Unita CEO, Rob Rowe, and General Manager, Shane Dalton, sat down with QHA Review to discuss what it takes to develop some of Australia’s best hospitality venues…

If there is one company that can do it all when it comes to transforming a hotel into a bespoke and visually dramatic space, it is Unita. Not only does Unita offer exceptional design and construct services on a national scale, they can also extend their services to include interior design, branding and graphic design, fit out, kitchen design, project management and much more.

The company combines planning, design, manufacturing, project management and construction to deliver pragmatic, end-to-end solutions for clients and their cross-industry experience means all services are based on an unparalleled understanding of real-world success.

Although Unita specialise in workplace, retail and health sectors, in Queensland along, 50 per cent of their business is across hospitality and hotels. As one of the largest hospitality players in the country, Unita prides itself on its own in-house joinery, stainless steel, catering equipment, exhaust system, air-conditioning manufacturing and supply. This ensures they can guarantee costing and quality control, from the beginning to end. “Our staff have delivered some of the most significant fit outs in Queensland from the Regatta to the Treasury Casino through to most recently The Star Casino on the Gold Coast. We offer early involvement bringing together our internal hospitality team and external consultants to ensure a venue is delivered with the operations and experience with equal consideration maximising a venue’s ability to better its return on investment. By selling equipment, manufacturing in house and employing our own tradesman, we can deliver industry leading venues for highly competitive prices,” Unita, Managing Director, Robert Rowe said.

One of the more recent projects the company was involved in was the Munich Brauhaus, one of Brisbane’s oldest heritage buildings originally built in 1885. The two-storey Allgas Building at Southbank had been used for an office, bank and retail store. Unita has now transformed the building into a 900-seat mega venue.

Unita’s General Manager of Hospitality and Commercial, Shane Dalton, was the Project Manager for Munich Brauhaus and said the brief was to create a multi-level German Beer House experience showcasing the food and beer in a raw and rustic heritage building.

“Extensive forward planning involving the designers, engineers, state heritage department, Queensland fire and rescue and many others were required to turn the building from its past use as an office and restaurant into the facility it is today. Strategic planning and designing was required to get the building up to current building codes and wheelchair access,” he said.

The overall design and heritage approvals took three months plus 14 build weeks onsite. The process with clients from beginning to end would typically involve site assessment, research and concept development, design, approvals, manufacturing, construction and finally handover.

Being an industry leader for hospitality across the country, Unita’s experience and extensive portfolio is testament to their exceptional service and product. Their experience ranges across multiple categories including cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs, casual dining and QSR chains.

Click here to read more in the QHA Review June issue.

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