Walter Peak refurbishment

Our Projects & Interiors team completed two stages of projects at Walter Peak, a tourist destination on a historic high country farm.

The first stage was in the Homestead, which is used as a restaurant for tour groups, extending the bathrooms, commercial kitchen and chiller room.

The second stage was to refurbish the Woolshed, a former farm building now used as a retail store and café, with higher capacity seating, more retail space, a new café counter and commercial kitchen, an additional chiller room and upgraded bathrooms.

Walter Peak is in a remote location across Lake Whakatipu, with the main access by boat. Materials were taken in and out either via boat or around a back road and farm track from Te Anau, with access both by boat and road weather dependant. Despite the sometimes difficult access, we ensured that all the old fixtures and fittings we removed as part of the refurbishment were recycled in the community.

The other challenge was to ensure that the attraction could operate uninterrupted throughout the seven-month project, with the work staged around the client’s requirements. We even managed to keep the kitchens open with hoardings, careful staging and some night work.

We collaborated closely with the client throughout, both to work around their busy operation and to find solutions for any issues that arose, such as the loose ground conditions in the lakefront location. We also engaged reputable specialist subcontractors from our extensive trade base to assist with final designs for some areas of the works.