By Lauren Henry

A new $40-million, 4.5-star hotel has been given the green light to be built next to Horsham Golf Club in Haven.

The Horsham Hotel will include 101 guest rooms, restaurant, bar and lounge, swimming pool, gym and outdoor dining area, plus flexible meeting and function spaces.

The hotel is set to provide 60 to 80 full-time-equivalent jobs when in operation, with more during the construction period.

Developer ATG Holdings is hoping to break ground early next year with a view to an early-2027 finish date.

ATG Holdings chief executive Niraj Singh said a planning permit for the hotel had now been approved, and he was excited to start building the project.

“We’ve  kept in mind the local patronage with the demand studies that was undertaken, especially in relation to dealing with the residents and understanding their aspirations around a hospitality offering of this nature from a local standpoint,” he said.

 

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“This is not the cookie-cutter, four-star hotel with a small little lobby and check in area, with minimal restaurant and a bar areas to accommodate hotel guests.”

“It’s quite an expansive, large courtyard area with swimming pool, meeting rooms, open-plan gathering spaces, indoor-outdoor seating amenities with kids play area. 

“These spaces can be used for simple family get-togethers as well as opened up for larger corporate conference events.

“The reception and food and beverage wing will provide a modern feeling that have been designed to suit the local atmosphere.

“We’ve designed this project in a way that it becomes a hub for the locals as well as visitors. 

“It’s not just the typical hotel with visitors in mind.”

 

Mr Singh said target visitor markets would include people wanting to visit the northern end of the Grampians National Park.

“ We believe that this hotel would be able to attract some higher-end visitors, especially to the Grampians Peaks Trail area,” he said.

“At the moment there’s a lack of real luxury, upper-scale accommodation offering.

“It’s quite evident in reports from the government and its agencies the region lacks the facilities to be able to attract the higher-end market around the walks and hiking sector, so hopefully hotels of this kind will be able to attract some of those visitors.”

Mr Singh said the development had a strong collaboration with Horsham Golf Club.

“We work well together and our hotel design has very much kept in mind the facilities at the golf club,” he said.

“We’ve ensured the hotel and its offering is complimentary and one that will work well together as a whole precinct, as opposed to the golf club seeing as one and the hotel site as another.

“We changed our initial concept designs to make sure that we are closer to the golf club, the actual movement of patronage between the golf club and the hotel will be quite seamless.”

The project has been in the works for two-and-half years, with Mr Singh saying community engagement had been important.

“ We engaged with the adjoining community quite early in the piece, understood some of their concerns, and made sure that a lot of the discussions were taken into our design thoughts and the processes,” Mr Singh said.

“We’ve been engaging with the golf club quite a bit in terms of what suits their needs, and what the locals would need.

“We’ve been engaging with Horsham Rural City Council quite closely, especially the economic development team, so we’ve been quite collaborative in that sense.

“We are quite excited to see this project come to life next year.”

ATG Holdings also has three other hotel developments in the pipeline in the region, with Ararat next on the agenda, while developments at Mt Langi Ghiran and Halls Gap are in the planning phases.

Horsham Golf Club president Gerard Bardell said he believed it would be a ‘wonderful investment’ not just for Horsham, but for the Wimmera.

“It will create a new destination and a reason for people to come to our wonderful area and I think the result will be that we’ll see a lot of different people and a lot of different companies coming and utilising what we’ve got here, so I think it’s going to be really positive for the region,” he said.

“It creates opportunity for a lot more conferences – I know that’s been a challenge for certain businesses looking to do something in the Wimmera.

“It’s a nice breakout area to utilise the existing clubhouse facilities, but also the driving range and the golf course itself. 

“We’re currently exploring the opportunity for a mini golf facility as well, and that would certainly create some value as well.”

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