Celebrity chef Shannon Bennett goes to war over hotel plans
Celebrity chef Shannon Bennett has slammed bureaucrats at Heritage Victoria, accusing them of making ridiculous demands and attempting to derail his $90 million bid to create Victoria’s most exclusive hotel resort.
Victoria
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Celebrity chef Shannon Bennett has accused public servants of threatening to derail his ambitious $90 million bid to create Victoria’s most exclusive hotel resort.
Bennett and his business partner Adam Garrison have spent more than eight years planning the redevelopment of the Dandenong Ranges’ historic Burnham Beeches site.
But the development is now at risk, and Bennett has hit out at bureaucrats at Heritage Victoria, accusing them of making the project grind to a halt.
He told the Sunday Herald Sun that Heritage Victoria was forcing him to comply with ridiculous demands to complete minor and temporary repairs.
Heritage Victoria hit back and said it had requested maintenance work for more than a year to prevent the famous building falling into disrepair.
There are now fears negotiations with a major international luxury hotel chain could collapse weeks before they were due to join the project.
“We’ve been negotiating with them for six months but they’re concerned about what’s now going on with Heritage Victoria,” Bennett said.
“We have a plan well under way to make Burnham Beeches the No.1 hotel resort in Victoria.
“This project is desperately needed not only for the hospitality industry, to create much-needed jobs, for tourism and to create an injection of positivity and energy into the Victorian economy. Victoria is currently at its lowest morale ever. This is a vision that we are determined to make a reality.”
But Bennett has accused Heritage Victoria of a “dictatorial approach” that has threatened to derail the project.
He said a show-cause notice ordering about $250,000 worth of works to be urgently undertaken smacked of senseless bureaucratic red tape.
“We’re happy to keep the building in reasonable repair but in this instance it seems all about compliance,” he said.
“It’s madness. I’m not standing for it any more,” he said.
The venture will boast a luxury six-star hotel, brewery, fine dining restaurant, events space, and a spa designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.
Set in Sherbrooke Forest about 40km east of Melbourne, Burnham Beeches was built in the 1930s by the Nicholas family of Aspro fame. Over the years, it has been a children’s hospital and a research centre, but has been vacant since 1991. Bennett and Garrison have already spent about $2m maintaining the site.
Steven Avery, executive director at Heritage Victoria, said: “Owners of state listed heritage places such as Burnham Beeches have obligations under the Heritage Act 2017 to ensure that they are maintained and do not fall into disrepair.
“Despite frequent requests over more than a year, the owners of Burnham Beeches have failed to undertake even basic maintenance works such as cleaning gutters and urgent repairs.”
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