GNP360 starts work on revamping the Gnowangerup Hotel in ambitious project to create local and visitor hub

No sooner had the keys changed hands than work started on revamping the Gnowangerup Hotel by the town’s GNP360 co-operative.

The ambitious project intends to create a hub for locals and visitors, making it part of a recreational precinct that provides accommodation, creates jobs and boosts tourism.

The co-op took over the premises on December 1 and has already removed asbestos and started on earthworks.

First on the long list of improvements is the accommodation, laundry and manager’s quarters at the rear of the building.

The hotel, including its restaurant, bar and rooms, have been closed for the start of the renovations but GNP360 is hoping to be granted a liquor licence as they progress.

The timeframe for the initial phase is six months, although GNP360 chair Richard House said the overall completion would depend on money and the availability of trades.

“Getting the keys wasn’t the moment of excitement — handing them over to the person who leases the finished building would be the time we’d get really excited,” he said.

“This is just the start of the next stage.

“The first stage was acquiring the building, next we’re removing what needs to be removed, looking at the wiring and doing things like that which aren’t obviously noticeable.

“Now we’re looking at all the work that is in front of us.”

The group has received pockets of money, including $25,000 from the Bunya Fund and $10,000 from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal to help with planning expenses.

It’s also hoping local people will continue to buy $500 shares in the co-op so they can have a say in the future of the hotel.

There is also a $7 million Federal Government grant application in the pipeline — which includes the hotel as part of a wider scheme — but Mr House said the group was still waiting for a decision which was due in December.

“If we got a grant of $1m it would be full steam ahead, but while we haven’t been told ‘no’, we also haven’t been told ‘yes’,” he said.

The co-op has just finished a successful community crop harvest, shifting 1200 tonnes of grain from 680ha to the CHB handling facility in Broomehill in just seven hours.

The group is now asking for volunteers and equipment to help with the earthworks at the hotel.

The hotel master plan includes turning the first-floor accommodation into more modern, ensuite hotel rooms, and revamping the interior to include a common room, function areas and meeting spaces.

That is as well as the project at the rear of the building, upgrading six old dongas into six new units with the manager’s quarters.

The co-op, in tandem with the Shire of Gnowangerup, has major plans for the town, hence the Federal grant application.

An additional $100,000 grant is set to transform Aylmore Street with the money coming from the Town Teams Movement following an application by the shire and GNP360.