Before it was a pub, the Mullane’s Hotel building started out as part office, part pharmaceutical manufacturing space within the Norwest Business Park. It’s not the first time Momento Hospitality has converted an office building into a pub, having done so previously at The Governor Hotel in Macquarie Park. It’s part of the group’s MO. “We tend to look for a suitable site in a particular area, regardless of its former use. Once we secure the site, we go about the conversion process,” explains Leon Colosimo, executive director of Momento Hospitality. But converting an office building into a premium hospitality offering is not without its challenges. The general open plan design of an office building means you have the freedom to create smaller spaces within it, but other design elements need some serious rethinking and significant design upheaval. “A lot of office spaces designed in particular eras have a lack of natural light and not-so-interesting features. So you really have to go through and gut the whole thing and find the interest in the building,” suggests Edith Clark, director of architectural design firm Archebiosis. Archebiosis has worked with Momento