaurateur Laki Papadopoulos (Panama Dining, St. Jude’s), had other ideas. “We wanted a place that served great food that happened to be vegetarian. Fresh, clean, seasonal, delicious… but not pushing the vegetarian label.” Welcome to Transformer.

Laki knows a thing or two about vegetarian chow. Right next door is the family business of 27 years, the Vegie Bar. The site came on the market, and was snapped up a couple years ago. After much deliberation the blueprint for Transformer was developed: a superior vegetarian menu accompanied by fresh juices and/or organic local wine, all in a classy space that’s lit well and sounds great.

“We’re selling an experience,” asserts Laki. “The setting. The design. The lighting. The food. The music. The service. The food. There’s no one component in particular — it all has to come together to work. If any of those are out of whack the whole experience is lost. It’s different to a helicopter ride, but there are similarities — it’s an experience: we’re selling food and we do it in a way that you can’t mimic at home.”

Laki commissioned Breathe Architecture to take care of the interiors. Concrete, steel and recycled timbers are the order of the day, working sympathetically with the original site: “It was an old transformer factory. Nothing to do with transforming your body or the food, just a nod to the building’s past,” notes Laki.

Green walls divide the space, and expertly-designed lighting makes for a beautiful, elegant yet paradoxically industrial space to enjoy chef Luke Florence’s food.

And what about the distinctive graffiti-clad frontage? Laki: “The artist’s street name is Dis_satisfied and he’s from Brooklyn. By day he’s a food photography and does design work for hospitality outlets. I liked his typeset style. The idea was he would do a corner of the building but that soon grew into the whole frontage.” Christopher Holder CONTACTS Breathe Architecture: www.breathe.com.au

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LIVING LOS VIDA Los Vida: 419 Pacific Highway, Crows Nest NSW

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os Vida is flourishing. After less than a year there are three of these colourful Mexican restaurants across Sydney, with the latest incarnation open north of the bridge on a busy road in Crows Nest.

Bigger and more ambitious than the existing Westfield and Wintergarden CBD locations, the Crows Nest restaurant features space for 200 diners, two bars and a private function area.

“We were able to build it the way we wanted to, without input from Westfield or Lend Lease,” explains Los Vida director and co-founder (with Octavio Gomez-Haro), Mark Dopson.

“This meant that we made our own brief and as a result we have been a lot less conservative with our mood direction and material choices.”

“I love the whole mood direction being darker and more encompassing of all elements Mexican.”

Adam Ziino from Shout Media led the design, characterised by distressed pastel walls, cosy glowing lighting, quirky ceiling murals and potted cacti. A feature wall of colourful artworks, ceramics and curiosities is draped with sparkling fairy

lights. Ziino says that the eclectic and warm nature of classic Mexican design is what appeals to him the most. “The warmth of their food, drinks and attitude works so well.” Ziino created many of the artworks himself.

Los Vida makes use of its cavernous space with four different dining levels. Guests enter on the ground floor and are greeted with an elevated perspective on the main dining area and bar on the sub-ground level. The lofty mezzanine is halfway up and above this is the top bar and function area.

Ziino explains that the difference in altitude provided by the levels is his favourite aspect of the Los Vida design. “The fact that from every level in the venue you can see the other two creates a really eclectic yet harmonious vibe,” he says. “Different to your usual private dining areas or VIP rooms elsewhere, at Los Vida everybody is part of the same vibe in the same venue. So in one word, togetherness.”

Soon Los Vida will head back south of the harbour, with the fourth restaurant set to open at Barangaroo later this year. Three further outlets are in the works as well. – Lucie Robson

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INDEPENDENCE DAY Silky Oaks: (07) 4098 1666 or silkyoaks.com.au

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ow does a businessman go from running Australia’s largest indoor tennis complex to operating one of the premier wilderness resorts in the country? Not only that, but how does he maintain an exacting service standard in the face of far east challenges where labour costs are a fraction of Australia’s? Not only that, but resolutely remaining independent even when big operators are making offers many would find hard to refuse? venue talks to the owner of Silky Oaks Resort, Paul Van Min, to find out.

Paul Van Min: “Silky Oaks is the ultimate couples’ retreat.

It’s a romantic, peaceful, luxurious space in the rainforest. And that’s where the real beauty is: the location. We are in a prime location at the start of the Daintree on the Mossman river and the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, right in the middle of two world heritage locations.

“Barbara, my wife, and I bought the property in 2009. We took it over from Voyages and set out to make it a luxury retreat.

“It was a challenge. Firstly we had to turn around the culture of the staff. For us to be a premium luxury resort we needed to be all about the guest; we needed to exceed the guest’s expectations, so we recruited a team that could deliver on that.

“We also needed to rebuild and renovate the facilities. Starting with the rooms, the lodge, the pools and spa.

“I may not have been coming from a hospitality background, but I was coming from a service industry background. And business is business. So I set about getting my head around a

Story: Christopher Holder

different type of business, with fresh eyes.

“I asked myself questions such as: ‘How does the resort function as a business? How can I be more effective and efficient?

How can we be profitable while at the same time providing an absolutely exquisite experience for our guests.

“From an operations point of view I needed to understand the resort’s distribution channels: where were our guests coming from? That takes a little while and it’s a challenge, but a necessary challenge.

“At the time we acquired the resort, the winds of change in this sector were already howling. The internet had utterly changed the manner in which accommodation is booked. The traditional domination of the retailer/wholesaler/inbound tour operators had ended. Not to say these agencies aren’t still important, they are, especially for a property like ours which has a 70%+ international guest makeup.

“Other luxury lodges closer to the bigger cities will be more skewed to domestic trade. We have a tremendous international following, especially in the US where we are huge, probably larger that our domestic Australian trade.

“It took quite an effort to reignite our international connections. The US market started to drop us as a product seven or eight years ago, but we did everything we could to rekindle that love affair with Silky Oaks. I spent time in the US evangelising: ‘if any guest isn’t entirely happy will give them their money back, no questions asked’.

The sound of a smart business.

We supply, we curate, we support, all for $22.50 per week

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Australia needs a wake up call and bring our staffing conditions more in line with the rest of the world “We’ve subsequently joined the Luxury Lodge Group of independent Australian resorts and became a premium destination.

“Our food and beverage offering has to be top notch, that’s one of the signatures of a Luxury Lodge. This is a tough gig in remote locations.

“We’ve now engaged a great executive chef and our food and wine is tremendous. I call F&B one of the ‘critical success factors’. But we still need to ensure we don’t lose on it, which is tough in an Australia wages market.

“Many resorts in far north Queensland are going broke. Overheads are too high and the staffing component is just about out of control. The Japanese have less than two week’s holidays; the US only two weeks… I think Australia needs a wake up call and bring our staffing conditions more in line with the rest of the world for hospitality and tourism to compete.

“We did get approached at the beginning by a large operator. I guess we were viewed as easy pickings, being new to the industry. I was less than convinced from the onset, although I must confess we did waiver at the time. After all, it was tough going at the beginning. But, ultimately, being managed by a big operator would really have gone against the grain of why we bought into the business. We were determined to do something we could put our stamp on. I didn’t buy Silky Oaks to spend my days on the beach. I enjoy the challenge and the daily contact with people. And by being independent we can imbue our own individuality.”

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EXTRA CURRICULAR Griffith University Student Bar: Southport QLD Story: Lucie Robson

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tudents can now unwind and imbibe in airy Queensland style at the revamped Griffith University Gold Coast Student Guild Bar. In response to the opening of the new Gold Coast Light Rail, which stops just outside the Link building, the Guild commissioned Brisbane firm Push to shift the position of the existing bar, transform the opening to the building and integrate the existing venues into something more cohesive for guests.

Push director Paul Curran describes the former collection of buildings as “a bit of an ugly duckling”. The design team wanted students and staff to enter the building by the new food and retail area and proceed through the middle of the building known as the Link, to the bar which was pushed deeper into the precinct.

“What we did was we tore off part of the roof, and put a big atrium through the middle,” Curran says. “So that you walked into a covered space, but which was very much an outdoor space. We put a large garden bed through the middle so it was integrated, but had this feeling of being part of an outdoor space, with the trees and shade as well.” Bringing the outside in is a way to appreciate the lush green warmth of the Gold Coast environment.

Photos: Ross Eason

The roof is uniquely lofty, unsealed and separated from the base of the building allowing for plenty of natural light and ventilation. “In a decorative sense it looks quite nice because we used a blue twin-wall polycarbonate sheet,” Curran says.

“So it glows blue as you look up.”

BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL The Push team needed to design for a variety of uses and ensure that the new venues would endure plenty of wear and tear, while showcasing smart aesthetics. “They do have to be hard-wearing because they get a lot of use. However, people expect a higher level of design in these spaces these days,” says Curran of the modern student bar and recreation space.

Now on offer are cosier banquette areas for small groups, larger tables, higher dry bar areas, a new outdoor terrace covered by the new roof, and a function room with capacity for 200 seated guests.

“With the bar itself, we were able to centrally locate it, so that it’s sort of three bars in one,” he explains. “It services the internals of the uni bar, it services the terrace area, which is like a big beer garden, and it also wraps around separately into the function room.”

DUNCE TO DUX Dennis Bollington, Commercial Manager of the Griffith University Gold Coast Student Guild, says that the Guild were hoping for a venue with a boutique feel, not resembling a food court or pub. He’s very pleased with Push’s work integrating the previously disparate spaces of the Link. “We used to have an area called the ‘outside terrace’,” he explains. “They completely transformed that, so they turned it from something that was probably the worst area of the university, into one of the best. We ended up with some really nice outdoor undercover seating, which previously had all be subject to the weather.”

“I’d call it a step-up on most universities around Australia if not every one of them.”

Bollington says that the students are enjoying the new spaces, especially the revamped terrace, and come by early in the morning to start using the bar’s new pool tables. The Guild is working on using its new venue capabilities to host more functions, for the university, student clubs, the neighbouring new Gold Coast Hospital and also members of the public.

The Guild and Push, together with FEDS AV, integrating ex-

isting AV elements such as speakers and flatscreens into the new interiors. Music is controlled centrally from the main bar.

Easy-to-clean and durable materials that Curran’s team used include bricks and fully vitrified tiles on the outside, linoleum on the floor inside and veneered plywood sheeting lining the interior walls. Bring on O-Week.

Contacts Push: (07) 3252 0949 or push.net.au Godfrey Hirst (Carpet: ‘Candy Shop’): godfreyhirst.com/au Warwick Brick Works (Bricks: Slate Grey Face, Ebony Face): warwickbrickworks.com.au Forbo (Marmoleum Real – ‘Dark Bistre’): forbo.com PGH Bricks (Glazed Brick Bar, Academy Range ‘Quantum’): pghbricks.com.au Bar Benchtop (Recycled Grey Ironbark, Gloss Black Steel Angle Frame by Push) Café Culture + Insitu (Loose ‘Domus’ Tables – High & Dining): (02) 9699 8577 or cafeculture.com.au James Richardson Furniture (Expresso Chairs & Stools): (03) 9428 1621 or jamesrichardson.com.au Nito Tiles (Outdoor Floor Tiles: Granite Tiles: Grey/Antracite): nito.com.au

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LEISURELY CRUISE Cruise Bar: Circular Quay, Sydney NSW

The Cruise Bar refit included an AV refresh performed by AV Lounge, and included the addition of 10 x Martin Audio AQ8 two-way eightinch loudspeakers and 4 x Martin AQ210 2 x 10-inch subwoofers, powered by 2 x QSC CXD4.3 DSP amplifiers.

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hile the Overseas Passenger Terminal was being remade earlier this year in readiness for more cruise liners to steam in, Circular Quay favourite Cruise Bar found the perfect opportunity for its own revamp.

Venue Manager Michael Jones says the goal was to build something that did more than capitalise on its location. “We don’t really struggle with getting tourists down here,” says Jones. “What we wanted to do was try to make Sydney proud to come back down here and enjoy themselves, and see the space as it is, not just a tourist trap but an oasis by the sea.

“We are influenced by boats, ferries and shipping, so we obviously have our nautical theme,” Jones continues. “But the space itself, we wanted it to be comfortable and relaxing, and at the same time not just being a stadium for everyone to sit at while they watch the boats go by, and look at the Opera House.”

Sydney firm Design Native was brought on board and the fitout was completed in a matter of weeks, in time to open for the Vivid Festival in May. The venue is divided into two with Cruise Bar on Level 1 and Junk Lounge on Level 2. Down-

CONTACTS: Warrane (Construction): www.warrane.co AV Lounge (AV Install): www.avlounge.com.au Technical Audio Group (Martin Audio, QSC Audio): (02) 9519 0900 Nightlife Music: 1800 679 748 or nightlife.com.au

stairs is bright and breezy, with indoor greenery, and upstairs is darker and more sensual. “While Level 1’s white and green tones are designed to uplift and refresh, Level 2’s Junk Bar uses black to create mystery and intimacy,” say designers Ashleigh Bersin and Nicole Panagopoulos.

Cruise Bar takes its design cues from the deck of a cruise ship, complete with rope, recycled timber, stripy deckchairs and rusted bolts reminiscent of an old wharf. Junk Lounge, however, references the seafaring traditions of old Hong Kong.

“The rusted metal elements from the Cruise bar translate to a copper bar counter in the Junk Lounge; the bar referencing a Chinese apothecary designed to contain the spices and ingredients for the cocktail makers,” the designers say. “Asian artefacts, vessels and bamboo frame the area behind to help set the scene for the spice journey.”

For added interactivity, guests can play giant Jenga games on the outdoor tables. Additional points of difference are murals by urban artist Fin DAC and an impressive 11m moss wall behind the downstairs bar, bringing the oasis theme to life. — Lucie Robson

OUT OF THE WOODWORK When you’ve got a new venture concept, Hunter Gatherer do everything to put your meal on the plate.

Story: Mark Davie Woody.P: 121 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC (03) 9654 5000 or www.woodyp.com.au

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oody.P is right next door to Chin Chin, the first of Chris Lucas’ heavily-themed casual restaurants that drew Melburnians in with its scudhot Pan Asian cuisine. It’s owned by landlord Rob Delica and business partner, Pierre Semann, but the venue was taken from concept through to opening by the Hunter Gatherer Group, a new breed of consultancy that specialises in hospitality.

Scott McDonald and Brett Louis set up the Hunter Gatherer Group when they were bumping in My Mexican Cousin at the Melbourne Recital Hall for St Jerome’s Jerome Borazio and St Ali’s Sal Malatesta. McDonald was General Manager of Borazio’s Get Notorious group at the time, and had asked Louis to leave his position at The Pub to help him out.

The pair have run their fair share of venues, McDonald has been operating since he had the Kitten Club at 25 years old. But wanting to alleviate themselves of the stress and ongoing responsibility of operation, they saw an opening for a professional hospitality bump-in crew. “A lot of clients want to open restaurants, but they’re busy running their own restaurants or being architects or lawyers,” said McDonald. “We’ve got nothing but hospitality operations experience, and we know how to set up places.”

ON THE BALL

CONTACTS

The next bump-in was for Senoritas, another Mexican restaurant with a short shelf life. While Scott and Brett take the longevity of a business seriously, they were still essentially just getting the premises up to spec, purchasing equipment and hiring staff. One of the Senoritas shareholders, Matteo Bruno, was impressed with their work and came to them with the Meatball & Wine Bar concept. Quickly, Hunter Gatherer made the leap from bump-in work to looking at businesses from a macro perspective; taking on the branding and conceptual side too.

McDonald: “We found that our niche actually spread quite wide, to the point where we’re taking care of all the client’s requirements — whether it be full or part scope — to keep the project moving through all the processes. So when it opens, it’s a streamlined and hopefully successful operation.

“Sometimes we’re the victim of our own success and clients think they can step away and save themselves ‘X’ amount of dollars. But through our ability to bring down the billable hours of architects, interior designers, graphic designers, plus the discounts we receive on equipment through all our purchasing, We generally bring ourselves down to being cost neutral, and in a lot of cases, cost negative.”

Hunter Gatherer Group: (03) 9417 4852 or www.huntergatherergroup.com Eades & Bergman (Design): (03) 9017 4788 or www.eadesandbergman.com James Richardson (Chairs): (03) 9428 1621 or www.jamesrichardson.com.au Steve Edwards (Stools & Outdoor chairs): (03) 9489 4177 or www.steveedwardsfurniture.com.au Cafe Culture (Hide Light Pendants): (03) 9411 0011 or www.cafecultureinsitu.com.au Please Please Please Design (Custom lighting): 0417 436 487 Classic Ceramics (Feature Tiles): (03) 9682 6555 or www.classicceramics.com.au CDK Stone (Bluestone Pavers & Marble Benchtops) (03) 8552 6000 or www.cdkstone.com.au Porter’s Paints: (03) 9521 7818 or www.porterspaints.com.au Australia Stained Glass Supplies (Feature Glass): (02) 9560 0880 or www.asgs.com.au

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OLD FASHIONS, MADE NEW Delica inherited the tenancy when the previous club owners stopped paying rent. He and Semann decided to keep it running as Fashion Lounge for a stint, but always had plans for a restaurant conversion, contracting Hunter Gatherer because of their work on Meatball & Wine Bar down the road.

Delica Meats supplies much of the hospitality industry, so Delica naturally has a lot of insight into food trends. At first, the concept was to go heavy on the Italian to represent his influence. “We looked at the success of Lupino, which is a beautiful little restaurant,” said McDonald. “Good restaurants, with good food, done well, is never going to date.” But Delica wanted to broaden the palette a little more, so the influences spread across the Mediterranean, which suited chef Clinton Camilleri, who’s work at the Healesville Hotel and Lake House had been along those lines. It means as well as charcuterie, or salumi, there’s a range of dishes and pizzas they hope will capture a major market in 101 Collins St across the road.

“We also felt the site was too big to do an offering too small,” said McDonald. “If you walked into the vast space of Chin Chin and it had a very simple, small menu, you’d think it didn’t quite fit.” The other key hire was venue manager, Brett Scales, whose experience at Stokehouse gives Woody.P firm leadership.

Eades & Bergman, responsible for Lucas’ Korean BBQ joint Kong, and Meatball & Wine Bar, were already contracted by the time Hunter Gatherer took on the job. And while, McDonald and Louis bring their experience to bear to devise kitchen layouts and influence flow, the design was squarely in the designer’s court. Simple, refined textures were the order of the day, with exposed brick walls, polished timber floors, textured glass, feature tile work, and Carrara marble bartops. There are plenty of custom touches, with Paul Grummisch of Please Please Please Design custom designing all the lighting other than the leather-shaded Hide pendants in the front section. Complementing the Hide’s shades are leather joinery handles supplied by Made Measure, and local designer Steve Edwards’ stools and outdoor chairs. Branding touches like the neon signage and mosaic Woody.P doormat tie the whole concept together.

Keeping an eye on new trends is obviously key for a group evaluating new concepts. So as well as a diet of daily eating out, Hunter Gatherer has friendly hospitality spies in New York and San Fran to dig up hidden gems in those cities that have influenced Melbourne so heavily. “We always talk about what’s missing,” said McDonald.

And while Flinders Lane never looked it would be in need of anything else, Woody.P seems to be filling a gap.

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THE PADDINGTON

Merivale Group, Sydney

24 Moons Alumbra The Arthouse Hotel Australian Outback Spectacular The Bank Hotel The Botanical Bungalow 8 Brisbane Hotel (Perth) Club Marconi Discovery Establishment Half Moon Hornsby RSL Ivy Katuk Kudu Lounge Luxe Bar The Mean Fiddler The Met Oxford Art Factory Slip Inn

BuzziBlox

Didier Bombala

An attractive acoustic wall panel feature that tunes a room in the speech spectrum range especially low to mid frequencies. The varying depths absorb the different wavelengths improving sound absorption and creating a more pleasant sound experience.

Excellent for cafes, restaurants, bars and offices.

BuzziBlox looks more like is a piece of art when hung on a wall making it beautiful as well as truly functional.

Didier Bombala Out
The Bombala Out collection is suitable for both outdoor and indoor use. Suitable for commercial and hospitality settings, the Bombala Out family includes chairs, armchairs, bar stools, lounge chairs and tables fabricated with high quality stainless steel and finished in resilient powdercoated colours. The chairs start from $416 a piece, and are designed in Australia by Ross Didier.

Didier: www.didier.com.au

Zenith: 1300 013 013 or zenithinteriors.com

Altered Carpet Tile Altered is the latest plank carpet tile collection from the Shaw Contract Group and is well suited to creating spaces with varying degrees of movement or pattern with its 12 colours and four styles. Altered offers superior durability, style and recyclability. The Shaw Contract Group lifetime commercial warranty covers abrasive wear, tuft-bind, edge ravel and delamination.

Shaw Contract Group: 1800 556 302 or www.shawcontractgroup.com.au

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Sancal Collar Dining Chair Designed by Skrivo, and inspired by the way a collar folds. Collar combines technology and handcraft. The injection-moulded interior followed intense modelling. The upholstery is tailored just like a made-to-measure suit. Even the buttons are upholstered to match the seat cushion, underscoring the importance of every last detail. Two versions are available: metal or wooden feet. The ash is available in any colour from our collection. The metal is available in textured epoxy: black, grey or brown.

Ke-Zu: www.kezu.com.au

Award Winning HD Digital Signage

TM

Robust, compact and powerful HD Digital Signage Player

Contact us on 1800 00 77 80 or go to www.madisontech.com.au/unleash

X410-044

The award-winning Digital Signage Players from SpinetiX let you unleash your creativity, converting ideas into presentations quickly and easily. Boasting simple connectivity, infinite scalability, and powerful software included; SpinetiX will have you communicating on a grand scale in no time. Quite simply, all you need is SpinetiX.

Casio LampFree XJ

Anya Flexibility

Casio’s XJ-V1 Core Series projector uses a Laser and LED Hybrid technology. The XJ-V1 produces 2700 lumens and without lamps or filters, there’s a significant reduction in power consumption and maintenance. The XJ-V1 achieves full brightness within five seconds of start up. It can also be turned off and stored away immediately as it does not require cool down time. The XJ-V1 features a userfriendly interface, and has a 20,000-hour lifespan and minimal maintenance. Price: $999.

Live Wire, located in the heart of the entertainment district in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a two-level, 1300sqm facility with a capacity of 1100 and is a multi-purpose space that can convert from live music to comedy to a dance club. “Our number one priority was sound quality but we also wanted the most current audio technology,” explains Jason Jones, technician for installer EEG. “Not only does the Anya system sound fantastic, but it was the only system that allowed us to make major system modifications without having to physically adjust the modules.”

Casio Projectors: 1300 768 112 or www.casioprojector.shriro.com.au

PAVT: (03) 9264 8000 or info@productionaudio.com.au

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Kedron-Wavell AT Upgrade

Laycock Theatre’s d&b Jackpot

Kedron-Wavell Services Club in Brisbane is an entertainment hub for leading national and international acts. The Blue Pacific Room is the largest showroom in the venue with seating for 500.

Last year the decision was made to upgrade the PA. Production Manager, Nick Jones, selected Acoustic Technologies’ newly-developed TLA508 Blackbird Line Array System. The venue has also upgraded to a Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console. The TLA508 line array systems are mounted at proscenium level on either side of the stage, and the CLA LF6000 dual 18in subwoofers are mounted beneath the platform.

Laycock Street Community Theatre, Gosford, scored a grant and upgraded to a new d&b PA. The new system os based on the Q-Series with low end support from ground stacked B2-Subs.

Extra Qi10s are rigged to provide enhanced centre vocal localisation for drama, musicals and film presentations, while several 8S loudspeakers from the xS-Series cover front fill duties. M6 monitors were chosen for onstage foldback, which will double as a PA for the smaller Don Craig Room.

Acoustic Technologies: atprofessional.com.au

National Audio Systems (d&b): 1800 441 440 or www.nationalaudio.com.au Cuepoint Productions: (02) 8006 1486 or www.cuepoint.com.au

Meyer Creates Buzz & Conversation Cala is the first US outing for celebrated Mexico City chefowner Gabriela Cámara. Cala is also one of the first new restaurant projects to address sound design as a key component of a new build. The restaurant features Meyer Sound Constellation and Libra acoustic systems, implemented to combine ease of conversation and a desired level of ‘buzz’.

Constellation offers restaurateurs like Cámara the opportunity to adjust the acoustics and offer a dining experience for all the senses. With a simple swipe on an iPad, Cala staff can customise the acoustic environment through an array of tiny microphones and loudspeakers working in sync with digital processing. This ensures that conversations, music, and the energy of the collective restaurant dining experience are in perfect balance.

“With Constellation, Meyer Sound has opened up the possibility of a truly holistic dining experience at Cala,” says Cámara.

Rapidly gaining momentum in the restaurant industry, Meyer Sound’s Constellation technology is already widely used throughout the world as a cutting-edge sound solution for major concert halls and performing arts venues in addition to classrooms and office spaces.

By bringing Constellation to restaurants, Meyer Sound technology solves a long-time curly problem for restaurateurs — how to maintain a buzz but not at the expense of people yelling at each other to be heard. John Meyer, founder and CEO of Meyer Sound: “Diners deserve to be able to hear the person across the table without sacrificing the fun of eating out at a buzzing restaurant. Constellation seamlessly improves the room’s acoustical properties, enhancing the experience for restaurant guests.”

Meyer Sound: (07) 3267 7800 or www.meyersound.com.au

DEDICATED TO SPEECH Experience Simplicity with Speechline Digital Wireless

INTRODUCING SENNHEISER SPEECHLINE DIGITAL WIRELESS. The world’s first digital wireless microphone exclusively for speech.

No audio know-how is required – it’s already built in.

For more information visit sennheiser.com.au or freecall 1800 648 628

Copper Magik Drop

Arteriors Team With Boyd Blue

The Copper Magik Drop comprises a copper pendant light bulb-holder, ceiling plate with a plastic cord. The bulb holder is 60mm x 100mm high, with a 1500mm drop. Price: $69.90.

Arteriors, the American purveyor of luxury lighting and interiors has a fresh presence in Australia via interiors wholesaler Boyd Blue. Boyd Blue has tailored a range specifically for Australians in conjunction with Arteriors’ Founder and Creative Director Mark Moussa. Founding Director Shelley Boyd: “Mark and I have worked closely to handpick a selection of his unique designs. We have invested considerable energy and resources towards this and also to ensuring the smooth transfer of product from the US to Australia,” she said.

About Space: (03) 9417 4635 or www.aboutspace.net.au

Boyd Blue: (07) 5527 0899 or www.boydblue.com.au

ISM Empire

Crown by Nemo Lighting

ISM’s Empire pendant, made from a double shot moulded polymer, has been given a stylish new two-tone effect, with a stunning vintage matte black exterior and white interior. The suspension is available in a choice of black, white, clear cable or anodised aluminium rod.

The modular structure of this modern pendant makes it an eye-catching centre-piece in the home. Available in warmer tones with LED lighting, it is a reinterpretation of the traditional candle chandelier. Designed by the internationally award-winning German studio, Jehs and Laub.

ISM Objects: 1300 888 646 or www.ismobjects.com.au Mondo Luce: (03) 9826 2232 or www.mondoluce.com

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Well Manored

Star’s Lighting Shines

The Manor Complex is located about 32 miles north of Florida’s South Beach. It’s a well-appointed nightclub that features a jolt of eye-popping new energy, courtesy of Rogue and Épix Series fixtures from Chauvet Professional. A collection of 12 Rogue RH1 Hybrids, six Rogue R1 Spots and 26 Épix Bar 2.0 one-metre pixel mapping strips, along with 10 Intimidator Series movers from Chauvet DJ, were added to the nightclub rig. All the fixtures have been mounted on two motorised circular truss structures.

The Star Event Centre in Sydney has taken delivery of an MA Lighting International MA2 full size, 12 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash PC, six Martin Professional MAC Viper Performers and six MAC Viper Profiles, providing the venue with new possibilities. The venue already housed an MA ultra-light console, initially specified for low-grade events with the belief that larger scale concerts would come with their own console. “Most of the work we were doing was of a high grade and we were constantly hiring in an MA full size,” commented Bruce Dwyer, Head of Lighting. “It made sense to purchase our own.”

Showtools: (02) 9824 2382 or www.showtools.com.au

Show Technology: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

TeamConnect:

Stress-free meetings.

THE ALL-IN-ONE AUDIO SOLUTION FOR MEETING ROOMS Audio Conferencing today can be a complex task.

To integrate different input sources into a reliably working conference setting one needs to provide fast and easy access, reliable signal processing and intelligible sound. TeamConnect changes the status quo for the better due to its exceptional ease of use. Designed as an all-in-one system for telephone and web conferencing it will simply perform – from set-up to every day operation. It’s a true plug-and-play solution for any business communication device.

Visit sennheiser.com /teamconnect or freecall 1800 648 628

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal Melbourne

As we say ‘toodle-pip’ to Fat Duck and its six-month sojourn in Crown Melbourne (possibly the biggest hospitality marketing heist of the 21st century), we can say ‘how do you do’ to Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. The new 120-capacity dining room occupies the same space — third floor, Crown Towers Melbourne — overlooking the city skyline across the Yarra River.

This marks Heston’s first permanent restaurant outside of the UK and is the second ‘Dinner’ — the other is in the Mandarin Oriental in Knightbridge.

Entering through a 20m ramp, the guests are drawn towards an animated kaleidoscope. The entry has its own signature aroma based on the notes of damp moss, wood smoke and leather — tally-ho! A concealed sliding panel opens to reveal the restaurant and expansive show kitchen. The cocktail bar takes an elevated dress circle position overlooking the dining room. The private dining room is entered through 5m-high embossed leather pivoting doors, enjoying perfect views of both the kitchen and city.

The interior features two grand Old Master-inspired photographs

by Romas Foord, ‘Meat Fruit’ and ‘Snail Porridge’ — extracted from the ‘Historic Heston’ cook book. The deep, sumptuous, rich colour palette of the photographs inspired the decor, influencing the velvet and leather upholsteries and timber choice for the custom-designed table tops and waiter station joinery, which are set against rich chocolate brown lacquered wall panelling.

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Particular attention has been paid to the lighting, Architects, Bates Smart worked with lighting designers Electrolight to craft custom-designed fittings and set the mood. Sumptuous pools of light have been created, focusing on the areas that guests inhabit, allowing details such as the food presentation, table tops, bar and kitchen, to emerge from the reduced darker background. The textured ceiling pattern is inspired by the Tudor rose, a motif used in the design of the chandeliers in the London restaurant. Ceramic jelly mould wall sconces from the London Dinner are installed above a Sommelier station.

A custom-designed graphic by English artist Dave McKean, depicting Australiana, surrounds the chef’s table overlooking the activity of the pass and the kitchen. Guests can watch the chef’s brigade prepare their roasted pineapples on the custom rotisserie pulley system. The mechanical timepiece mounted adjacent to the show kitchen, designed by Robert Higgs, was inspired by the watchmakers of Greenwich and the royal kitchen of Tudor England.

“Bates Smart principal objective was to create a tableaux that reinforces Heston’s theatricality and delight in the unexpected, but most importantly, the interior is a support act for the feature which is dining experience itself,” Jeffery Copolov, Interior Design Director, Bates Smart. (Images: Mark Roper)

Speakers NEW Cornered Audio Speakers from Denmark.

Designed for that sophisticated, elegant look with high fidelity sound reproduction.

Cornered Audio speakers mount directly in corners or onto walls and ceilings without brackets.

With a unique triangular design, Cornered Audio speakers can be discreetly placed in applications such as on-wall, on ceiling, under balcony or of course in the corner, for a cleaner, more imaginative interior design. And with speaker cables cornered

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as well, the overall solution is pleasing to the eye, as well as the ear.

Cornered speakers are made of extruded aluminium for a more compact and elegant design, while at the same time cooling the drivers and minimising power compression.

Capable of delivering serious sound pressure levels and uniform coverage, Cornered speakers offer a discreet and elegant solution for professional sound reinforcement.

Production Audio Video Technology Pty Ltd 4/621 Whitehorse Road, Mitcham 3132, Victoria PH: 03 9264 8000 sales@productionaudio.com.au

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