WHEN a fire tore through the popular kiosk at Redhead Surf Club in May, it left a blackened, boarded-up hole in the heart of what was a buzzing community hub.
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Murray and Maree Ruse have provided locals with their daily caffeine fix via a coffee cart at the site since July. But once it became apparent the kiosk refurbishment would not be completed by summer, they offered to dust off their fitted-out shipping container cafe as a stop-gap measure.
“The idea of having it there for six months seems perfect,” Mr Ruse said.
“Once they’ve finished their renovations, we can move off and it’s as though we were never there. It’s the ideal scenario.”
They set up the container cafe after getting the “go ahead” from Lake Macquarie City Council.
It was good news for the relocatable cafe operators, who had to pack it up from its former site at Warabrook 10 months ago.
“In Warabrook we submitted a DA, and Newcastle Council came back and said we had to get a private certifier to make sure it met the most recent standards relating to a building – they weren’t treating it as mobile, but as a fixed structure.
“That meant there was a possibility it would need things like a disabled toilet to meet the standards. We packed it away and bought the cart,” Mr Ruse said.
The cart will operate next to the shipping container. One will do hot meals, like burgers and bacon and egg rolls, while the other will serve coffee, milkshakes, and grab-and-go food.
Brad Sutton, Lake Macquarie City Council’s manager of leisure services, said they had hoped to have the kiosk repairs done by summer, but the damage to the building had been more extensive than anticipated.
“We’re going to take the opportunity to do a bit of work on the structure and upgrade some of the electrical works as well,” Mr Sutton said. “There is a little bit of concrete cancer through it, like just about every other surf club in Australia, so while we’re doing the repairs there will be some work done on that as well.”
The shipping container cafe was a first for Lake Macquarie, born more out of necessity than anything else.
“We needed a work-around solution, and the container cafe was certainly considered temporary.”
Mr Sutton said it was on Crown Land, which afforded legislation exemptions too.
Redhead Surf Lifesaving Club president Mike McKey said they believed it would help service the community, and offer the public another reason to visit, while they waited for the kiosk to be completed.
“Hopefully we will get it redesigned to make it more functional for the new operators once they are decided,” Mr McKey said.
The repair work has been put out to tender by the council.
“At one stage we thought it would have been up and running by now, but it’s very difficult for people to put their businesses and their lives on hold until they can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Mr McKey said.
“It would have been the best part of 12 months off, so there is no point trying to get someone in there now while it’s a bit of an unknown.”
Mr McKey said not much had been done to the building for the past 30 years.
“It wasn’t a very big space there, and probably wasn't all that functional. This gives us the chance to upgrade it, and meet the standards required now that aren’t the same as 30 years ago,” he said.