William ST, Northbridge
This heritage building in the heart of Northbridge was converted into a two-storey bar & restaurant . Our goal was to help the owner and his tenants create a new establishment that offers an exemplary high-end culinary experience, all while preserving the historic integrity of the building.
Adapting a heritage building in Northbridge
Converting a heritage building into a two-storey bar and restaurant is a very different exercise to building a new home, and it is mostly a problem-solving job. The existing structure dictates what is possible; the new use brings a long list of requirements with it — fire separation, egress, accessibility, acoustic treatment, commercial kitchen services, mechanical ventilation and grease management — and all of it has to be threaded through fabric that was never designed to accommodate any of it.
Working with the existing fabric
On a heritage property the design conversation starts with what has to be retained and how new work should sit against it. Approval typically involves heritage considerations alongside the usual planning and building assessment, which is why it pays to engage with it at concept stage rather than presenting a finished design and hoping. Older buildings also carry genuine unknowns behind their linings, so a realistic contingency is not optional.
Why a small builder suits this work
Adaptive reuse projects generate decisions daily, and they need someone senior able to make them on the spot. It is one of the reasons we run a single project at a time. If you have a building with a similar problem to solve, get in touch — and you can see how we run a project on our process page.
We also build throughout Fremantle and East Fremantle.