McCollSmith marks construction milestone as funding push, sponsorship deal and membership drive aim to get the long-awaited clubhouse open by season’s start.
The new Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club has topped out on its Ocean Beach Road site, a milestone builder McCollSmith is calling a proud moment after what was a slow start to construction.
McCollSmith Director and Co-Founder Dominic McColl said the project had stood out among the firm’s community and emergency services work for the depth of public interest it has attracted. “What has stood out about Sorrento is the strong connection people have to the club and the genuine interest they’ve shown as the new facility takes shape,” McColl said. “People stop to ask questions, share memories of the club and express their excitement about the future facility. It’s a reminder that we’re not just constructing a building; we’re helping create a community asset that will support lifesaving services and bring people together for decades to come.”
With the structure now topped out, McColl said the build was tracking toward completion by the end of the year, setting up a tight but workable run into a summer opening, important timing for a club whose patrol season, and the bulk of its risk exposure on Sorrento’s back beach, is concentrated in the warmer months.
The rebuild replaces a clubhouse the club has long said was no longer fit for purpose: equipment storage had spilled into an offsite shed, change rooms were undersized, and the building no longer met the standards expected of a frontline patrol base on one of the Mornington Peninsula’s most heavily visited stretches of coast.
Getting to a topping out has taken years of fundraising and planning, and not always smoothly. The project went through an extended council process, with Mornington Peninsula Shire weighing concerns over the building’s scale and footprint within a sensitive coastal setting before voting unanimously to grant the planning permit.
Funding has been just as hard-fought. The Victorian Government and Mornington Peninsula Shire both contributed toward the build, but with the project cost running well beyond that public commitment, the club has had to make up the balance itself. One standout contribution came from a cocktail party fundraiser hosted at the home of club patron Max Beck, which alone raised more than $1 million toward construction.
Securing sponsors for an unfinished building has proven harder going, club officials say a gap healthcare provider TLC Healthcare came to the rescue, committing to a long-term sponsorship deal worth $150,000 a year. With the building still in need of completion funds, the club plans to launch an intensive sponsorship & membership drive aimed at finishing the build and to keep the new clubhouse running once its doors open.
Club President Jane Wright said reaching topping out reflected the scale of effort behind the project. “It’s a community effort to get the build this far,” Wright said.
The clubhouse itself has been designed by architect and keen surfer Steve Hofer specifically for the punishment of a foreshore site, with McCollSmith citing corrosion-resistant detailing and coastal-grade materials chosen to withstand salt air, sea winds and storm surge over the long term. Beyond its lifesaving and patrol functions, the new facility will add dedicated equipment and rescue-craft storage, separate change rooms, a raised lookout and patrol tower, expanded training and education spaces, and on-site accommodation for volunteer lifesavers.
For McCollSmith, the build now moves into its fit-out phase, with the firm and the club both keen to see the new clubhouse open in time for the first crowds of summer.
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