Frank Restaurant has been a runaway success, with its quirky ‘South American disco meets Argentinian barbecue’ ambience.
We were excited by the complexity of the build – Georgina Freeman’s design brief from co-owner Scott McMurray was a challenge and required excellent communication and continual design meetings to implement.
When undertaking a fit-out of this nature it is common for the design to be an ever-changing process. Lots of design ideas drawn on whiteboards and walls. When you hit the right one a photo is taken to sign off on and away you go. Loved it!
In our client’s words
”Working with Skookom was a dream. Everyone on site was so calm, focused and under control, building is such a complex process with many individual elements that need to come together at the right time, it can become stressful if you allow it to.
The logistics for Frank were tricky – we had plenty of constraints, including a noise-sensitive building in which the use of any mechanical tools would travel through the concrete to the top floors.
This meant we had to operate power tools at select times and be very considerate to tenants. This was particularly difficult as we had plenty to do in the concrete slab.
The 9 storey building was constructed on reclaimed land on the waterfront so this meant any penetration in the slab had a structural impact on the entire building and every cut and hole had to be certified by the engineer.
It was a time-consuming and tedious process installing new services needed for the restaurant.
Georgina’s design is like nothing we’ve built before, with a lot of bespoke elements resulting in most fittings and fixtures, furniture and other features custom made such as the giant suspended brass torch. Who’s built something like that before?
We love the creativity in these types of projects and working with Georgina was fantastic as she really understood construction and the practical side of things as well. We had to work very closely with other contractors and fabricators to make these special components come to life and they all met our same high standards of quality and care.
”I’ve worked with many builders and the projects have never gone smoothly, something simple often turned into conflict. But working with Ian and Skookom was a new experience. They’re a team of true professionals, with pride in what they do and respect for everyone on-site.
”There was a calm energy in the workplace – I’m very pleased knowing that I’ll never need to look for another builder.