Work starts on Pumphouse Point wilderness retreat development

AFTER decades of inactivity, work has started on refurbishment of the Pumphouse Point site at Lake St Clair.

Pumphouse Point. Night Shot: Adam Gibson

AFTER decades of inactivity, work has started on refurbishment of the Pumphouse Point site at Lake St Clair.

The former Hydro pump station is being restored as a boutique wilderness retreat inside Tasmania’s World Heritage Area.

Today multi-award-winning tourism leader Simon Currant will guide the Mercury through the $9 million development on Australia’s deepest lake.

The 1940s Art Deco-style building has been idle since it was decommissioned in the early 1990s.

The main pumphouse, at the end of a 230m wharf, will be converted into a 12-room retreat incorporating a lounge-bar area.

Two earlier proposals by different proponents – Merit Hotels and Doherty Hotels – were approved for the site since 1995 but neither progressed to construction.

Mr Currant spent many years complying with planning approval processes for developments inside a World Heritage Area and construction has now started five years after it was approved.

Development on the site has attracted opposition from environmental groups since it was first proposed.

The State Government has vowed to make it easier for developers to build low environmental impact ventures in Tasmania’s national parks and World Heritage areas.

Hobart and Launceston firm Cumulus Studio architecture + design have designed the Pumphouse Point wilderness lodge, which is expected to be finished early next year.

See the Mercury tomorrow for more details on the development.