DESIGN & BUILD - A pub for all seasons

The big thing with the Portsea Hotel is it’s a bell curve as far as its trading is concerned,” says Lawrence Dowd, National General Manager at the hotel’s owners, Colonial Leisure Group.

“It has a huge summer period, December, Jan and a bit of February is its peak period, and then it really comes off and it’s very quiet on the [Mornington] Peninsula over winter. Our challenge was to make the pub comfortable enough so that you’d want to visit in the low season.”

Yet comfortable doesn’t even come close to describing the impact the renovations have had on the 142-year-old property, the only waterfront hotel in Portsea and a place its owners think is rather special.

“Everyone has a history or memory of the Portsea Hotel,” says Dowd. “It’s been a part of people’s lives on the Mornington Peninsula, so for us it was about preserving some of that old character of the pub and just modernising it enough to ensure it has a long-term future, not just a summer trading pub.”

As Dowd admits, “historically it loses money in that [winter] period, it’s that extreme. We make most of our revenue in the summer months.”

As interior architect and building designer David Dubois, founder and director of Dubois Design, explains, the extensive renovations exploded outwards from an initial brief for the pub’s stunning beer garden.

The enclosed verandah adds 30% more floor space

STUNNING BEER GARDEN

“This is by far the biggest hospitality hotel project that I’ve ever done. It was a fantastic opportunity and challenge,” says Dubois.

“In December 2017 Lawrence [Dowd] gave me a call and said ‘we’ve got an opportunity, we need to update this beer garden [at the Portsea], we’ve got a tight turnaround, are you available?’

“The initial brief was to tackle the beer garden. No money was to be spent on the interiors or building. We started work on that in January 2018 and quickly fast-tracked that.

The focus outside celebrates views across Port Phillip Bay

“We wanted to create a true beer garden experience. The location and experience that beer garden has, it has the most commanding position over Port Phillip Bay. It’s such an asset that Lawrence wanted to capitalise on.

In the garden, Dubois has dealt with the different levels of the site, creating two separate areas to break up the space and arranged everything to best capture the stunning views across Port Phillip Bay. “The existing condition was astroturf, sloping grass, it was all on a bit of an angle. We bulldozed that whole area, introduced narrow board timber decking and raised the whole floor level almost one metre, lifting the beer garden and improving the views over the bay.

“We incorporated long built-in bench seating,” says Dubois, “and huge built-in concrete planters, which we filled with established plants. As you walk into the space it really does feel like you’re walking into someone’s luxury private garden.

“You can just imagine yourself there in winter, having a beer and a parma, watching the footy with the fireplace on” – David Dubois

“Lawrence’s initial briefing idea was that the design had to feel like it had always been there. We took that ethos into every design approach. We also introduced a very large pergola in the middle of the space, which allowed us to reduce the number of umbrellas because the pergola offers a huge amount of shade and coverage. The umbrellas previously blocked a lot of the view when you were standing at the back of the venue.”

EXPANDED BRIEF

“The brief then expanded. The CLG team realised they had a real opportunity to make this the best hotel on the Mornington Peninsula, if not Victoria,” says Dubois.

“We explored what makes Portsea so successful, so exclusive for the high-rollers who live down there with their luxury lifestyles and that coastal beach holiday experience.

Pizzas compliment the classic pub food menu that also features seafood

“It’s a very unique place that has that prestige about it. It has a lot of similarities climatically and lifestyle-wise with Long Island in New York, and so we took inspiration from that part of the world. There are a lot of architectural similarities when you walk the backstreets of Portsea. It was quite a challenge because we wanted to lift the whole aesthetic and status of what the Portsea Hotel is. We wanted it to be what Portsea was all about. There were lots of ideas to distill into a single vision and at the same time not overstep the mark and make it seem too twee – too coastal, too nautical or too Hamptons-style. What we achieved was a very considered and sophisticated aesthetic.

Inside, the team installed a brand-new kitchen, gutting the old kitchen and adding another 30% of floor space. They redesigned the pass and how the staff interacted with the kitchen and delivered to tables, to improve efficiency.

FUNCTION AND FORM

Front and centre was the Longshore Room, which was an enclosed internal bar with a large wraparound verandah with commanding views. Dubois’ team enclosed the verandah with French bifolding glass doors and removed all the existing internal doors to the verandah, which added almost 30% more floor area.

California-style burger spot Cliff's Bar on the outside deck

Meanwhile they relocated the whole existing toilet block internally to the street side of the pub, which opened up a much larger public bar area, the RIP bar.

“Strategically that allowed us to create an internalised, almost public bar area,” says Dubois, “which it didn’t really have before. It utilises three of the existing fireplaces, green leather banquette seating.”

It’s this space that most clearly reflects efforts to attract a winter-time crowd, says Dubois:

“It’s like a sports bar – there are hidden TVs, so you can just imagine yourself there in winter, having a beer and a parma, watching the footy with the fireplace on and a storm going on outside and being very happy to be there. Hopefully a lot of people will use it all year-round and not just come for the summer.”

New pergola replaced previous umbrellas to declutter the view

WINTER GOOD TIMES

To further encourage that low-season trade, “we upped the accommodation,” says Dowd. “Mostly for corporate groups, functions and weddings. We kept that boutique coastal country hotel feel to it but better air conditioning, better linen and overall amenities that make it a lot better.”

The results speak for themselves, but the biggest challenge to the team proved to be timing.

“The biggest challenge was the speed of this project,” says Dubois. Receiving a planning permit from the council in just one month is practically unheard of.

“But because of the iconic nature of the venue, the council really got behind it,” says Dubois. “As soon as we got that planning permit, Lawrence and CLG said to me ‘we’ve got to get on it and do it by October, so hurry up!’ ahead of the summer rush.”

With weddings booked in November 2018, “there was no possibility that it wouldn’t be open” says Dubois, “it had to be done, and well, and right, and on budget.”

“This was a testament to the builder projects and project manager, David Miller from Directitude Management. That they could get this done, it’s truly amazing. At one point there were 60 tradies on site, all working well together. People really got behind it and wanted to see it do well.” While it’s too early to tell how winter will trade, the immediate response has been compelling, says Dowd.

“We’ve had a record summer, it’s been incredibly well received. The amount of people that walk out and their jaws just drop at the view, is great. People are staying for a much longer period, not just a quick drink. They’re literally staying for hours, hanging out at the pub, treating it like it’s one of their back gardens.”