Construction of a $10 million hot springs spa project at Newhaven has started ahead of a February 2022 opening.
The foundations for stage one of the project – at The Cape Kitchen, 1215 Phillip Island Road – have already been poured for a new additional restaurant, reception and apothecary room, which will sell their own skincare range.
There will also be 15 outdoor bathing pools, ranging in size from small ankle-deep podiatry wading areas through to relaxation pools able to sit 10 people.
Last year an application to construct a 900m bore was given the green light, which will extract 20 megalitres of groundwater to supply the pools with 38C aquifer mineral-rich water from under the 130-acre property.
According to brand manager Tom Lade, further stages of the project – to be rolled out in later years – will include up to 30 more bathing pools, treatment rooms for massages and varying wellness treatments.
“There’s no timeline for the following stages. We’ll gauge feedback from stage one and then lock in further development over the next five to 10 years,” Tom said.
He said owners of The Cape Kitchen Jodie and Mark Vogt had yet to decide on a name for the project, with a website Saltwater Springs and a Facebook site Phillip Island Hot Springs. We’re weighing up our options. We will lock it in by the middle of this year.”
Tom said they expect up to 500 people per day to visit the new attraction at the peak holidays periods and were in discussions with Regional Roads Victoria on creating safe exit and entry to the property.
A car park is also under construction, while about 10,000 indigenous trees and shrubs will be planted across the site.
Tom said alongside construction of foundation slabs for the project, they also have one pod onsite, designed by Kilcunda landscape architect Karl Russo.
“It’s a prototype with 10 in total planned for the hot springs and another two at Cape Kitchen. The pods are like a cabana experience, where people can have a private area for shade and we’re currently using the prototype for pop up picnics and private dining.”
There will be no change to The Cape Kitchen, while the new additional restaurant will face north closer to the hot springs and feature a menu inspired by healthy, clean eating and local produce.
The skincare range will use minerals from the aquifer and local botanicals.
The website describes the project as “inspired by nature and the healing powers of the ocean”.
Planning
Planning permits for a bathing and wellness project went before Bass Coast Shire planners in November 2015, where they were met with objections by a neighbouring property.
Those plans were for 45 bathing pools of varying sizes, day spa, treatment rooms within a landscaped setting.
Southern Rural Water last year confirmed the proposed bore would be about 900 metres deep and was from an aquifer deeper than used in agricultural bores.
The water will come from an “unincorporated groundwater management area” which means there is no limit on how much water can be extracted from the aquifer.
A local water management engineer said in a farming context, 20 megalitres of water is considered a “relatively small” volume of water, the equivalent of about 20 Olympic swimming pools.
Brand
Tom is a new addition to The Cape Kitchen team, joining as brand manager in the past five months.
He first started working for Mark and Jodie 15 years ago when they owned the Century Inn in Traralgon.
Since then he has worked overseas and for the Southern Ocean Lodge in Kangaroo Island, Lake House Daylesford, and most recently Longitude 131 at Uluru.
“I lost that role in Covid and when Jodie heard I wasn’t working they offered me this role,” said Tom, who is living in Cape Woolamai.
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