The Golfview hotel is complete and Dan Murphy’s moves in!

In 2012 ALH Group engaged i2C to investigate opportunities to build a new Dan Murphy’s on the site known for the Golfview Hotel in Guildford, NSW. As the name suggests the existing pub is located adjacent to the Golf Club, set within an industrial area facing a busy road and local residents.

Building a new liquor outlet on the existing site would not only create new employment opportunities but provide convenience to the locals and by-passers. The existing Golfview Hotel was built in 1969, the interior spaces were dated, and some were vacant and neglected which triggered the need for a refurbishment. The proposed hotel and gaming upgrade works would bring in more locals to the premises.

Design thinking

Taking an existing hotel from the late 60s, heavily rendered paint finish with arches and tiled roofs and trying to marry it with a new, modern branded liquor store needed a design strategy that allowed the amalgamation to work operationally as well as aesthetically.

The hotel needed to be reduced its footprint to provide enough area on the site for the new Dan Murphy’s store to be built. In order to do this, we had to to cut the hotel building in half and leave a clear separation between where the two buildings would sit on the site.

To achieve what we intended for the development, we ran a number of massing studies so that the project team could understand the composition of both buildings. The site context drove the design approach of the external façade. Inspired by the industrial neighbourhood, i2C created an architectural design that acknowledges the area.  By repainting the external façade of the remainder of the hotel and by conducting some maintenance work, the new Dan Murphy’s store would complement and at the same time contrast the old hotel building. taking cues from its industrial surroundings.

Internally the hotel needed to be re-designed to allow for a smaller footprint with a new kitchen, refurbished bar and gaming area. i2C engaged with a gaming specialist to help accommodate the space planning requirements.

Challenges

The Golfview Hotel and the new Dan Murphy’s needed to go through a lengthy rezoning process before the plans could be approved. A planning proposal was secured towards the end of 2015 which catered for the 1350m2 additional use across the site of the hotel and motel accommodation and the Dan Murphy’s store. Once the LEP amendments passed, DA documentation for the site could commence.

Upon approval of the DA, we had to modify the mostly standard DA conditions and challenged the council as well as the RMS.

The staging of an operational hotel had to be considered carefully when planning the refurbishment schedule. The old and new buildings had to be separated for fire safety, the construction of the new carpark also cause a lot of disruption and the level of demolition noise resulted in ongoing challenges to the operation of the hotel.

The hotel renovation had to be completed within a tight schedule which impacted the supply of some furniture and finishes. These challenges were addressed early in the design stages to ensure that the team could deliver the refurbished hotel and new dan Murphy’s store within the tight time frame.

i2C worked closely with Kaynemaile to customise an impressive cladding for the front of the new Dan Murphy’s store. The bespoke material used for the Kayemaile was designed to complement the Dan Murphy’s branding and signage colour and required solutions for attaching the individual letters for the signage to be attached through the screen on the building facade.

Approach

i2C commenced working on this refurbishment from its inception. The team secured a survey, (rezoning) planning proposal and development application. The team worked on the end-to-end delivery by producing the tender documentation, managing the tender process, and delivered the construction certificate and construction documentation for the project and administrating the ABIC major works contract during construction services. The advantage of being engaged for full architectural services gave us the transparency, ownership and consistency of design and delivery on this project.

i2C held meetings regularly to discuss share design updates and openly communicate with all of the consultants, stakeholders, and builder. The close collaboration between all parties was integral to the overall success of the delivery of the development.

Outcomes

The result is that it is not your standard Dan Murphy’s when you look at it and that is exactly what we tried to achieve by responding to the environment it sits in.

The hotel facade is looking a lot more modern than its original state.

Using Kaynemaile to reduce the structural supports required for the screen, it also forms a strong entry statement with the customised colour to suit Dan Murphy’s branding.

The refurbished hotel and new gaming area merge nicely with the bold liquor store.

Overall the project landed on time and within the budget with a new look hotel and new Dan Murphy’s on site.

Locals are now more enticed to use the new bistro/kitchen, gaming and hotel premises.

Since opening late March 2018, the Dan Murphy’s has also implemented their first concept of a pick-up on this site.

Project feedback:

The transformation is fantastic! Barry Cloke, National Property Manager, ALH Group Pty Limited

Value: Circa $5m

Client: ALH Group

Builder: The Rohrig Group

Year Completed: 2018

Location: Guildford, NSW