The Guildford Hotel will be restored to create an exciting new pub venue with the Publican Group as its tenant. The venue will be a high quality design, whilst being respectful to the heritage and history of the building by keeping with the original exterior facades and rebuilding the iconic belvedere.
Progress on the redevelopment has been great so far with the graffiti being removed, the site cleared and levelled and a new roof being approved by the Heritage Council.
In order to make the project economically viable and to make the best use of the entire site on which the building is set, it is essential that a further complimentary development occur to the vacant land at the rear of the site. This has been the position since the tragedy of the fire.
The rear development will be sympathetic to the heritage building – the designs so far are based on similar projects that have occurred in other heritage towns, such as Brighton and St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria.
We are aware that there has been some misinformation circulated about this development. It is too early to comment on exactly what this development will entail. We are currently running a feasibility study on several design options and the final development plans cannot be confirmed at this stage. We can say however, that the final design will look to involve retail and mixed use apartment development to activate the central Guildford Town site adjacent to the train station.
We have submitted an amendment to the existing Development Application for the Hotel, as the original Application included the Hotel and a retail development. We have requested an amendment that amends the internal layout of the Hotel to suit the Publican Group’s requirements. We have also submitted a Scheme Amendment to the City of Swan to allow for apartments to the rear of the site. We can assure the public that we are being transparent in the process for the development as a whole and that is why we are facilitating community forums in the coming weeks regarding the development to the rear of the site.
Our priority is still the restoration of the Hotel. The additional development that does occur will be created with the community in mind, to benefit the site as it stands. We are working closely with the Town of Guildford to help activate the Guildford community, injecting new life and new energy to the community as a whole.
The new development to the rear portion of the site will be respectful of the Hotel in appearance and also provide new amenity to the Guildford community.
“It will not be a glass skyscraper that is inappropriate to the area. “ says owner Luke Martino. “We have one of the most active and capable design and planning teams on board that we can have and together we are working to ensure the new development will be empathetic to The Hotel.”
Any approved development (and of course this will be subject to Council review and approval before commencement) will be in line with the Planning Guidelines and other Government department requirements.
We understand that people are concerned, however we would ask for the community to continue their support of the restoration and to remain patient as we work through the process.
Ends.