---
title: "Saltbush Bronte: A Hotel Cut from the Cliff | Creative Response"
description: "Calloway Thorne's concept response for Saltbush Bronte: 24 keys, a restaurant and rooftop pool, with lead times and FF&E budget for a March 2028 opening."
canonical: "https://pr-99.preview.formlio.com/documents/sydney-hotel-design-concept-proposal"
locale: "en"
type: "document"
lastModified: "2026-10-20"
alternates:
  fr: "https://pr-99.preview.formlio.com/fr/documents/sydney-proposition-de-concept-de-design-hotelier.md"
---

# Saltbush Bronte: A Hotel Cut from the Cliff | Creative Response

## Cover

### Prepared for

Our concept response for 24 keys, a restaurant and a rooftop pool, ready for guests in March 2028.

Saltbush Hotels

### Date

Tuesday 7 September 2027

Opening

Wednesday 8 March 2028

*Guest room with sandstone walls facing the ocean*

*Calloway Thorne*

## The idea

Stop dressing rooms to look at the cliff. Build them out of it.

## The brief

### Six months, one shot

*The brief, as we heard it*

In August your investors turned down the first concept. Their note said it could be any beach hotel in the world. They are right, and it is fixable.

Saltbush Bronte is 24 keys over four levels, a 46-cover restaurant and a rooftop pool, built into the sandstone above the baths. Base build reaches practical completion on Monday 14 February 2028. Doors open three weeks later.

So the real brief is not a nicer moodboard. It is a concept the investment committee signs on 24 September, and long-lead orders placed the week after. If we have any of this wrong, tell us before you read on.

## The numbers

### Four numbers run this project

Taken from your investor pack and the base-build programme. The third one decides everything else.

### Keys, four levels

**24**

### Weeks to opening

**26**

### Upholstery lead time

**14 wk**

### FF&E budget, ex GST

**A$1.68m**

## Lead times

### Lead times set the date, not design

Supplier quotes we gathered in August for comparable hotel orders, and your FF&E budget split by area. Anything over 12 weeks must be ordered by 4 October.

### Lead time by package, weeks

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Upholstery | 14 |
| Bespoke joinery | 11 |
| Decorative lighting | 9 |
| Sandstone tiles | 7 |
| Bed linen and towels | 6 |

### FF&E budget by area, %

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Guest rooms | 58 |
| Restaurant and bar | 21 |
| Lobby and lounge | 12 |
| Rooftop pool deck | 9 |

## Three routes

### Route one: Quarry. We recommend it.

*Quarry route: sandstone guest room*

### Route two: Tideline

*Tideline route: limewash and terrazzo room*

### Route three: Ocean Pool

*Ocean Pool route: teal-tiled bathroom*

## Materials

### The Quarry palette

Six materials, all specified with suppliers who can hit the October order. Sample box on your desk by Friday 17 September.

*Honed sandstone with ochre banding*

*Ocean-green glazed tiles*

*Stonewashed linen on sandstone*

*Spotted gum joinery with bronze pull*

*Sand bouclé upholstery*

*Blue-green terrazzo with sandstone aggregate*

## Proof

### We have done fast openings before

Eleven people, founded 2019 by Odette Calloway and Rafe Thorne. Seven hotels opened, none late.

> They placed our upholstery order before the developed design was finished, on a signed frame and fabric. Every sofa was on site eleven days before opening. Our previous fit-out missed by six weeks.

— Tamsin Ward-Kelly, General Manager, Hotel Mirrabook, Byron Bay

> Our board saw the rooms in VR, at full scale, three weeks after appointment. The concept was signed in one meeting. That has never happened to me in nineteen years of hotel development.

— Hamish Ooi, Development Director, Corella Hotel Group

> RevPAR was 18 percent above our forecast in the first six months. Guests book the stone rooms by name. We now charge a premium for them.

— Lucia Ferrante, Owner, Alba House, Noosa

## How we get there

### Order first, refine after

Normal sequence takes 30 weeks. You have 26. So the long-lead pieces are ordered on a signed frame and fabric while we finish the rest.

### 1. Concept signed, 24 September

Quarry route walked in VR at full scale with your investment committee. One sample box, one decision.

### 2. Long-lead orders, 4 October

Upholstery, joinery and lighting ordered on signed frames. You approve each order in the live FF&E tracker. Deposits are 40 percent and non-refundable.

### 3. Developed design, to 26 November

Elevations, RCP, lighting schedule and joinery details for all 24 keys, the restaurant and the roof.

### 4. Delivery, December to February

Goods consolidated at a bonded store in Botany and checked against the specification before they reach site.

### 5. Install and styling, from 14 February

Install in two weeks, snagging after. Styling and photography 1 to 3 March. Doors open 8 March.

## Next step

### Sign by Friday 10 September

This response holds until then. After that the October order date slips, and so does 8 March. Sign below and the VR model and sample box start on Monday.

### Prepared by

**Odette Calloway**
Co-founder and Creative Director, Calloway Thorne

Level 2, 48 Kippax Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
odette@callowaythorne.com.au

### For approval by

**Mereana Holt**
Development Director, Saltbush Hotels

We can walk the site at Bronte with you on Thursday 9 September if you would rather talk first.

### Appoint Calloway Thorne for the concept stage

By signing, you appoint us for the concept stage at A$48,370 plus GST, from Monday 13 September to the investment committee on Friday 24 September 2027. The design fee for later stages, A$196,840 plus GST, and the A$1.68m FF&E budget paid to suppliers are approved separately at that meeting.