WA Co-Working Hotel Gets Tentative Green Light

A hybrid hotel plan aimed at “experience-seeking travellers” has been given a conditional green light. 

The self-sufficient hotel would be Australia’s first net-positive circular hotel, according to developers Fini Group. 

At a meeting of the regional development assessment panel in WA this month, a revised decision from the panel found that the proposed hotel was “consistent with [the] planning framework in the Shire of Augusta Margaret River”.

It approved the project under the condition that the developers support the provision of cash in-lieu carparking for 17 additional bays. 

At Fini’s project, the development application said, “guests are encouraged to interact with other guests at the ‘co-working’ friendly communal areas, in the hotel food and beverage venue and to explore the iconic tourism experienced of the Margaret River region”.

The development application for the site at 10-12 Fearn Avenue says the project will “breathe new life” into a site that provides a critical connection to the Margaret River Town Square.

It will support Fearn Avenue’s “evolution as the town’s secondary retail and commercial strip”, the development application said.

Existing homes onsite will be turned into five family villas, maintaining the main shell and original ground floor layout from the 1980s, according to the development application compiled by Urbis. 

▲ The development has faced opposition from locals and the developers have previously tried to fight the parking conditions.

In addition to the villas, 32 hotel rooms will be introduced along the western edge of the site as part of a new three-storey carbon net-positive building. 

It will achieve its carbon positive aims by generating more electricity than it consumes through the installation of rooftop solar panels, as well as being a 100 per cent electric property with heat pumps for thermal storage of hot water and induction cooktops within villas and dining facilities. 

The hotel development will also adaptively reuse rammed-earth homes built in the 1980s, which are some early examples of such building techniques. 

It will encourage bicycle use by guests and staff with end-of-trip facilities and generally minimise amenities to also minimise its environmental impact.

Designed by Nic Brunsdon at NIC Architects, there will also be a new restaurant and bar, and a pavilion for functions. 

▲ A project at anhistoric homestead was approved at Margaret River this year.

The developers said it would be accessible by locals and travellers and the hotel would partner with local tourism operators and “celebrate local sustainable producers”.

“The project team are pleased to lodge this development application for what will be a truly different and much-needed form of hotel accommodation that is unparalleled in the south-west region,” the application said. 

“The proposed development will enhance and diversify the range of accommodation available in the town centre and act as a launchpad for the local tourism market of this unique region.”

It’s not the only Margaret River tourism project approved recently, with another high-end proposal that includes a spa and 25-key hotel approved earlier this year, but its growth has caused concern for local residents.