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CONTENTS January 2020 No 70

i s s u e s e v e n t y 202 0

— Ian Wilson. Managing Director.

Beer Republic

H o wa r d S m i t h Wh a r v e s • Th e E s p y • H a r b o r d D i g g e r s • Th e C a l i l e H o t e l

Most people when they’re building accommodation hotels, they don’t want to touch food and beverage [but] my background is in hospitality; my first love is restaurants, pubs and bars

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9 771832 143005

Venue: Moon Dog World

Pubs

Performance Venues

10 Moon DogWorld 52 Beer Republic 42 Cairns Convention Centre 48 Fortitude Music Hall 56 Sydney Coliseum 55 RAC Arena Foyer

CONTACTS: Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353 Sales Office: 0416 230329 PO Box 6216 Frenchs Forest NSW 2086 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)

Hotels & Resorts

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22 Babylon 26 Miss Moneypenny’s 30 Stem 32 Forresters FV 42 Peaches 46 Finn Poké 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 © 2019 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. 24/12/19

Clubs

Regulars

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16 Liverpool Catholic Club 38 Sunbury Bowls Club 09 Smooth Operator 66 You Wish:

“Altis Architecture is an experienced part of the clubs industry and we’ve been very impressed with their work.”

– John Turnbull, GM Liverpool Catholic Club

NEW LIVERPOOL CATHOLIC CLUB WING

Design & Architecture By

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I

t’s been one year since we reopened The Espy. And what a year! Filled with extraordinary moments of joy and happiness; plenty of surprises; and very little sleep! Actually, to be fair, I probably shouldn’t totally blame The Espy for my lack of sleep. We had our third child at the start of the year, and she’s largely responsible (sorry darling, should you ever read this, just remember I’ll always look back on our times between 2am and 4am with great fondness… the uncontrollable crying, the irrational behaviour, the emotional roller-coaster — and that was just me!).

ALL THINGS, ALL PEOPLE First, the surprises. Who knew rockers, bogans, punks, goths, backpackers, emos, yuppies, cougars, skaters, grandparents and kids would all be so bloody happy hanging out together in one pub? To see the amazing cross section of St Kilda and Melbourne life that wanders through the doors of the pub each day is genuinely gratifying. We’ve always believed the unique ingredient in the great Australian pub was its democratic makeup.

We’ve always believed the pub was the one place where most of us are perfectly happy to rub shoulders with the sort of people we mightn’t have grown up with, mightn’t live next door to, or work with, or holiday with. It’s something that taps into the heart of who we are as Australians – an egalitarian people. And we always believed The Espy was the most egalitarian pub in the known universe! But years had gone by since it last traded. St Kilda had changed.

We conceived the re-opened Espy as being ‘all things to all people’. Now, as any publican will tell you, that’s a dangerous philosophy to the point of being deadly. It’s one of those cardinal rules, like ‘never work with children or animals’. Yet we held out hope that this would be the one pub that might achieve it. So you can imagine our surprise and delight every time we walk in and see a skinhead having a beer with a businessman, who’s bumming a cigarette from a transvestite, who’s chatting up a tradie in the public bar.

L-PLATES The other great surprises have been music and arts. Now live music has been the defining characteristic of The Espy for nearly 50 years. Music was always going to be central to the reopened Espy. But music has never been central to any of our other venues — we were entirely new to the world of bands, agents, ticketing, promotion, green rooms, riders and general unruly rockstar behaviour. (That said all the Sand Hill Road partners have kids, so we’re not entirely unfamiliar with childish behaviour!) But the rest of it was new to us. We knew we’d have L-Plates on for at least a few years and we were gonna need some really good driving instructors. First we’d need a bloody good booker.

We had some ideas about how we’d do music at the Espy. But even answering a simple question like ‘what sort of music?’ actually isn’t remotely simple. Once our booker joined us in the lead-up to re-opening, we spent a lot of time trying to address that particular question. Then once we had an answer, he had the way, way harder job of actually booking the acts that fit the bill. Navigating either of those processes would have been impossible for us without an experienced booker.

Then we’d need a great ticketing agent. Not that we knew what a ticketing agent was before we started, of course! (We figured we’d just sell tickets, right? How hard could it be? Very,

as it turns out.) Knowing who to market to for any given act, how to promote to them, how to price the tickets, and how to assess the success of a show… our ticketing agent is invaluable.

Finally, we’d need a great tech guy. Cos turning a grand, epic, historic (but abandoned) Gershwin Room back into a world-class performance space was gonna take some serious audio expertise, not to mention running that room smoothly night after night as some of the country’s and the world’s best bands came and went. Just as well the team of guys and girls who installed our audio system, and who run it day in, day out are the best in the business, cos God knows we certainly aren’t! The end result is a music program that’s bold and inspiring; that looks forward to the future of live music; to emerging talent; to creativity; but also has a keen sense of history. (The other end result is a lot of late nights!)

THE IDEA OF ART Our arts program has also been a beautiful and wonderful surprise. Less a renowned part of The Espy’s recent history, more a gorgeous and quirky historical sideline, art and the arts have nonetheless played a key role in the 140year history of the hotel. Unlike music, however, we probably could have reopened the place without the art. In many ways the arts program was an indulgence, a folly, a ‘hail Mary’.

We love art. We love the idea of art. And in particular we love that art should belong in the most democratic of all Australian places: the pub. But let’s be honest: a pub doesn’t need an arts program, and it doesn’t need a creative director. But damn, it’s good to have! Many of the most magical moments any of us (or our patrons) have enjoyed at The Espy this past year have been born of art. We’ve hosted two major festivals that have taken over the entire Espy, which have allowed us to explore themes as diverse as life, death, anxiety and the future of live music (how apt!). Beyond those, we’ve offered dance classes, life-drawing lessons, ghost tours, history talks, podcasts and kids’ programs. And we’ve just hosted the Felton Museum, which illuminated the life of the world’s greatest arts benefactor, Alfred Felton, in the rooms in which he lived and died.

SOUL FOOD Music and art have much in common, of course, the world over. One is of the other, after all.

What they have in common for The Espy specifically, though, might surprise you. Music and art are important to the souls of humans. Just like pubs. That’s why we never had any expectations of either our music or our art making us any money. We still place the expectation to make money on the shoulders of old-fashioned products like food and booze. Music and art are their own reward. They’re worth it, regardless of ticket sales. But wouldn’t you know it: turns out music and art can pay. Both programs well and truly pay their way. More than that though, they bring in punters who mightn’t have otherwise come to our pub. They often fill gaps in otherwise quiet times, early- and mid-week, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. But the best surprise was so obvious, we still can’t quite believe it snuck up on us: pretty much everyone who comes for music or art ends up eating and drinking anyway. Even if the music and art weren’t important, they’d still be bloody good for business.

SMOOTH OPERATOR Surprise, Surprise.

Matt Mullins is a partner in Sand Hill Road hospitality group

To see the amazing cross section of St Kilda and Melbourne life that wanders through the doors of the pub each day is genuinely gratifying

9

Moon Shot Moon Dog has shot from backyard beers with the boys to one of the largest brewery operations in the country. We talk to founders Josh UIljans and Karl van Buuren about the story so far.

Story: Christopher Holder Moon Dog World: 32 Chifley Dr, Preston VIC (03) 9428 2307 or moondogbrewing.com.au

10

A

Moon Dog brew is always something special and very often something really quite out of this world. Some 10plus years ago, when the rest of Australia was beginning to question why they were only drinking ‘a big cold beer’ rather than a beer with some hops and flavour, three Melbourne blokes were taking things way further, experimenting with barrel ageing and exotic flavours. Moon Dog was and is never meant to be a competitor to the huge multinationals but its new brewery HQ in Preston gives the craft brewer some serious capacity.

Moon Dog World is the new retail showcase for the brewer. It occupies a significant chunk of the factory site in Preston and has a 700+ capacity. It’s quirky, original, and is the perfect way to enjoy some of the most original beer flavours going around.

we saw a gap in the market – no one was making beer that was exciting and different Founders: Jake Ulijans, Karl van Buuren & Josh Ulijans

MOON DOG ORIGINS

PERVERSE SEXUAL AMALGAM!

venue What’s the Moon Dog story?

Josh UIljans: Moon Dog was established by myself,

venue: Tell us about the first commercial batch.

Josh: The very first thing we ever brewed was a

Karl and my older brother Jake. Karl and I go way back. We went to school together then start sharing a house as we worked various corporate roles.

Karl van Buuren: We started home brewing together.

We’d homebrew every Sunday in the basement of Josh and Jake’s mum’s house. Very quickly it turned from doing it to have some beer to drink, to realising that this was something we could actually make a go of.

Josh: This was all in the late 2000s and although craft beer was on the scene, it hadn’t quite blossomed in the way we might think about it today.

Little Creatures and Mountain Goat, for example, were well established but we saw a gap in the market – no one was making beer that was exciting and different.

Meanwhile, we’d head to some trailblazing bottleshops around Melbourne and buy beer from Scandinavia, the US, Japan and some other places that were at the pointy end of the craft beer spectrum. That was the stuff that excited us and we loved to make. For example, I remember one of the first beers we made was a bright ale and another was a barrel-aged Tripel.

Karl: We tried different ways of incorporating ingredients and flavours into the beers. Some worked, some didn’t. It was quite a risky thing to do. But we thought that was our niche.

Josh: It was that spirit of exploration that drove us, and that was really the genesis of Moon Dog. venue: Right. How did you start to turn a pipe dream into something real?

Josh: We worked towards tooling up to start commercial brewing operation. We did small business courses. We researched how to build a brewery and poured any spare money we had into buying up bits and pieces of equipment — scouring brokerage websites or eBay for stainless steel tanks etc.

Bit by bit we collected what we needed. Eventually we signed a lease on a property in Abbotsford.

Karl: Once the lease was signed, that was it, there was no going back. In fact, Josh and I moved out of our place in South Yarra to live in the Abbotsford site — we couldn’t afford rent on both.

I recall the banks didn’t want a bar of us. We were a risky prospect. venue: Did the lack of finances slow you down or did it help forge who you are?

Josh: It’s intrinsically part of who we are now.

We learnt so much the hard way. It gave us a breadth of understanding and an appreciation of the fact things weren’t going to come to us easily. Admittedly, there probably isn’t an easy way to set up a brewery, but if there was… this was certainly not it. It was also a lot of fun and an exciting way to set up a brewery. We were doing it because we were passionate but it wasn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme!

black, wild ale with cherry plumbs, aged in bourbon barrels. We called it Perverse Sexual Amalgam but it wouldn’t be ready for another nine months.

We’d continue to come up with amazing ideas, brewing on the weekends using the dairy equipment we bought on eBay. They were long days, but we got beer out into the market. venue: How did you get the beer into the market?

Josh: Initially, we loaded up my 1997 Volvo and drove it around.

Karl: We knocked on the door of speciality bottleshops, told them our story and the kind of beers we were brewing. Mostly, they were very local, in Richmond, Collingwood and in the city. We were only making 80 slabs at a time at that point, and they were snapped up pretty quickly.

Josh: We probably changed some people’s perspectives on what craft beer was all about — the kind of boundaries that had previously existed weren’t there. Since then, of course, things have changed and there are many more breweries doing things with a high degree of creativity. venue: This wasn’t your conventional start-up brewing operation.

Josh: That’s right, it wasn’t a classic brewing model: make a single product; eliminate as many costs of productions as possible; make it as efficient as possible; and churn it out in volume. It just wasn’t that.

Karl: We found out early on that the speciality bottleshops were willing to pay a premium for those kinds of beers. Just because there wasn’t much else in the market and people want to experiment.

FIRST BAR venue: What was the next big quantum leap for

Moon Dog?

Josh: In 2014 we opened our first bar in the origi-

nal Moon Dog site. We were able to take all the things that Moon Dog means to us and put it into a venue.

Karl: We acquired a lot of secondhand furniture and mood lighting. We put up some posters from your childhood on the wall. It was a true warehouse bar — a perfect embodiment of the kind of beer we were making and the kind of people we were. When we first opened, I think it really resonated, especially with the local crowd. venue: What are some of those core Moon Dog values you refer to?

Josh: We’re a very positive brand. We’re very inclusive. We’re about having fun.

Karl: To us, craft beer isn’t exclusive. We want to make craft beer accessible.

Josh: We’re also an innovative brand. We enjoy making certain beers with niche appeal. But we don’t make those kinds of beers so we can twirl our moustaches. It’s about having fun; it’s about

putting a smile on people’s faces.

venue: Was the bar always a natural extension of

what you do, or was it a leap of faith?

Karl: We knew how we wanted the bar to feel but

we left the actual running and processes to some who knew what they were doing. In fact, our first full-time employee was our bar manager. It helped us to run relatively smoothly from the start.

Josh: It was also a very simple bar to operate in a lot of ways — one bar, eight taps, 100-person capacity, and if you wanted food, there was a food truck outside.

BREWING CULTURE venue: I guess it’s one thing to know your brand

values, but how do you build company culture?

Karl: We make sure we work with positive people

who want to learn. In turn, they communicate our passion to the customers. We’ve had constant positive feedback from customers about just how friendly and welcoming our staff have been, and they know all about our beers and they want to tell people about our beers — that’s really important. venue: What next after the first bar opening?

Karl: We opened up a second brewery two doors down, which allowed us to expand operations, set up a national sales team and push into export markets. When we set up the second brewery we figured it would last us five years before we needed to look at something larger. But only a year and a half later we realised we were going to move a lot faster than that to keep up with demand. venue: Was it hard to find a new HQ? Karl: Surprisingly hard. Our requirements meant we were looking at industrial estates but we needed to be quite close to inner Melbourne, not the outer suburbs. So the choice of sites was narrowed to maybe two or three different pockets.

Josh: We looked at Port Melbourne, the Kensington through to Footscray area, a small pocket of Brunswick, and then Preston through to Fairfield.

That was it.

When we first looked at the site back in 2018 it was full of 20 million egg cartons. It used to be a car parts factory, and as a result has an electricity substation.

To be honest, when we first saw the site, we spent 20 minutes looking around and left thinking it was entirely unsuitable. It looked like a scene from Mad Max. We didn’t have the vision.

Josh: Kudos to the commercial real estate agent.

He persisted. We came back and did a quick survey and I ran some models in auto CAD. Bit by bit we realised the site was quite capable of accommodating a really significant industrial-scale craft brewery.

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A NEW WORLD venue: What about your vision for a hospitality

operation on the new site?

Josh: Initially we thought it would be amazing

to have any 250-person bar or perhaps a maximum 400-person bar room and tasting area.

But we ended up going a little bit hog wild with it. We thought ‘let’s see if we can push the limits of what a brewery venue could be’. venue: You weren’t nervous about the location?

Karl: A lot of people were a little nervous. It’s not near any tram or train or bus lines. It’s in bit of a grungy part of Preston. But we’re only eight kilometres from the CBD and a short distance from Thornbury.

The key is to build something that people are drawn to. venue: Tell us about the design process.

Josh: It was a very organic process. We spent time in the space and looked at the way that it could function. One of the big questions we had was: how do you make the venue intimate, even though it’s a 700+-person, 1400sqm warehouse? So it was very much an iterative design process. We started with visualiser sketches to see how it could be laid out. Then we progressed to marking things out on the floor.

We had sessions with our team where we would discuss what makes a great venue — the experience we want for our customers. We incorporated all that into the design. venue: Who’s the venue for?

Josh: We’re getting all sorts of people. From mothers’ groups here for a coffee, to hardcore beer aficionados here for a tasting flight of the full beer menu. We’re trying to accommodate lots and lots of different people in lots of different situations.

Karl: Regardless, we want everyone to be having a good time, and experience what Moon Dog is all about.

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING venue: You’ve opened in October, presumably to

get some runs on the board before heading into the Christmas period?

Karl: There was no soft opening. We had over 5000 people through on the opening weekend!

We were at full capacity for 75% of the time.

The venue is set up to handle volume — we have 25 metres of bar front, 72 beer taps and a large kitchen operation — but we didn’t have enough POS terminals and we needed more staff. We also made the decision to offer table service and there were a few teething problems. But within a couple of days our operations team ironed the kinks out. We have some really experienced people on our team. venue: Are people using the venue and accessing the various zones in the way you envisaged?

Josh: We were really adamant we had to provide the opportunity for people to have a different experience every time they visited.

So there are some very distinctly different spaces. The lagoon is always popular. As soon as the venue begins to fill up the mezzanine areas become very popular. The beer garden is another favourite.

12

INSTALLATION AS EASY AS 1-2-3 1

PRE-WIRE

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Attach the wall-mount and terminate the cables inside.

Built-in bubble level saves time.

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2

PROTECT

Apply the paint cover to protect the wall-mount until construction is completed.

3

PLACE

Simply slide the pre-wired speaker with adjustable arm onto the wall-mount and lock into place.

BIG SCREEN The Moon Dog World AV is based around an Audac background music system a BluStream video-over-IP TV setup and a super-sized Philips LED display in the beer garden (pictured).

The BluStream system replaces a conventional MATV-style setup, offering low-latency BluStream Multicast UHD distribution of HDMI video over a 1GB network switch.

Using lossless compression technology, BluStream Multicast delivers HDMI, IR, RS232 and USB/KVM up to lengths of 100m over a single category cable. The beauty of Multicast is its flexibility and ease of installation — you don’t need specialised networking smarts.

The system sits on its own AV 1Gb network, separate to the Moon Dog World enterprise IP network, which in a fresh install is a relatively trivial investment in exchange for maintaining a clear distinction between the AV and business network demands.

The venue has six main sources — three Foxtel boxes plus two free-to-air set top boxes, with another source available for Apple TV, Fetch and the like. An additional source is positioned at the bar to accept the HDMI output from a customer’s laptop.

The sources feed various screens around the venue — the latest Philips Q Line Commercial 4K displays in 55-, 65- and 75-inch sizes.

BluStream IP200UHD transmitters handle sources up to 4K for encoding and streaming on the 1Gb network, via a standard off-the-shelf small business Cisco switch.

The BluStream ACM200 acts as the control interface module in the rack. Moon Dog World staff can use a device to control sources on each display via the BluStream Drag and Drop TV GUI. That control data hits the ACM200 on the venue’s IP network and provides the advanced signal management for the AV network.

At the end points, a BluStream IP200UHD receiver takes the signal for display on the Philips screens — including the 137-inch Philips LED. The BluStream AV-over-IP system has proven to be easy to install and configure, and easy for staff to manage.

The Philips LED display in the beer garden is a show stopper. The 137-inch hi-def screen is huge but appropriately enormous given the large area and viewing distances. The image is outstanding and provides a stunning focus on game day.

Karl van Buuren: The large screen TV in the beer garden really helps us to cater to the big sporting events. Josh and I are big AFL and cricket fans. And even in the Abbotsford Bar, whenever the cricket’s on or finals footy, we’d put on a big party.

Josh: The pleasure of watching live sport in the beer garden on one of the biggest TVs in town is a real delight. The big screen brings people together, it’s a shared experience for 200 people, which is something special.

CONTACTS Corsair Solutions (Philips LED): (03) 9005 9861 or www.corsairsolutions.com.au Westan (Philips Commercial Displays): 1300 963 963 or www.westan.com.au BluStream: (03) 8691 1999 or www.blustream.com.au Audio Logistics (Audac): www.audiologistics.com.au

20 MILLION LITRES & COUNTING venue: What extra capacity does the new brew-

ing operations provide?

Josh: Right now we’ve got about 2.5 million litres

of annual capacity in Abbotsford and we’re now maxing that out.

The new Preston site will give us north of 10 million — maybe 12, maybe 15, maybe 20 million — litres of annualised capacity. The new fermentation tanks have 5.5 million litres of capacity.

We can scale up by adding extra tanks. There aren’t many breweries in Australia that have this kind of scale and this kind of infrastructure. venue: What’s been the response?

Josh: The best feedback I think we’ve received is from people saying how much this place is Moon Dog. Yes, it’s much bigger and more amplified but it’s still us.

14

FAMILY FORTUNES Way out west in Club Land, the Liverpool Catholic Club is giving local families something to cheer about.

Story: Christopher Holder Liverpool Catholic Club: 424 Hoxton Park Rd, Prestons NSW (02) 8784 4878 or www.liverpoolcatholic.com.au

PREFUNCTION SPACES

16

The large pre-function area overlooks the play area. It has its own bar and that helps make the first floor more versatile. The spaces can cater to larger events and weddings or it can be a place for a mothers’ group to have a coffee and watch their kids play.

Julia Amos, Altis Architecture: “The whole top level is inspired by the netting of the play structures — including the carpet design and the structure in front of the cinema.

The top level is separated by a glass wall for acoustics purposes. Pods allow parents to sit and look out over the play area, in fact some of the play area is at the same level as those pods.”

T

here are some big clubs out west. Few are bigger than the Liverpool Catholic Club.

How big? The club has its own hotel (managed by Accor as a Mercure property). It also has its own ice skating rink.

It even used to have its own cemetery! It might be a huge club but it’s a community club with a family atmosphere. Many of the staff have been with the club for decades. In fact, the current general manager, John Turnbull, has been in the role for 35 years! (Who needs a club cemetery when your GM is planning to be interred at his desk!)

He and assistant general manager Dave Vidler (coming up to 34 years at the club!) have overseen an extensive refurb. Stage One of the works is now open and includes a food court-style casual F&B offer, arguably the best new kids’ indoor playground in Australia, and upstairs there’s a multipurpose theatre/cinema, function rooms, and a large pre-function area. The club’s long-time architect, Brian Wood, got the ball rolling while Altis Architecture picked up the baton after Brian retired — the interior architecture is effectively Altis’ baby. Kane was the builder on the project. It’s a project that reflects well on all concerned.

BIG PICTURE venue chatted to GM John Turnbull about the club’s big picture. I started by asking how he came to arrive at the combination of new facilities encompassed in the new new building.

John Turnbull: From time to time we check in with the clientele and the market, ask questions and take action. I remember about 18 or 19 years ago we instituted all our sporting clubs. Now, we have 30 rugby league sides, 300 girls involved in netball, there are cricket teams, ice hockey teams… we’ve got kids coming out our ears! I’ve got three playing fields for cricket and football, and an ice skating rink on our property. All that was based on a brainstorm, asking members what they want. venue: What were the members asking for this time around?

John Turnbull: It’s pretty easy to know what the over-50s want: they want comfortable chairs, good food, good facilities, accessibility, lounges…

But when you turn over the kind of money we do, you’ve got to do more than that, you’ve got to pro-

mote the community aspects.

This new development is about community; and it’s about greatly increasing our back of house capabilities. venue: You’ve got some happy back of house staff, then?

John Turnbull: We do. By wa y of some context, we turn over way more food than we do grog — we serve a lot of meals. But our back of house was really suffering — we didn’t have enough space and the facilities were ageing. Now we’ve got brand new kitchens, refrigeration, a new delivery dock, storage and more. So for our chefs and staff to have a revitalised kitchen area, with new coolrooms, freezers, ovens, and cookware, it’s a real shot in the arm — these are things that are going to last us decades.

The kitchens are now very high tech and way more eco friendly. All the food waste is now mulched and helps to reduce our rubbish by more then 20 percent. All of these things are great, but they cost a lot of money. But eco-wise they make us more efficient and easier to run. venue: Presumably your members were also telling you they wanted out-of-this-world playground facilities?

John Turnbull: The club has a huge family focus, so we looked into how to make families and kids

FOOD COURT

Julia Amos, Altis Architecture: “We’ve designed the eating area as something like a food court to complement the playground — it’s light and bright and fun.

The food offering includes a gelato and juice bar, pizza oven, a fully catered cafe, a bar and a brasserie, all served by an extensive commercial kitchen.

“The new food court makes a statement. The club isn’t just in competition with other clubs in the area but also with the likes of a Westfield shopping centre. The new space will certainly attract families. With the greenery and the natural light it’s a very pleasant place to be in at any time of the year. Whether it’s raining or 40° outside it’ll be quite a sanctuary.”

17

more comfortable. We discovered that parents are comfortable so long as they can see their kids playing. It doesn’t matter how loud the kids are, no problems, so long as mum or dad can spot where they are. Put the kids in another room and that becomes stressful.

That informed how we designed the new kids’ area. The kids can run amok but the parents are happy because they can keep an eye on them.

The playground has been imported from Germany. It’s designed primarily as a superior outdoor playground and you won’t find one like this, at this scale, indoors, anywhere.

The playground certainly has a wow factor. It’s great fun and the kids leave absolutely stuffed — we’re doing a community service, really!

We’ve got Altis to thank for the playground, they did the research and sourced it. The playground has been a big hit.”

THEATRE & FLICKS venue: Not many clubs can boast a cinema. Will it

function as a cinema all week?

John Turnbull: The theatre will be a cinema once or twice a week. The huge LED screen will be very useful at other times. We had the room half full on Melbourne Cup Day when we opened it up in an ad hoc way — it certainly proved useful there as a big screen.

I’m most pleased with it when it turns into a meeting and lecture space.

Every week we have Probus or the 50-Plus Club meeting here with guest speakers and conferences. In those circumstances we’ve had to set rooms up in a lecture style, doing our best to turn them into spaces they weren’t designed to be. Now, we’ve got the theatre and it’s perfect for those kinds of uses. We even have estate agents using the theatre for auctions.

Once a year we’ll use the theatre for our annual presentation night. We hand out scholarships to school kids; it’s a big day for the club. Putting the stained glass windows in, thanks to the Epson projectors, is a great idea to theme the space.

The other function spaces are a very welcome addition to our corporate offering. We have a very high demand for groups of 30 to 50, needing a function space, having lunch and needing all the latest AV technology. We’ve now got that capability.”

GROWING INTO THE SPACE venue: The new facilities — including all the food

court areas — greatly increase your capacity from a front and back of house perspective. Presumably you’re looking at some real growth in the future?

John Turnbull: We had a consultant through not so long ago who commented that with the club expanding its seating for a sitdown meal from about 350 to 800, we’d need to advertise to begin to attract more members.

The truth is, I already had those people even before the build. We were serving 700+ meals on a Friday night and once they had their meal they were struggling to find a seat. So I don’t think we’ll have trouble filling the extra space.

Liverpool is in the middle of Club Land. And it’s also a working class area. People love to get out of their homes and have a meal in a clean, comfortable, contemporary area like ours. We’re like their second lounge room.

Having a stable staff is really important to maintain that level of comfort. We have a very low turnover of staff.

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ARCHITECTURE venue: It’s an impressive refurb, John. What was it

like to finish it without your long-time architect and work with Altis?

John Turnbull: “We first dealt with Altis Architecture when they bid for a redevelopment design some years ago. They didn’t win the bid but they were impressive. When Brian Wood retired we invited Altis to pitch for the work. They’re an experienced part of the clubs industry and we’ve been very impressed with their work.

I’m hard to please but I’ve been very impressed with the level of finish here, which is a testament to the work of the builder, Kane, and Altis.

REACTION venue: Given the new facilities are in response

to members’ demand, you’d hope they would be grateful! How has the response been?

John Turnbull: “People often remark: ‘Who thought of all this?!’. The truth is, it’s been a team effort.

It’s a combination of the club making it our business to know what our members really want and then having an architect and a builder who can make it a reality.

It’s been an iterative process — something the board in conjunction with management has been intimately involved with. The design has evolved, including some late changes we weren’t afraid to make. For example, a McDonald’s was in the first floor plan right up until the 11th hour. There were many, many changes which Altis had to accommodate.

The playground clearly is a huge feature of the new area, and a real statement about how seriously we take our families and kids.

It’s been a great experience and I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve here.

We’ve got a huge community focus here at the club. We pump a lot of money back into local schools, and providing scholarships for kids in the area, which has a lot of disadvantage.

CONTACTS

Altis Architecture: (02) 9364 9000 or altisarchitecture.com Kane Constructions: kane.com.au

SHOWTIME: THE CINEMA

The theatre/cinema seats around 275 and functions as a cinema once or twice a week. Other times it’s used as a theatre/presentation space.

The space caters to movies, conferences, presentations, and has state of-the-art sound and AV,” explained Altis Architecture’s Julia Amos. “It’s not designed like a traditional cinema: there’s a more significant stage area for presentations, for example, and it’s not all painted black, but the red chairs and the backlit ceiling do keep faith with the cinema aesthetic.”

Umow Lai designed the AV system from the ground up in consultation with the project manager, Joe Pirrello from Census Advisory, Gary Parisi, and the Architects, Trevor Hugh from Altis Architecture. Exact Technologies won the Security and AV section of the project and they subcontracted Justin Baker and IPG to install the AV. The AV for the cinema theatre is an unusual beast. Rather than attempting to install an audio system that caters to both cinema and other live production and presentation applications, Umow Lai spec’ed two systems.

Taking care of the main PA requirements are a pair of Martin Audio WPM line arrays. There are five compact two-way passive WPM line arrays elements aside supplemented by dual-18-inch WPM subs. For live performances, 12-inch, low-profile Martin Audio foldback monitors are provided.

The cinema audio system is taken care of by QSC’s cinema loudspeaker range, with left/centre/right SC-412C loudspeakers ranged across the top of the LED screen, SR-8200 speakers taking care of the surrounds, and SB5218 dual-18-inch subwoofers for the rumble.

Some 20 years ago, Mal Barnes ran a cinema install business, in fact, thousands of cinemas across the region still have his technical fingerprints all over them. “I was very pleasantly surprised by the performance of the QSC cinema range. It sounds great. I had the Dolby guy commissioning the surround system and he was hugely impressed by the QSC PA as well. In my opinion, this space is like the best ‘gold class’ cinema in the country.”

Gary Parisi (a relative newcomer with only 24 years at the club!) called Umow Lai in (with Mal Barnes running point) to run the ruler over the original AV consultant’s proposal. Mal Barnes was able to tap into his considerable experience to design an audio system that not only cost his client less than the original design but also gave the club two systems.

“The Martin WPM PA sounds great,” commented Mal Barnes. “I recently spec’ed a WPM sy stem into a Shire christian school and the results were spectacular. I looked at this space and I immediately knew it would sound just as good. The best thing about WPM, due to its scalable resolution, is the even coverage. Every seat in the house is getting the same sound.”

Powering the cinema s ystem and the Martin Audio PA is a rack of QSC CXD four-channel amplifiers. The WPM elements are passive boxes, with only one CXD amp channel per box required.

“I now use the four-channel QSC amps everywhere.

They’re absolutely bulletproof. I can connect them into the Q-Sys network and my client loves it. Gary is an IT guy and Q-Sys is a no-brainer for him — they speak the same language. We run the Q-Sys network on the enterprise network on its own VLAN. It doesn’t miss a beat.”

The bio both features an Allen&Heath SQ6 digital mixing console, a MA Lighting Dot 2 console, a Crestron touchpanel to select the system settings, a Panasonic PTZ camera controller, and a rack with a Marantz cinema receiver, and Shure wireless receivers, but no projector.

The choice of using LED in the cinema was made early on. Considering the theatre space is more about corporate presentations and events, than it is about popcorn and movies, the LED display provides the ideal dynamic presentation backdrop without the shadowing you would naturally get from front projection. The hi-def screen uses a 3.9mm pixel pitch, which might seam a little coarse for cinema but as always it’s always down to viewing distance — in this case, the front row is a good 5m away, ensuring a smooth viewing experience. The screen is di-

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alled right down in brightness to ensure no one’s retinas are burnt out.

Not to say, there aren’t any projectors in the theatre. Six Epson Lightscene projectors paint the side walls. Notably, during the annual thanksgiving service and mass, the Lightscene projectors will light the walls with stained glass window motifs. It’s a delightful way of using this product, which has found a more regular digital signage home in retail showroom environments. But apart from helping to transform the theatre into a house of worship, the Epson Lightscene projectors were selected for more prosaic reasons, according to admin/IT manager, Gary Parisi: “The original plan was to install moving head lights with custom gobos, to help brand the theatre for corporate events. But it can take weeks to organise custom gobos, while we can use the Epson Lightscene projectors to display corporate branding and theming in minutes.”

The lighting fixture form factor of the Lightscene projectors help the product to blend in seamlessly into the interior design.

Martin lighting is supplied to accommodate presentations as well as some basics for live production. It’s easy to supplement the lighting rig for larger productions thanks to two motorised lighting bars — no ladders or cherry pickers required.

Last but not least, an Australian-made Lectrum Aero lectern cuts a fine on-stage silhouette, making any presenter feel like a million bucks.

CONTACTS Umow Lai: (02) 9431 9431 or www.umowlai.com.au TAG (Martin Audio, A&H, QSC): (02) 9519 0909 or www.tag.com.au Show Technology (Martin, MA Lighting): (03) 9681 7511 or www.showtech.com.au Epson: www.epson.com.au Lectrum: (02) 9914 0900 or www.lectrum.com.au

Ancient & Modern Mantle Group nests an opulent brace of venues on the roof of Pitt Street Westfield.

Babylon Rooftop Bar & Restaurant: Level 7, Westfield Pitt Street, Sydney NSW (02) 9023 9990 or www.babylonrooftop.com.au

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t’s quite the real estate coup. The Mantle Group got the inside running on the fact there was prime space on top of Pitt Street Westfield that was going begging… and moved in.

Mantle Group has now greatly increased its Sydney footprint with the launch of two new venues on the 7th level site: a cantonese diner called Duck & Rice, and a larger bar and restaurant, Babylon.

Babylon sprawls over the 1200sqm site, drawing on the exotic hanging gardens vibe of the wonder of the ancient world. From the outdoor bar and live garden terrace through to the sleek inner bar with a magnificent 9m bar-top crafted from Emperador dark gold Spanish marble and onto a collection of vibrant dining spaces, Babylon is something special.

CONTACTS

HEART OF THE INTERIORS

DREAM TEAM

The interiors (courtesy of Hogg & Lamb architects and interior stylists Stewart+Highfield) are inspired by ancient Babylon. The layout entails a series of adjoining buildings and rooms, bound by a ‘laneway’ leading you from the restaurant through to the outdoor terrace, which is framed with abundant greenery.

Natural coarse elements such as split-face travertine and hardwood timber set of the silky plush upholstery, with each space providing a different drinking or dining experience. Lining the walls of the entire venue are Italian beige travertine archways with booth seating, while more than 600 bottles of wine fill three wine walls.

With a total venue capacity of 800, there are multiple private and semi-private spaces available for events and entertaining within the bars and restaurant including the turret dining space located on the outdoor terrace for six guests, a private dining room for 20, plus various areas for large group dining and cocktail events.

The Babylon management team also includes Restaurant Manager James Sanders (Bistecca, Mjolner, Pei Modern), Venue Manager Mark Dixon as well as Mantle Group Hospitality Executive Chef Deniz Coskun.

Hogg & Lamb: www.hoggandlamb.com Stewart+Highfield: www.stewarthighfield.com

ROOFTOP DOWN

Out on the terrace, trailing and upright plants provide a modern-day homage to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Tables are topped with Verde Fusion marble from Brazil while outdoor chairs and bar stools are made with unstained teak and beige vinyl. The Bromic outdoor heating really comes into its own in a venue such as this that relies on offering customer comfort in the extensive alfresco dining areas. There are 22 Bromic Platinum 300 and 12 Platinum 500 units taking care of the heating duties. Bromic has a history of working successfully with the Mantle Group (check our website for the Squire’s Landing story) and again demonstrated its ability to work hand in glove with the architect on finding the ideal heating solutions — in this case, Greg Lamb of Hogg & Lamb.

Bromic Heating: 1300 276 642 or www.bromic.com.au

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SOUNDS OF BABYLON

WINNING AT MARBLES

The restaurant features a tailor-made Ege carpet in the private dining room, a canopy of gold beaded chain and soft curtains of pink and blue-grey. The interior floors are Herringbone parquetry and spotted gum timber while tables are made with Verias Green marble from Greece and Orazia Gold marble from Cairns, all edged with brass. Burnt orange and pink mauve velvet clad the private dining room chairs, while the rest of the dining spaces house unstained mahogany chairs and bar stools with leather upholstery.

Babylon is part of the Mantle Group of hospitality venues, which includes a number of pubs and restaurants in Brisbane, as well as the Charming Squire at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on Circular Quay. The Mantle Group takes its entertainment very seriously, seeing it as vitally important in creating the right atmosphere for its patrons.

Most Mantle Group venues have live music most days of the week. We’re talking about soloists and duos, in the main, and it remains a big commitment for the hospitality group and serves to set it apart.

With this in mind, Babylon retained the services of Gigawatt, a Brisbane-based AV integrator and installer, relying on it to provide the best possible audiovisual experience for its customers.

Babylon and its sister restaurant Duck & Rice are connected from an AV perspective. Management wanted to ensure live music performed in Babylon could be easily piped into the Duck & Rice restaurant if desired.

This link is via a Dante (audio over IP) connection between a Symetrix Prism 12x12 audio matrix units in each venue.

The installed loudspeakers are primarily KV2 Audio — some 60 enclosures across both venues. Most loudspeakers are KV2 Audio’s compact ESD6 models.

The performance area has larger ESD36 loudspeakers supplemented by ESD1.12 subwoofers. Powering the loudspeaker systems are KV2 Audio ESP4000 and ESP2000 amplifiers, while a SAC2 Super Analog Controller takes care of the crossover duties for the performance loudspeakers and subs.

Gigawatts’ Ben Finlay explains why he’s installed more than 300 KV2 Audio loudspeakers into Mantle Group venues over the last few years: “They sound amazing.

But KV2 also designs its speakers to be really practical. Each ESD6 is a 16Ω box which means you can drive eight loudspeakers from one amp channel. It’s rare to have more than eight speakers per zone so you can cover four zones and 32 loudspeakers with one four-channel KV2 amplifier, which are entirely stable at 2 Ohms.

“The client is a huge fan of KV2 Audio and great sound quality. They notice the difference a great sound system makes. They’ve commented on other venues that use 100V line systems and how the sound tears people’s heads off and the negative impact that has on customer interactions. What we’re doing with KV2 Audio is totally different to that, it’s like chalk and cheese.

“The KV2 Audio equipment is also rock solid. We’ve not had a loudspeaker or amp go down, which is really important to us as a Brisbane-based company doing work in Sydney.”

Controlling levels in different zones of the venue normally requires wall controllers or iPad-style control. Interestingly, Gigawatt has taken to co-opting the POS terminal touch panels to take care of level control. In this case, Gigawatt has installed a Symetrix ARC3 zone controller in the rack as a failsafe, but day-to-day loudspeaker level adjustment takes place on the H&L POS terminal. Gigawatt also designed the Symetrix GUI to work on staff iRuggy devices, which are used to take table bookings and customer orders. In fact, any device running Windows is a candidate to host the Symetrix GUI, saving the client money as well as one less device or controller to be concerned with.

Gigawatt: 0402 363 802 or www.gigawatt.com.au KV2 Audio: 0448 959 865 or www.kv2audio.com PAVT (Symetrix): (03) 9264 8000 or www.pavt.com.au

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ON THE MONEY Miss Moneypenny’s new Broadbeach sister is dressed to impress.

Story: Christopher Holder Miss Moneypenny’s Broadbeach: 50 Surf Parade, Broadbeach QLD (07) 5655 0785 or missmoneypennysbroadbeach.com

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I

t’s been the quintessential lifestyle venue in Australia’s quintessential lifestyle town.

Miss Moneypenny’s Noosa, isn’t just a cool place to meet friends, have a drink and enjoy great food, there’s a deeper connection there; it’s a brand that cashed-up coast-ers want to be aligned with. Whether they’ve wandered in for a snack and a cocktail after a long hard day on the yacht, or if they’re celebrating a special occasion with their friends, Miss Moneypenny’s makes people feel good.

Opening a Miss Moneypenny’s on the Gold Coast might not seem like a huge leap of (hospitality) faith, but as any resident of South East Queensland will tell you, the two hotspots are in many ways poles apart and need a deft touch to get the pitch right.

“It’ll be interesting to see how things go in December and January,” muses Miss Moneypenny’s boss Ben Walsh. “Noosa goes ballistic in January and is comparatively quiet in December. I gather the reverse is true on the Gold Coast.”

you’re full of vitamin D and you want a bar or restaurant that makes you look as great as you feel

REWARDING DESTINATION Ben Walsh is Miss Moneypenny’s founder and brand custodian. He understands what his clientele wants and how to continue to surprise and delight them, ensuring their loyalty. At Noosa, Ben has managed to pull off one of the trickiest of hospitality feats with an all-day venue that captures true Australian egalitarianism — ‘dressed down chill’ effortlessly mixes with ’dressed to the nines’ glam in the one venue. Fine-tuning the recipe for the Gold Coast venture will take some time but all the signs are there.

The location is a little different: it’s off the beach for starters. Part of the Avani hotel site, Miss Moneypenny’s is a destination rather than a stroll over the promenade. The sense was, the fitout needed to be of a superior level as reward.

“I’d say the Gold Coast fitout is three times more opulent than the original Noosa Miss Moneypenny’s,” observes Paul Kelly. Paul should know, he designed the Noosa venue, and was invited by Ben Walsh to reprise his efforts.

“We’re a little set back from the beach and as a result we really pushed a lot harder with the quality of the fitout and the concepts.”

The ‘concepts’ Paul refers to is the delineation of the site into a sports bar and gaming venue next door, Fat Freddy’s; Miss Moneypenny’s itself, and the private dining and function room, The Rimini Room at the back of the site.

“The lease came with a 38-machine gaming license, and Fat Freddy’s was the perfect way of accommodating the gaming,” explains Ben Walsh.

“We opened Fat Freddy’s up a few months earlier and it’s proving to be very popular. Now we have Miss Moneypenny’s launched, the public don’t connect the two venues at all — they’re entirely different concepts.”

FOOD FOCUS The Broadbeach site is big — 2000sqm, in fact. And with an enormous 750sqm dining room, food is a huge priority. Ben Walsh attracted some top-draw talent in chef Braden White (Brisbane’s Stokehouse Q, The Apo and Noosa’s Ricky’s River Bar and Restaurant). Braden has most recently returned from a stint in Bali where he oversaw a portfolio of venues for 8 Degree Projects, including Sisterfields, BO$$ MAN, Sibling, and fine diner Bikini. “ The a la carte food is definitely of a two hat standard with Braden in the kitchen,” enthuses Ben Walsh. “But we also have a more casual offering. The best way to describe it is ’casual sophistication’.”

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The Rimini Room provides a 200-seat overflow if required but is designed more as a private dining and events space.

“You might expect the ‘function space’ to be less well-appointed,” observes Paul Kelly. “But The Rimini Room is very opulent. The look and feel is similar to the main dining room but with access to your own bar, staff, food and lift entrance, there’s a real VIP quality to the space.”

PEOPLE LOOKING THEIR BEST Fans of Miss Moneypenny’s Noosa will instantly find a lot that’s familiar in the new location but there are some key differences. The fitout really is a cut above with its layering and attention to detail. The lighting is next-level as well.

Everything about the Broadbeach iteration is just a little brighter in contrast to the moodier Noosa realisation.

“It’s very comfortable to the eye,” according to Paul Kelly. “It allows the people in the space to shine as opposed to the venue shining. That approach is a little more unique to the Gold Coast.

You’ve spent the day on the beach, you’re full of vitamin D and you want a bar or restaurant that makes you look as great as you feel. This really informed our colour palette and our lighting choices — the peach tones and the colour temperature of the lighting. People in the venue look their best.”

FEELING’S MUTUAL Unita took care of the build with Paul Kelly Design in charge of the interiors. The combination proved to be a good experience for Ben Walsh: “It was my first experience working with Unita and their guys on the ground were excellent to deal with — great attention to detail, great responsiveness and they worked well with Paul.

“I’ve known Paul for many years and worked with him on a number of projects including in Noosa. The good thing about working with Paul is we’re on a very similar wavelength.

He understands me, I understand him. So we probably cut out a hellavu lot of hours of going to and fro. I’m very particular about what I want and, with Paul, we get where we want to be really quickly because we both have a very, very clear mutual understanding.”

POWDER ROOM PROWESS Time will tell if the Gold Coast embraces Miss Moneypenny’s in the same way as Noosa does.

Ben Walsh is a savvy operator and has a plethora of levers he’s happy to pull to fine tune the offering. Paul Kelly feels they’ve nailed it from a look and layout perspective, describing the manner in which the venue functions and flows as some of his best work. Certainly the level and layering of the finish is exceptional, the equal of anything in Australia.

But the coup de grace, the glacé cherry, the mother-of-pearl powderpuff, are the ladies’ bathrooms. For a venue of this capacity the bathrooms are overkill. But like a complimentary magnum of champagne or a duty-free litre-sized flask of Chanel No.5… it’s delightful and oh-sovery welcome.

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

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Stem in the Flow

CONTACTS

Stem: 188 Hindley St, Adelaide SA (08) 7077 3039 or www.stembarandrestaurant.com.au

Sans-Arc Studio (Interior Design) : sansarcstudio.com.au BTF Constructions (Builder) : www.btfconstructions.com.au Love Concrete (Concrete Bar + Tables): www.loveconcrete.com.au Peculiar Familia (Graphics + Signage): www.peculiarfamilia.com

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ocated at the University end of Adelaide’s infamous Hindley Street, the site was originally a mechanic workshop, most recently Caos Cafe, a budget friendly ‘pub’, which closed five years ago and has since been unoccupied. The brief called for a moody, industrial space, aiming to house a number of functions: a wine cellar, bar, intimate dining spaces and a function room. The concept for the venue was aspirational, multi-faceted and aimed to create an elevated drinking and dining experience.

Dark, natural materials provide the backdrop for slightly brutalist curves to divide up this expansive yet intimate space.

Overflowing with greenery and speckled with natural light Stem is a moody, romantic wine bar and restaurant.

RAW & INTIMATE

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The project has two conceptual underpinnings. Firstly to create an expansive yet intimate space; one that feels layered, deep and encourages exploration, but is full of small, unique moments — different experiences within the venue.

Secondly, to use texture, sculptural forms and light to create drama within the space. The design contrasts light and dark,

rough and smooth, channeling brutalism and using raw materials whilst framing soft plants and greenery.

The space is dramatic, texturally rich, natural and phenomenologically considered. Green moments within a sculptural concrete jungle, gently speckled with natural light and intimate pockets to hide away in.

COMMUNAL & RELAXED The main entrance from Hindley Street lands the patron in front of a welcome counter, a walkway then guides them past the enclosed, exclusive and theatrically lit wine cellar. Passing intimately framed booths on the left hand side, the patron lands in the central bar area, framed by a seven metre corrugated concrete bar and large timber communal table. This area is informal and relaxed, adjacent the long kitchen in a raised level, sitting slightly above the space, it creates an intimate space for romantic dinners — private, yet connected. Following a narrow hallway past the toilet takes you to the function space a large concrete communal table is bathed in sunlight from the north and set against a colourful mural to the south.

QUEENS HOTEL

Merivale Group, Sydney

I N S T A L L E D

S O U N D

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Gaining Altitude Foresters FV: 209 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley QLD (07) 3188 3161 or forestersfv.com.au

R

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ight at the top of Brunswick Street is a triangular block of land that is redefining Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

The striking triple towers that make up Tim Gurner’s FV development contain close to 1000 apartments at the luxe end of the market, permanently shifting the centre of gravity of the Valley precinct toward the north.

Nestling in one corner of the $600m development is the historic Foresters’ Hall. Outside, its Federation facade provides a bold yet elegant counterpoint to the adjacent 21st century lobby of the Peppers FV hotel. Inside, the chic 140seat Foresters restaurant deftly interlocks heritage brickwork with bespoke timber and leather to create evocative dining zones while six floors above perches the rooftop Altitude bar. The twin venues have been created by the Signature Hospitality Group (of The Sporting Globe and TGI Fridays fame) with the goal of redefining the F&B landscape of this formerly overlooked edge of the Valley.

CONTACT Bose Professional: pro.bose.com TAG (QSC): www.tag.com.au Rabone Systems (AV installer): www.rabonesystems.com.au

UP & COMING Helming the venture for Signature is emigrant Scot, Ross Ledingham, who is relishing the challenge of transforming his corner of this new world city. “Brisbane has got that up and coming factor to it,” he muses, “and this whole area is going through gentrification. So it’s great for us to be at the forefront as the Valley regains its former glory”. Ross modestly describes Foresters offering as ‘elevated gastro-pub’ and though the menu does feature pub staples like parma and steak, sparkling touches like Nduja oil dressings and regional flourishes, such as cashew cream, saltbush and wattle seed, raise the culinary bar above the competition. The skyward trend continues at the bar where a Bushfire Negroni (created with Mt Uncle Bushfire Smoked Gin) captures a unique Queensland flavour and a popcorn-garnished Salted Caramel Espresso Martini salutes the building’s past as Brisbane’s first cinema.

The Audio System Equipment List DSP: Bose ESP880A Speakers: Bose RMU108 indoors/ AMU108 outdoors Subs: Bose MB210 x 4 Amplifiers: QSC CXD

Ross is quick to recognise that the Valley is “a real party area, constantly buzzing seven nights a week,” so he has paid a lot of attention to creating the right soundscape both for the restaurant and the Altitude bar. “With Altitude we’re really trying to create a bit more of a buzz. So early doors, we’re a venue that is sundown, has views over the city, some drinks and some bites, and we have a different genre of music each night.

TOP OF THE VALLEY The right sound system was high on his priority list. Altitude, with its retractable roof needed a weatherproof system that could handle the whole gamut from live music to DJs and right back to ambient background at different times.

“Sometimes we have three DJs on a night, other times we’ve got singers, percussionists, a saxophonist or an electric violin-

ist that we’re plugging into the system that’s playing with the DJ,” Ross elaborated.

“As a company, we generally gravitate towards Bose,” he noted. “It’s built for all of those environments and it’s even great when you’re adding Foxtel and things like that in a sports setting”.

While it is still early days in the reinvention of the precinct, Ross is bullish about the prospects for Forrester’s and Altitude.

“I think it’s a great location. We’re offering something different and we always knew it would be months too early for this end of the Valley to really rebuild itself. But it’s nice to be the first ones here, to make some noise, and to drag people in as a destination site.” — Derek Powell.

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Very Well Veriu Green Square 18 O’Riordan St, Alexandria NSW 2015

V

eriu is an emerging hotel brand that’s tapping into the serviced apartment trend, but with a contemporary twist.

Its ‘micro-apartment’ concept defines the Veriu point of difference: innovative design, versatile sleeping spaces, a kitchenette with storage… it’s a recognition that the new generation of traveller values style and flexibility.

Veriu’s latest property is in Green Square, Sydney. The new 144-room hotel is built on the original Australian store site of Mercedes-Benz. The hotel was designed by architect, Ashkan Mostaghim, inspired by the history of the site, with various elements paying tribute to the luxury car brand and its products.

FREDDIE FOOD

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The new hotel has an on-site Italian restaurant, Freddie Green’s. With a menu designed by one of Sydney’s most respected chefs, James Metcalfe of JRM Hospitality, Freddie Green’s will provide both Veriu’s guests and local residents with a little taste of Italy right on their doorstep. An onsite gym and shared work spaces completes the picture.

Boasting a 6 Star Green Star Communities rating from the

CONTACT Westan (Philips Hotel TV): 1300 963 963 or www.westan.com.au

Green Building Council of Australia, Green Square is expected to undergo rapid expansion in the next few years, with the City of Sydney committing $540m over the next decade to create world-class community facilities including an innovative new library and plaza, an aquatic centre, a creative hub and more.

CASTS OF THOUSANDS The rooms feature some of the latest display tech, including Philips MediaSuite TVs. The Philips in-room TVs run on the Android operating system and feature integrated support for Google Chromecast. The TVs thrive in the current BYOD world — where guest’s entertainment is all sitting on their phone and laptop, and they’re after a quick and easy connection.

Veriu Director of Operations, Kyla Kaya, elaborates: “Veriu’s core target market is short and long stay corporate travellers.

As such, it’s essential we offer versatile and flexible spaces that act as a home or office away from home and with that comes the responsibility to provide the best in technology, to provide a seamless experience for our guests. We’ve done so by partnering with Philips, to fit out each room with TVs

that allow guests to easily cast from their own mobile phones, laptops and tablets, complimented by power outlets with USB ports near the beds. Our cleverly configured and contemporary spaces are designed to accommodate the modern traveller, meeting the rise in demand for constant connectivity to personal devices.”

GAME CHANGER Integrating Chromecast into the TV is a real game changer.

For years, hotel operators have been complaining that Chromecast dongles have been disappearing from their rooms more often than the bathrobes — no such problems with Philips MediaSuite TVs. Kyla Kaya explains further: “We knew we wanted a casting solution for our new hotel but the solutions we came across were quite cost prohibitive. Around the same time Philips reached out to us to tell us they had a shipment arriving of their brand new hotel TVs with built-in Chromecast. After initial talks, they went above and beyond to increase their shipment so as to supply enough product for our 144-room hotel opening.”

It’s not just the in-room experience that hotel management are enamoured with. Philips’ CMND management software allows the hotel to easily personalise the in-room TV’s UI. CMND also provides hotel-wide network monitoring. They also love the fact the Android OS allows them to upgrade their in-room TVs without upgrading the hardware — OS updates help to keep the TVs looking fresh over time.

Kyla Kaya is delighted: “Philips’ new technology is really helping us to deliver that seamless experience to our guests, just like if they were at home.”

FUTURE PERFECT The Veriu Hotels & Suites brand is set to grow exponentially in the next three years. Veriu will launch into Victoria from 2022 with two projects in Melbourne – the first, Veriu Collingwood, in partnership with Gurner, followed by Veriu Queen Victoria Market with Melbourne-based developer PDG Corporation. Together, the two Victorian additions will increase the portfolio to about 600 rooms and apartments operating or in development under the Veriu Brand.

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Bowled Over Sunbury Bowling Club: 49 Riddell Rd, Sunbury VIC (03) 9744 1211 or www.sunbowl.com.au

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eopened in April 2019 after an extensive redevelopment project, Sunbury Bowling Club is on a mission to boost community interest in the sport of bowls. A typical Friday or Saturday evening will see Sunbury Bowling Club bustling with young and old trying their hand at barefoot bowls on the luxurious artificial green.

“From October through to March it’s about pennant bowls predominantly,” explains Andrew Breeden-Walton, General Manager at Sunbury Bowling Club. “But all year around we have school bowls programs, corporate, and barefoot bowls programs as well.”

Hospitality is central to the venue’s offering. The restaurant, bar and function space all serve high quality food and beverage to patrons throughout the well-appointed spaces throughout the venue.

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COLD COMFORT A semi-outdoor seating area overlooks the undercover bowling green. This space required an effective heating solution for

patrons especially during the brisk Victorian winters. Bowlers need to keep warm too, so the specified heating solution needed to cover the perimeter of the bowling green.

Bromic Smart Heating was recommended to SBC leadership by the project managers, Rubicon Design & Construct.

Over 40 gas heaters are installed throughout the venue across both eating and bowling areas. Individual control over the heaters in the restaurant allow staff to turn on only the heaters needed during less busy periods.

“The decision to go with Bromic heaters was based upon their reliability, the after-sales service and warranty, the break/fix service and support, and the efficient rating of gas usage,” says Andrew, who is very pleased with the outcome.

“We find there has been great feedback in terms of the heat they throw off and the comfort patrons feel when they’re bowling and it’s 5 or 6 degrees outside.”

CONTACT Bromic Heating: 1300 276 642 or www.bromic.com.au

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Vertical Merc Mercedes-Benz Brisbane: 194 Breakfast Creek Rd, Newstead QLD mbbrisbane.com.au

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gleaming new landmark now graces the Brisbane riverfront at Breakfast Creek. Created as a luxury lifestyle precinct, the anchor tenant is LSH Auto’s stateof-the-art Mercedes-Benz new car showroom and service centre, the first in Australia to incorporate the brand’s new retail corporate identity. Behind the arresting five-storey glass façade is a retail experience like no other – “a prototype for how the world’s leading luxury car brand believes modern premium automotive retail should be experienced”.

DESIGN RULES OK?

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Every aspect of the showroom, the design, layout, lighting, furnishings, and the unique audiovisual experience is closely defined in the Mercedes-Benz MAR2020 design rules. This new “market architecture” replaces the previous worldwide Auto Haus theme and is highlighted by what are known as ‘stage media walls’. These are dramatic 32:9 format video displays, surrounded by floor to ceiling black glass, which form stunning, ever-changing backdrops to the vehicles on display. Faced with such an extensive audiovisual fit-out –

CONTACT Vertikal Designs: vertikal.com.au InDesign Technologies: idt.com.au Photos: Jason Smith Photography

and the need to comply closely with the specifications in MAR2020, builder John Holland called upon consultants InDesign Technologies to design and ultimately manage the complex AV installation.

GREENWALL The other standout aspect of the property is the amazing greenwalls by Vertikal Design. With over 340sqm of internal planting, a virtual ‘lung’ has been created for the building and its occupants. At a total height of 15m and more than 23m in length, the greenwalls contain over 27 different species of plants. Importantly, the palette includes the Top six species scientifically proven to reduce the largest number of VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) found present in the air. Irrigation for the plants is harvested from rainwater tanks on the roof of the building and in an Australian-first on a project of this scale, LED Grow lighting supports the growth of the plants where there may be a variance in light levels internally.

The new highly-anticipated Philips LED range offers exceptional performance and innovative design features that guarantee easy installation and operation.

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Peachy Keen Peaches Rooftop Cocktail Bar: Level 2/301 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC www.peaches.melbourne

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eaches is a cocktail bar located on the second floor of an existing building on Swanston Street, in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. It is part of a larger three-level hospitality project. Level 1 consisting of a restaurant; Level 2 the cocktail bar Peaches and the rooftop extending the offering.

It is the result of a collaboration between client and designer and is a mixture of ingredients - just as you would expect in a tasty colourful cocktail.

The brief was to create a fun and welcoming environment to reflect the inventive cocktail and food offering — breaking every rule in the book of conventional cocktail bar design along the way.

Upon entering the space, it’s impossible to not be immediately immersed in the peach universe: suspended circular pendants are a representation of ripe peaches hanging from the pink ceiling and walls are also dipped in a pale pastel peach.

Booths upholstered in textured blush fabric are underlined with LED lighting to create an elevated zone within the space.

Oversized Philodendron leaves provide green accents, cutting through and balancing the pink interior. Bespoke candy coloured terrazzo table tops, a green veined onyx bar top and moss green stools further complement the material palette.

Shiny brass detailing lifts the interior to a luxurious level.

MIAMI GLAM Once the sun starts setting in, the disco ball starts bouncing off pink light rays through the room and onto the checkered floor transforming the space giving it an ’80s disco vibe.

While there are windows onto Swanston Street, it feels like you couldn’t be further away from the busy commercial city, alluding to a fun and glamorous Miami atmosphere.

Another pink staircase leads up to the Peaches rooftop.

The colour palette screams ‘Summer’ with pastel blue walls, a cocktail bar clad in white curved tiles, white furniture and umbrellas on timber decking.

The design is minimal with a modernist vibe to not detract from the views and drinks on offer, and provides a range of different seating options from perimeter (heated) banquette seating to podium seating and communal tables.

Green creepers populate the pastel blue wall further, creating a roof top feel.

Peaches, an avant-garde bar, is here for a great time out and with its matching spritz and stirred cocktails is claiming its spot amongst iconic buildings in Melbourne’s CBD. (Photos: Derek Swalwell)

i heard the difference CAPITAL THEATRE KV2 AUDIO INSTALLATION: Mains: 2 x ESR215 Full Range 3-Way Loudspeakers Front Fill: 3 x EX26 Subs: 2 x VHD 2.18J Amplifiers: VHD3200 Class AB Amps Processor: SAC2 Super Analogue Controller

“I wanted the best loudspeaker system for our theatre and I wanted a PA that engineers enjoyed mixing on.

“We blind-auditioned a range of PAs and the KV2 Audio system won the shootout almost unanimously.

“The whole room could hear the difference.”

Mickey Levis, Head Technician Capital Theatre, Bendigo, Australia

Due North Cairns Performing Arts Centre: 9-11 Florence St, Cairns City QLD 1300 855 835 or www.cairns.qld.gov.au

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fter a long and protracted genesis, the Cairns Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) opened to the public on 15th December 2018. Two decades in planning and two years in construction, it replaced the ageing Cairns Civic Centre with a state-of-the-art facility to support local, regional and touring performances. CPAC features a 941-seat proscenium auditorium with full fly system (the only one in far north Queensland) and a reconfigurable 400-seat performance space, rehearsal and warm-up area. As part of the upgrade, these rooms received brand new audio gear, matching the quality of the new venue.

Theatre consultants Schuler Schook completed the technical plan. Graeme Hicks at Entertainment Production Services (EPS) pitched a proposal based on d&b loudspeakers with Midas front ends.

The main theatre system is based on d&b V Series loudspeakers and subs. The Studio space is based on d&b Y Series loudspeakers. Both rooms feature Midas Pro-X mixing consoles. The venue has a third PRO-X which gets used for moni-

CONTACT NAS (d&b, Midas): 1800 441 440 or nas.solutions

tor mixing on stage in the Theatre or as an alternative FoH position in the Studio. d&b representatives, NAS, sent technical representatives Doug Pringle and Dave Jacques to Cairns to help commission the systems, time aligning delays for fills, setting up snapshots of common configurations for different room layouts and storing simple base configurations.

Reception from the Cairns public has been excellent. Some 4500 locals attended the opening day and were suitably impressed. For the city and local arts scene, it’s been a boon.

CPAC Technical Manager, Jon Driver elaborates: “This place is going to be here for a long time. For the last 20 years, we’ve been hearing ‘When are you getting a new venue?’ We could have spent less but we did it justice and did it the right way.”

The venue staff also listen closely to feedback from touring acts – their crew are very happy with what they find and the system has been pretty much flawless. Listening to these experienced heads has “saved a lot of discussion at the loading dock.” – John O’Brien.

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Go Fish

CONTACT

Fin Poké: www.finnpoke.com.au

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inn Poké is making a splash with outlets featuring a sharp, new and healthy cuisine snapping up prime locations in Byron, Broadbeach and Burleigh Heads. Now this Born-in-Byron start-up is taking a deep dive into Sydney waters, opening in Westfield Pitt Street and the Gateway at Circular Quay.

Driving force, Jem Jacinto, knows the food trade. He learned his craft in some of the world’s toughest markets, helping his brother-in-law build the Fig and Olive fine dining chain with restaurants in New York, Chicago, DC and LA. When new owners took over, he moved to Australia and looked for new opportunities.

“You know, the big restaurants are great,” Jem reminisces, “but I wanted to have something more accessible; something that reflected our fine dining background, with higher quality produce and great ingredients, at a value price point. People are moving away from fast food and having better quality, faster food.”

Having watched Poké Bowl become a staple in the US, Jem was ready to make his move when he chanced on an opportunity in Byron Bay. He noticed a vacant shop in the heart of downtown, just a block from the beach front. Tapping his U.S. contacts he assembled a team of executive chef, designer and graphic artist that allowed him to open his first Finn Poké outlet just months after signing the lease.

LG: www.lg.com.au

POKÉ 101 So what is Poké? As Jem tells it, Poké originated in Hawaii.

“Originally, it was a fisherman’s food. Out on the boats they would cut up some of the fish they’ve caught to have with soy sauce and rice. Then it was popularised in California as ‘Poké Bowl’ by adding other ingredients to the sashimi and the marinade.”

Jem loved the food but wanted to elevate the concept. In building the Finn Poké menu, he was very specific in his requirements for fresh, local ingredients. “We take great care and pride in our sourcing of our fish. We know the whole chain: when the boat stopped and how long it’s been in the hands of the fishing company. From the boat to bowl you’re looking at six hours. It doesn’t get fresher than that. Because we handle the sourcing and the logistics ourselves, we’re able to get grade ‘A’ sashimi in our bowls at these price points.”

CATCHING CUSTOMERS The offering was solid — fresh, tasty and affordable but it was also brand new to Australia — and customers were wary at first. The Finn Poké concept allows the customers to build their own meal in a four-step process or choose among a dozen signature bowl offerings. Once experienced, customers

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are hooked, but the wide choice can be daunting and getting prospects to take the plunge in the first outlet proved tricky.

“We started with written menus and a board on the street,” Jacinto recalls. “People couldn’t get it. They’d look at it and like ‘ah… too hard’ so they’d move on.” With his second Finn Poké opening at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast Jem knew he had to find a better way to entice new customers.

That better way arrived courtesy of old mate Rennie Dolich (now B2B National Manager for LG Electronics). Rennie recognised the text book case for digital signage and kickstarted a transformation — making Jem a passionate convert in the process. Rennie spec’ed LG LCD signage panels front and centre in the new outlet and helped Jem develop a content workflow that told the Poké story and enticed the customers in. Three super-bright screens above the counter bring the menu choices to life, whilst other screens, flanking the dining area, show off the colourful signature bowls and explain the product sourcing with a short video.

“In two weeks after the screens were installed we saw a 25 to 30 percent increase in sales!” Jem recalls. “Because they can see what they’re ordering, people get it. And our food is vibrant, our food is photogenic, our food is colourful. I mean, it’s gorgeous! The LG screens help us to really portray that, and attract the customers. For me, it’s money well spent and I see the return on investment daily.”

VALUE BOWL From a standing start with a cuisine that was completely unknown in Australia, Jem Jacinto’s Finn Poké has taken just 18 months to forge a new space in the market. “This, to me, was the perfect food for Australia,” he insists. “It’s fresh, it’s healthy, it’s fast and it has a value price point.”

With local design team StudioMKZ on board, things are moving fast with the next Finn Poké to open in the Gateway complex at Circular Quay. Next stop for the team is a dine-in experience called ‘Daily Greens’ which is now open in Paddington. According to Jem it’s “all about sustainable, traceable food” and he’s also keeping LG digital signage as key design element. “It’s integrated into the design, not an afterthought, because it just marries everything together — and creates value for us.” — Derek Powell.

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Deck The Hall Fortitude Music Hall: 312 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley QLD thefortitude.com.au

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t’s an fascinating alliance motivated by a love for the Brisbane live music scene, with a healthy smattering of self interest thrown in: Live Nation (the concert ticketing giant), Secret Sounds (the company behind Splendour in the Grass and the Falls Festival), John Collins (former Powderfinger bassist) and Scott Hutchinson (chairman of Hutchinson Builders) recognised Brisbane’s music scene had limited access to mid-size venues, so they decided to build one.

The new Fortitude Music Hall would mean local bands didn’t need to travel interstate to gain the exposure they needed to launch their careers. The group saw the opportunity to fill the void that Festival Hall left behind by creating a new venue which could house 3000-4000 people.

RETRO NEW YORK

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After researching venues of a similar size worldwide, a site was selected on Brunswick Street Mall and the design process began. With a brief defined with classic lines such as - “High end grunge or just a bit above, but not a hotel”; “Retro New York, rock chic but not rock and roll”; and “It wants to be mysterious and a total immersion into another realm” – architects, Arkhefield, set about designing Brisbane’s newest venue.

Arkhefield established the design principles of arrival, ex-

CONTACT Arkhefield: arkhefield.com.au JPJ Audio: jpjaudio.com.au Jands (L-Acoustics): (02) 9582 0909 or jands.com.au Group Technologies (Digico): (03) 9354 9133 or gtaust.com Avid: avid.com

citement, anticipation, and the main event. The drum on Brunswick mall evoking 42nd Street welcoming you, the deco lantern by Lux Box setting up excitement, the main bar glistening like a Glomesh bag adding anticipation and the then haloed main room punctuated with the chandeliers.

FORMIDABLE SOUND A brand new venue music needs a formidable technical spec.

JPJ Audio was engaged to design and install the audio system — headed by director Bruce Johnston.

Bruce specified an L-Acoustics K2 main loudspeaker system — eight flown per side — with 12 SB218 subs on the ground. Additional L-Acoustics ARCS and X8 loudspeakers take care of fill duties.

An Avid S6L console was chosen for front of house mixing duties and a Digico SD10 for monitors. They’re arguably the two most popular digital mixing consoles going around at the moment, and can be switched around depending on the touring engineers’ preferences. Both consoles have Waves servers for effects and processing.

All in all this was a journey of discovery and translating between the music and construction worlds, driven by the belief that Brisbane needed this place to gather and play, celebrate and have fun.

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Venue: Babylon Rooftop Bar & Restaurant

T: 1300 731 280 SMART-HEATING

Sharp Big Pad See More. Do More.

Sharp: www.sharp.net.au

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he trade derived from the hire of meeting rooms and events spaces is increasingly important to hotels, clubs, events centres… even pubs.

Increasingly, venue operators are wise to the fact they need easy-to-configure AV systems so their clients can simply plug their laptops in and begin presenting without the need for specialist support.

Now venues are seeing the benefits of more thoroughbred collaboration technology that allow clients to take care of video conferencing and electronic whiteboard-style brainstorming.

SO SIMPLE Again, simplicity is the watchword. Such systems need to be easily set up and operate to ensure immediate buy-in from the client, and a superior meeting experience.

Sharp has recently released its vision for collaboration, calling its product the ‘Big Pad’. It’s a nifty moniker — immediately approachable.

The new Sharp PN-HC1 Big Pad is perfect for environments that require easy and responsive operation with smart integrated collaboration tools. In busy interactive meetings and training sessions, it encourages effective group teamwork with fast setup times.

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CLARITY & DETAIL The Big Pad comes in three sizes (86-, 75-, and 70-inch) and they feature a 3840 x 2160 Ultra High Definition (UHD) 4K

resolution display and touchscreen optimised for 4K reading.

Being 4K might seem a little like overkill but not when you need to interrogate fine detail in engineering plans or medical scans. Every last pixel will be appreciated in these use case.

Sharp is renowned for its great panels, and as you’d expect the display has superb contrast and image definition.

IMMEDIACY & ORIENTATION The touch experience of the Big Pad is exceptional.

This new range comes with built-in whiteboard and annotation functions as well as infrared (IR) touch technology with a 125Hz Touch Sampling rate. Users can easily add onscreen annotations or graphics directly onto photos, videos, PDFs, and common Microsoft with the bundled Sharp Pen software (to be installed on Windows PC).

The Sharp Pen software also allows multiple users up to 10-point multi-touch for the 70- model and up to 20-point multi-touch for the 75- and 86-inch models to write on the same screen at the same time, to help conduct an interactive and engaging teaching or training session.

The Big Pad has the ins and outs required to instantly connect with all the real world scenarios it’s likely to face.

Each HC1 series display is also equipped with a wireless adapter to allow seamless screen-sharing with any smart Windows and Android mobile device. Over all, it’s a friendly piece of collaborative tech that invites client interaction.

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REPUBLIC OF BEER A new brew pub for the burbs.

Story: Christopher Holder Beer Republic Brewery & Republic Tavern: 250 Cooper St, Epping VIC 1300 817 773 or beerrepublic.com.au

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hey’re called ‘growth corridors’. In Melbourne, they stretch like tendrils to all points of the compass. Epping is ‘ground zero’ of the northern growth corridor.

The recently launched Mantra Epping Hotel stands on a busy trunk road in an industrial estate. But far from being a soulless tilt slab dormitory, the hotel is a gleaming, glorious edifice that feels like it’s accidentally apparated in from a glamorous waterside locale.

Apart from the 4.5-star hotel, there’s also a big new brew pub: Republic Tavern. Way more than a suburban beer barn, it’s a classy fitout with an amazing PA, cut-above food and beer brewed on site.

But why? Who’s it all for? Surely it’s overkill for the local market?

Not according to the man behind the development, Ian Wilson. For Ian, it’s all about the local market.

PUB ORIGINS Ian fell in love with hotels and hospitality from a young age. His prodigious sporting talent regularly took him out of his small hometown in South Australia, when he and his dad would find lodgings in pub accommodation around the country.

He determined early on that he would one day be a pub owner.

After going to hotel school in Adelaide he ran a successful hospitality staffing agency for some 14 years before selling it while it was going gangbusters — employing some 140 staff, and suppling a range of services to significant hospitality startups in the Asia Pac region and Gulf States.

After selling his business, Ian moved his family to Melbourne to focus on hospitality development opportunities. Sydney has its obvious charms but he was confronted by city’s property constraints.

Melbourne, on the other hand — unfettered by topographical impediments such as a glittering harbour and the Great Dividing Range — has more land to handle expansion. And that’s where Ian saw his best chance of building a hospitality empire: quality offerings to growth areas that are otherwise starved of options.

“I’ve spoken to our regulars and they’ll come to Republic Tavern for a meal or a night out when they might have otherwise travelled into the city,” observes Ian Wilson.

$80M PLAY The $80m hotel and pub development has Ian Wilson’s fingerprints all over it. After years of being intimately involved with so many hospitality startups — not just onboarding staff but in design and operations — his ‘spidey’ senses for what works and what doesn’t were all highly attuned.

This was especially true of the Republic Tavern.

More than a play-it-safe companion venue to the hotel, Ian Wilson sees Beer Republic as the first iteration of a chain of such brew pubs.

“Most people when they’re building accommodation hotels, they don’t want to touch food and beverage. For them the risks are too great. The hotel and accommodation is an easier model to manage.

“Meanwhile, my background is in hospitality; my first love is restaurants, pubs and bars; and my previous company was a supplier to that industry.

“The first point about food and beverage, whatever you do, you have to tackle it with confidence.

If you go in with hesitation, then it’ll show.”

There’s no half measures in Ian’s approach to tooling up for Beer Republic. The kitchen has some of the best equipment — refrigeration, rotisserie, Henny Penny fryer, Montague grill… they’re all top notch. The key is to ensure your venue can be really efficient when things are rocking. Ian Wilson explains: “You can’t have a place like this, in a location like this, being full all day, every day.

But those three or four times a week when you are full, you need the venue to be making money.

When it’s busy, you need to be able to keep up with the demand.”

SOUNDS OF THE REPUBLIC “Nothing’s more annoying than walking into a great venue and hearing a tinny sound system!”

Sound was high on Ian Wilson’s design agenda.

Beer Republic sounds great.

Key to the superior AV install was the appointment of Zelo as the audio visual design and integration partner. Ian Wilson engaged Zelo (née Urban Intelligence) after discovering it was behind the AV of a rival hotel’s events spaces — “I wanted the same capabilities, only better!”

The brew pub’s audio is extra special. Ian’s brief was for something big, warm and enveloping. But here’s the kicker: none of the sound could afford to leak upstairs into the guest rooms. Zelo’s Stephen

AN ODE TO FRESH BEER

Ian Wilson: Once I’d decided on a modern Australian brewpub concept I went looking for the most automated way to brew beer in a venue. What I quickly discovered was a brewery’s biggest cost is in the packaging and freight. If you take those elements away, such that you’re making and selling the beer in the venue, then it can be a viable part of your business. Of course, you have to do your sums — you only want to make as much beer as your venue can handle. As soon as you start kegging and storing beer your costs go up.

I ended up meeting a master brewer in New Zealand called Brian Watson. His brewery in New Zealand is called Good George Brewing, which is in the top three from a literage perspective in New Zealand. In the last 15 years or so he’s been installing breweries outside of the US for a Canadian company called DME — DME is actually the largest manufacturer of commercial brewing equipment to the US market but Brian was taking DME to other international markets. So in Australia, Brian’s installed DME equipment into the likes of Little Creatures, Stone & Wood, Four Pines, Two Birds and others.

He’s since developed a concept called SmartBrew.

It’s his own initiative in partnership with the owner of DME. Some 90 percent of the SmartBrew brewing process happens in New Zealand at his brewery. Then it’s shipped in boxes to clients while the ingredients are still at the point of being a food product. Then the SmartBrew client plugs it into the tank, fills it up with water, hops and yeast; presses the button; and two to three weeks later, they’ve got fresh beer.

When I approached Brian about SmartBrew he was unwilling to go ahead because it wasn’t worth his while to install only one system in Australia. He told me he’d need half a dozen installations to make it viable. So I took the system on. We sold and installed a dozen SmartBrew systems into brewpubs around the country, including ours. It’s been an interesting side project, but now it’s a distraction so we handed distribution back to SmartBrew. That said, we’ll be using SmartBrew in future Beer Republic brewpub venues.

What I’ve also learned, is to maintain the integrity of the beer’s flavour profile you have to keep it cold.

There’s no better way of maintaining a beer’s freshness than when you’re piping it straight from the tank — which is what we’re doing here.

We’re only selling craft beer here. We’ve got 20 taps, 10 are our own. The staples are your classic lager, pale ale, pilsner, IPA. Then we’ve got a fruit range, which we’re calling Twist Brewing. It’s one base beer with fruit twists — in this current batch, it’s a kolsch base.

At any given time we’ll have two cocktails on tap. And then the other taps showcase a spread of other local craft brewers in Melbourne — normally styles of beer we’re not brewing at that point. We’ve only got six tanks so there’s only so much variety we can generate. And for a lot of craft breweries, it’s very difficult for them to get taps now.

Next challenge is to get the distiller functioning. It’s all in place and we’re waiting on final approvals. Any waste beer product will be used as the base for our whiskies. There’s even conduit under the venue that goes straight from the tanks to the still. Next year we’ll have barrels dotted around the pub as we age the whisky. While that’s happening, we’ll do our own gin.

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Sokolovski picks up the story: “Zelo was tasked to design and deliver a venue audio solution capable of not only high quality high SPL audio, but extremely low levels of acoustic energy transference into the structure or between floors.”

Ceilings were completely off limits, with acoustic and vibration control the significant design priorities. Stephen explains: “Zelo produced an acoustic design which utilised many forms of control. Two key control measures included using more speakers to maximise coverage density and consistency, and mounting subwoofers with a custom spring isolation mount to minimise vibration transference into the building structure.”

“The EAW PA can go hard,” commented Ian Wilson. “We’ve tested the system with it turned up and you can’t hear it upstairs at all. It’s quite miraculous!”

“Each EAW SB120zp sub is connected to its own Powersoft amplifier channel, while a pair of EAW VFR69i full-range loudspeakers share an amp channel,” noted Stephen Sokolowski. “This approach greatly improves acoustic control and venue coverage. All Powersoft amps have DSP on board, allowing each sub and pair of VFR69s to be optimally ‘tuned’ and delayed, where applicable.”

The other hero of the audio installation is the acoustic treatment. Thanks to large areas of Autex foam on the ceiling, the venue sounds very ‘controlled’ — you don’t get anything like the same level of echoing that prevents the loudspeakers from sounding as good they’ve been designed to.

It’s a thoroughly pleasant experience regardless of how bus y the space is.

The other thing on the AV front: no TVs. It’s a big decision to make, but the only TV you’ll find in the pub is in the smokers’ terrace. Elsewhere, large dropdown Screen Technics screens and Epson projectors fill the breach come Melbourne Cup day or similar.

The music is expertly curated by Nightlife, which also provides a music video option if desired.

MORE TO COME Ian Wilson has already secured land in the corresponding nodes in the south, east and west growth corridors, for similar developments. It’s a big play and it’s all relying on local trade. Even the hotel events trade has a big regional flavour.

The hotel launched with a three-week conference for Ford. Dig a little deeper and you’ll notice that Mantra Epping is probably the closest quality hotel and events option for the Ford Broadmeadows R&D office. It just goes to show: big business and events bookers might need world-class facilities but aren’t always in need of the downtown hassles (or added cost) of urban events centres.

Ian Wilson again: “It’s a locals venue. It’s not trying to be a city venue. But there’s nothing about the quality of the fitout or the level of the amenity to suggest it’s ‘just’ a suburban venue.

“If the hotel had a club lounge we could legitimately classify ourselves as a 5-star hotel — that’s the level of quality and amenity on offer. But a 5-star rating wouldn’t be any use to us anyway.

Most corporate travellers aren’t allowed to book 5-star hotels.

“It’s about providing a 5-star level of comfort and quality without the inflated prices or fanfare.

And locals are responding.”

CONTACTS Zelo: (03) 9514 6000 or zelogroup.com.au PAVT (EAW, Powersoft): (03) 9264 8000 or www.pavt.com.au

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Grand Entrance RAC Arena: 700 Wellington St, Perth WA racarena.com.au

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aking a grand entrance has always been a high priority for the RAC Arena in Perth.

Back in 2012 the arena launched with an extraordinary, multi-faceted digital signage feature in its foyer, comprising scores of LCD panels. But after that installation had reached its use-by date, management decided it would leverage the versatility and visual impact of large-scale LED to totally reboot its foyer signage.

The replacement LED feature would be designed to hug the architecture of the foyer entrance arches. The RAC Arena team put the job out to tender, with Perth-based integrator, Focus AV, awarded the project.

“We bid on the project after consulting with Aurora Signage about the right spec for the installation,” recalls Focus AV Director, Alan Bird. “Aurora really came to the party with its superior on-site warranty and keen pricing. I think that really got us over the line.”

CONTACTS Focus AV: focusav.com.au Aurora Signage: aurorasignage.com.au

The remarkable new LED feature signage comprises some 312 (500mm x 500mm) Aurora Signage cabinets – a total of 78sqm of 4mm pixel pitch LED. Two VD Wall 4K processors drive the display, taking two 4K outputs from the Media PC of the Arena’s in-house marketing and content team.

The 15,500-cap venue is a thoroughbred sports and concert arena attracting big acts such as Michael Bublé, Fleetwood Mac and more, while the Perth Wildcats basketball team and the Westcoast Fever netball club are also key tenants.

The new LED feature is an instant smash hit. Perhaps not as experimental as the previous pendant signage feature, the LED wall is already proving to be more versatile and powerful in reinforcing the RAC Arena’s marketing messaging. The messaging includes upcoming events and supporting the venue’s sponsors. The position of the display ensures all patrons are exposed to the content.

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Truly Epic Sydney Coliseum Theatre: 55 Sherbrooke St, Rooty Hill, NSW (02) 9851 5912 or sydneycoliseum.com.au

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t’s rare to see a new theatre being sold so heavily on its technical superiority. There again, the new $100m Coliseum Theatre in West HQ has gone extra hard to impress with its technical credentials.

The Coliseum is part of the monolithic Rooty Hill RSL complex. It’s a brand new 2000-cap theatre that looks the part. The Cox-designed sweeping staircase, the huge LED chandelier, the seven marble-lined bars all point to a design that’s sure to imbue glamour and a sense of occasion.

But it’s inside the theatre itself where the real magic happens.

For starters the theatre is incredibly versatile. There might be 2000 seats available but a retractable seating system allows for a flat floor configuration for 650 in banquet mode or as a standing-room concert venue with additional balcony seating. What’s more, there’s an orchestra pit available for musical theatre productions etc.

CONTACT Jands (L-Acoustics, Staging): (02) 9582 0909 or www.jands.com.au NEC: www.nec.com.au

While we’re talking theatre specs, the stage is 15m wide, 14.7m deep, the proscenium height is 9m and the effective fly tower height is 23m. This is not your average stage, it can cater to most any production, and with an 80-line fly system and seven fly bars, there are winches and staging for days.

IMMERSIVE L-ISA PA The headline in-theatre tech is the L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal immersive PA. It’s the first such installed system south of the equator and it’s sure to make some waves.

For those new to the terminology, ‘immersive’ audio systems do away with the left/right hangs of a traditional PA, and replace them with five or seven arrays across the front. It allows instruments to be better localised across the sound stage.

More arrays do less work and the result is a more enveloping,

SENSE OF OCCASION: THE ARCHITECTURE Cox Architecture’s Tim Morgan was design director and Nuraishikin Salleh the project architect.

They provided these thoughts on the project earlier this year: Where did the inspiration for the building design come from?

Nuraishikin Salleh: The design of the building is inspired by the freedom of expression in arts and music with the fluidity in its form, curving the façade to create intimate spaces and nooks, and the playfulness of revealing glimpses of the inside and outside through the slithers of windows. The grand stair becomes the spine of the building connecting layers of activities and the pop out windows allows visual connection between the outside public areas and the inside private areas.

Tim Morgan: You are taken from West HQ’s main entrance and lead towards a glazed bridge – the entrance, the start of the journey commences with an augmented light spectacular. Passing over the glazed bridge, through the wavy white concrete curtain you enter the splendour of a multi levelled foyer presenting a grand serpentine staircase and large chandelier conjuring up the romance of the golden age of the theatre. It allows the audience to experience the grandeur of the foyer on numerous levels, activating the entire space – a show in itself.

Nuraishikin Salleh: The Chandelier becomes the human magnet that draws patrons to the spine of the building, which is the grand stair. The chandelier enhances the mood of the night by changing its lighting colour to suit the theme of the event.

Talk us through the materials used throughout and why you chose them.

Nuraishikin Salleh: We selected the finishes to ensure robustness yet emit elegance befitting to the function of the building. Careful consideration was made to compliment the surrounding area and make use of the resources available to Australia where conveniently possible. An example of this would be the precast concrete with a local aggregate and cast in a local factory and blackbutt timber battens, sourced from Australia.

Cox Architecture: www.coxarchitecture.com.au

natural-sounding mix with better intelligibility and connection with the audience.

The French manufacturer of loudspeakers, L-Acoustics, is an immersive evangelist and this install is a big deal for the continued acceptance of the format as a mainstream platform for mixing, rather than a novelty you might only hear on a global smash hit tour, such as Lorde.

Facial recognition kiosks assist customers to sign into the venue and navigate their way through to the theatre faster and more conveniently; no doubt a window into the way of the future for entertainment venues everywhere.

Testing of the 20 kiosks installed at West HQ by NEC prior to the official opening has seen verification and voucherissuing times as low as nine seconds per person.

NEC DIGITAL SMARTS Back in the foyer, the theatre has partnered with NEC on some nifty LED display systems for menus, wayfinding, and interactive customer promotions, powered by CiscoVision IPTV. NEC has also taken care of the CCTV security systems, network infrastructure, and across the entire eight-hectare site, free Wi-Fi for guests.

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Mohr Life Resort Austria

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aMohr Life Resort’s new wellness area is a fresh take on the traditional spa. Located in Lermoos 80km drive from Innsbruck, the new glass and cement structure was built organically on a gentle slope located below the hotel. It features an amazing view across the Ehrwalder Becken valley peppered with old farmhouses and barns, and the impressive 3000m Zugspitze mountain.

The relaxation areas were developed to look like theatre stages with a view across the mountain. Every ‘booth’ includes two deckchairs featuring different designs. Closed balconies

deliver increased privacy and relaxation with an omnipresent mountain view. The ground floor also features a private lounge; a lobby and bar for refreshments; a spa and sauna for approximately 20; as well as changing booths and showers. A spiral staircase pinpoints the centre of the building and leads to the first floor where 10 symmetrical chill-out ‘stages’ await them.

The spa was a finalist in the Hotel & Leisure category of the World Architecture Festival (WAF).

Photos: Alex Filz

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