Hole-in-one
Issue 35 - Oct 2007

When creating Beijing’s first indoor golfing facility, Central Golf
needed to make the right decisions, straight from the tee off.

Whilst most of us wouldn’t consider playing golf on the ground level of a skyscraper, Central Golf Hong Kong is well known amongst Hong Kong golfing community as a “one-stop shop” for practice, training and club- fitting, right in the centre of the city. Facilitating indoor golfing requires the integration of complicated virtual and technological tools, so designing, launching and operating such a facility is not an easy task. When expanding into the mainland market and simultaneously creating one the world’s largest facilities of its type, difficult choices had to be made.

Walking into Central Golf Beijing’s entrance showroom, one is greeted by a golf store much like any other. But, beneath the ground floor level entrance, the world’s
largest indoor golfing facility can be found. Walking down the transparent glass steps, or taking the custom elevator, clients arrive at a spacious, bright and airy
double height reception area, complete with corporatestandard waiting areas and a 100 sqm putting green.

right on par
Beijing was chosen as the first location for Central Golf’s expansion, after five years of operations in Hong Kong. “A lot of our clientele are business people and
entrepreneurs”, Marc Boggia, Director, Central Golf explains, “and we have people coming to us all the time with proposals to open up in different cities”. Operating
a business model which requires working closely with local partners, he continues, means that the main points to consider are simple: “Where is it, who is it with”.

Although opportunities to start-up in Beijing had arisen before, this time the right factors seemed to fall into place. For starters, explains Boggia, “the location
could not be better.” The facility is located in Oriental Plaza, one of Beijing’s premier shopping malls, and a neighbour of the Beijing Grand Hyatt. Another element, says Boggia, is that China, and Beijing in particular, is on the cusp of a golfing boom. Both the fact that the Olympics is encouraging a sporting frenzy on the mainland, and the rising purchasing power of China’s wealthy consumer classes were factors in the choice of Beijing as the first step in an expansion plan that is set to continue over the next few years.



indoor course design
The facility brings together a number of different elements under one roof, explains Boggia. The lion’s share of the space is devoted to the instructional and practice areas, which include spacious practice ranges on two levels along with more private studios for individual tutoring. There are also the two putting greens, the sandbox and room for a special simulator that is currently in transit. In addition to the golfing areas, there is a substantial retailing component, a large café / restaurant and a boardroom for corporate events. All in all, the facility takes up 39,600 sqf.

The training element relies on a base of technology and facility design, which must seamlessly interact to deliver both the information the training pro needs and an experience the client desires. The technical and golfing know-how has led to the development of a set of design characteristics for their teaching studios. “You need ceiling height and you need space,” says Boccia, “You don’t want to feel like you are playing in a shoebox. Everything in the studios is white, white walls, white netting, and it has to be bright, to give a feeling of space. You need width as well, because you don’t want to feel that your club is going to get trapped against the walls, and we need to have an instructor in there as well.”

local expertise
The challenge of translating these specifications into a three floor facility in what was, pre-build, an empty basement area, fell to Leo Zhu, Central golf’s Project
Manager for the build. “From the design point of view, this project was quite challenging”, he says, “it involved not only the golfing areas, but also the pro-shop and the café. In terms of the construction side there were many, many construction specialists and consultants involved from all areas, from traditional areas like M&E [Mechanical and Electrical] to other specialties like F&B [Food and Beverage] and lighting.”

Selecting these consultants was a time-consuming process because of the complexity and nature of the project. All contracts for consultants and service
providers, had to be tendered in accordance with local regulations. Co-ordinating the selected project partners became a logistical nightmare, continues Zhu, pointing out that “there were around 2,000 meetings during the construction period, with representatives from most contractors visiting the site almost 1,000 times.”

Click the image above to enlarge.

One of those lead contractors was China International Engineering Design & Consult Co Ltd, who had previously worked for Central Golf’s Beijing partner
on projects for Beijing Bentley Group including their headquarter offices, retail and showroom projects for Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Emperor Watch.
Jialin Zhao, Designer, China International Engineering Design & Consult Co Ltd of the design company explains that “we did a lot of work changing the original inside space to achieve an impeccable visual effect while still meeting the functional requirements of the users.” This involved, he reveals, a lot of investment in the public spaces, lobby, café and retail areas.

space turnaround
While the interior design was influenced by the Hong Kong Central Golf location, the different site characteristics allowed for more creative opportunities.
In Hong Kong, explains Zhao, space constraints mean “the layout is compact and practical and perhaps more intimate and commercial.” The additional space in
Beijing allowed for a design with “much more room, fluency, more complete facilities and more creative features.” Standout elements include the polygonal
light ceiling on the lower levels and the colourful acrylic designs in the reception areas that symbolise skyscrapers, highlighting the city centre location of the
facility.

Designing and implementing the transformation from what was an empty, unused basement to a top quality recreational and retail facility “brought a lot of complications for the project design planning and space arrangements”, explains Zhao. “We had to do a meticulous investigation, collecting data and communicating with the different parties involved. This preparation built an excellent foundation upon which to implement the design and finish the project smoothly, he continues.



project handicap
Once the project planning stage began, some difficulties caused by the unique site characteristics and situation emerged. Zhu, who was tasked with controlling
construction, explains: “we were working on a two level underground facility, by a five-star hotel, offices and apartments, so we could only work five hours a
day because of the noise control policy.” In order to maintain good relationships with neighbouring tenants, construction hours and complaints in regards to the
dust and smell produced during construction had to be managed carefully.

Another headache that involved talking directly to the neighbours was the transportation of the materials into the city centre location. There was no available access to the site for delivery trucks, so an army of small vans had to be used to transport all the materials. In order to minimise disruption to other tenants in Oriental plaza, Zhu scheduled night-time deliveries. The sheer volume became a challenge in itself. “According to our records, the whole project required 13,000 round trips. During the busiest period, we had vans arriving literally every single
minute.”

Yet, according to Zhu, this was not the most difficult aspect, “there is a path of about 100 meters from the loading bay to the construction site, where no machines are able to get through.” The materials had to be carried piece by piece into the site. In the steel construction phase, the largest piece of steel weighed 5,000 kilos and was 11 meters long”, Zhu recalls. These difficulties, he estimates, added months to the project and, if not encountered, would have shaved approximately ten percent from the construction budget.

end result
Boggia acknowledges that the project was a learning process for the whole Central Golf team, saying that “If we think that we know it all then we should lock the door and not bother opening tomorrow. It’s a constant strive to make it better than it is now.” He believes that getting the right mix of different elements in the centre is vital. “It’s a holistic approach. Some of the elements may not generate as much revenue as other, but they are still vital. It’s like a swimming pool for a hotel, its benefits are perhaps a little more intangible but it’s still important.” Luckily, he says the high standards that his customers require have been met by the project fit-out.

Following the official opening on 1 August, the team are settling in to their new home well, in preparation for Beijing’s cold winter, which Boggia believes will bring a big boost in demand for Central Golf’s services. With a number of new locations currently being considered for future expansion, and one in Shanghai likely in the near future, it is a question of “seeing how the product comes to life in new markets,” he says. It seems like keen golfers in Asia’s urban communities may have a new training choice over the next few seasons. RFP

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