Project — Hospitality

Lakehouse Retreat

Queenstown, New Zealand

Project dossier

Client: Lakehouse Retreats Ltd
Location: Queenstown, New Zealand
Industry: Hospitality
Scope: Curved timber canopy structure + 12 villas' indoor and outdoor furniture
Scale: Luxury lodge, 12 villas
Status: In production

Delivery timeline: RFQ to delivery: 23 weeks
Cost band: USD 620K–780K

Sample data

Designed by

Fern & Stone Studio

Procured by

Lakehouse Retreats Ltd

Owner / operator

Lakehouse Retreats Ltd

Overcoming challenges

The brief, and how we landed it

The challenge

The site sits at the end of a 40 km unsealed road with a 10-tonne vehicle limit, ruling out standard container delivery. The canopy design had to meet a 150 km/h wind rating signed off by a local structural engineer. The season forced a hard deadline: everything had to arrive before winter road restrictions began in May.

How we delivered

We re-planned logistics around flat-rack and breakbulk freight, with every crate sized and weighted for the access road. The canopy was engineered as laminated timber ribs in bolted segments, with the wind calculations issued for the local engineer's review at shop-drawing stage. Villa furniture was packed villa-by-villa so the local crew could furnish each unit in one day from our room-set drawings.

Scope of supply

What left our loading dock

Supply list

Curved timber canopy, 26 bolted laminated ribs
Wind-load calculations pack for local structural engineer
12 villas' indoor furniture, packed villa-by-villa
Outdoor lounge furniture in certified hardwood
Breakbulk freight plan sized to 10-tonne access limit

Materials used

Oak
Metal
Textiles
Ceramic

Value engineering on this project

Breaking the canopy into 26 bolted segments removed the specialist transport quote entirely and let a local crew assemble it with torque settings from our manual. Outdoor furniture moved from specified teak to a certified hardwood alternative at 30% lower cost with the same finish system. Consolidating canopy and furniture into one breakbulk sailing avoided a second freight cycle before the winter road closure.

The pieces