New hotel to seek green tick in Hobart

An artist’s impression of the proposed hotel

In June, the Mercury reported Singaporean company Frag­rance Group Limited had paid just over $4 million for a 1960-built property in Macquarie St, which will be demolished.

Developers will transform the former medical consulting suites and car park at 173-177 Macquarie St into much-needed mid-range accommodation.

Project architect Keith Drew, director of Hobart’s Xsquared, said it would seek five-star Green Building Council of Australia certification and could be the first hotel in Australia to reach the standard.

“This would be a substantial achievement. We’ve got significant environmentally sustainable design features,” Mr Drew said.

He said sustainable timber should be used and stormwater and rainwater would irrigate ver­tical gardens and be used for toilets.

Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said the development ticked every box for him and would be a significant injection in accommodation cap­acity for Hobart.

“Often, with a lot of major events or conferences, people want to stay together, so to have a couple of large-scale hotels around that 4-4.5-star mark is absolutely on-song for what the demand is,” he said.

“A lot of the hotels that have been developed in the last couple of years have been around the 100- to 120-room mark, so this is a big-scale project.”

The proposed 11-storey building would feature a ver­tical garden up the middle of the facade to reflect the green aspects inside.

It would have a restaurant and six retail spaces and be one of the biggest hotels in the city.

“In terms of the market, we know that more and more people are trying to travel in a sustainable way, socially and environmentally,” Mr Martin said.

“We’re potentially going to have a standout example that could encourage others to consider going green too. We’re trying to get more and more of our tourism businesses cer­tified as environmentally sustainable, so a lot of hotels across the city are embarking on doing that themselves.”

Hobart CBD has some of the highest occupancy rates in the nation and there is a push to increase tourist numbers to 1.5 million by 2020.

Other hotel developments in the pipeline for Hobart include one in the Myer Icon Complex and the $35 million, 114-room luxury hotel development at Macquarie Wharf No.1 on Hobart’s waterfront by the Federal Group.

Mr Martin said it was encouraging to see hotel proposals moving from concept stage to having development applic­ations submitted to council.

The planning application for the Macquarie hotel is listed on the Hobart City Council website.

Source:  The Mercury - 15th November 2014