Project Overview

This project was to create a cafe and event space in which the whole community would enjoy. Much to our builders haste we liked to create the decorative parts of this space as we went. Our venues are like our home, we needed to live in it to see what went where. We like to collect special pieces overtime and find places for everything.

Organisation

The Boathouse Group

Team

Andrew and Pip Goldsmith interior designers and creators.
Shed Architects for all heritage and compliance details as well as structual drawings.
Peloton builders were our contracted builders.

Project Brief

Our new venue was to offer a beachside setting with a casual and more extensive Boathouse offer. The new Boathouse is a re-build of the existing Shelly Beach venue with increased capacity and the addition of a separate events space. Our concept was simple - we wanted to create simple food, consistent quality, a memorable experience and a place that people love to visit. We have restored the historic features of this gorgeous Shelly Beach property and have added to it in the hope that this will be a place for all to visit in the many years to come.

Project Innovation/Need

We have tried to create a venue that remains timeless for many years. We have a mix of tropical gardens, a purpose built waterfall, an outdoor kitchen and a menu that incorporates lots of local growers. Along with classic and unique interiors to create a lifestyle not just a building.

Design Challenge

Our biggest design challenge is that we like to create things as we see them and not follow a set of plans. The organic nature of a space is best decided once you live in it. To communicate these changes with our builder on a daily basis created a lot of variations in our build which was always a challenge.

Sustainability

When demolishing the existing Shelly Beach building we kept all the timbers and reused them throughout the venue where possible. Our style is also based upon collecting old and used interior pieces. Our garden was created to enhance the natural coastal environment with the installation of a rain water tank to water our gardens.

On a group level The Boathouse Group collects all food scraps to be used in our commercial sized composter which reduces our waste by 50%. We also have our beehives on top of our Whale Beach venue which produces honey and honey comb which is used at our Shelly Beach location. We have a local Northern Beaches farmer who supplies us with free-range eggs, micro herbs, edible flowers and vegetables.

Great food with minimal waste is very important to our Boathouse team.