Fremantle Adaptive Reuse to Create 250-Pod Hotel

The Japanese capsule hotel concept is gaining ground in Australia with one such asset approved for Perth.

The Metro Inner Development Assessment Panel (DAP) has approved a proposal from EVT-owned brand Lylo, a pod hotel developer with sites in Auckland, Queenstown and Christchurch in New Zealand as well as Brisbane, and another planned for the Gold Coast.

The four-storey hotel is planed for 19 Essex Street, Fremantle, and comprises 80 rooms with 247 pods. 

Associated amenities include communal dining, kitchen, laundry and bathroom facilities as well as a small bar.

The development application details the construction of the building towards the back of the the 1614sq m site.

Also on the site are two joined buildings—one is the former Mills & Co Building from 1907 while the other, dating from 1940, was demolished and replaced by another buulding in 2012. 

The pod hotel plan includes the adaptive reuse of the buildings, and the demolition of internal floor partitions and the removal of sections of roof sheeting that will be replaced by translucent sheeting.

▲ A render of the Essex Street adaptive reuse pod hotel.

The project also includes remediation of the heritage facade on the north building. 

Hospitality giant EVT, which also owns Event and BCC Cinemas alongside investment Belingbak Capital Partners, filed plans for the project last year. However, it was deferred at the October DAP meeting due to height and visual impact issues, as well as waste disposal management. 

But after height amendments and the inclusion of additional information, it was determined that the Rothelowman-designed project had merit.

▲ The Heritage Council advised the proposal would not affect the significance of the adjacent Port Flour Mill and Fremantle Technical College Annexe.

A Design Advisory Committee also recommended the project in May, saying that it provided affordable accommodation from a successful brand, and included a sustainable design approach through the reuse of buildings.

The setback building also ensured “minimal negative visual and amenity impacts on the streetscape and surrounding existing properties”, it said.

Capsule hotels were first introduced in Osaka, Japan, in the 1970s as a solution to workplace travel requirements.

According to research from Savills in London, microhotels can be 22 per cent cheaper than a budget hotel. Pod hotel rooms are usually less than 13 square metres.