HCF Fountain Gate, Victoria

HCF’s retail strategy could only succeed if the experience established by its flagships translated into the everyday branches where most member interactions take place. Fountain Gate represented that test: a typical suburban tenancy, with a standard footprint and budget, that still needed to deliver the same sense of openness, consultation and care. The challenge was to retain the quality of the HCF experience while reducing the format to what was essential, without making the branch feel like a lesser version of the flagship.

Greater Group delivered Fountain Gate across design, procurement and build, drawing from the modular system developed for HCF’s national network. Standardised fixtures, joinery and planning principles were adapted to the tenancy, preserving the relationship between open service, consultation and privacy within a smaller footprint. Working from a resolved kit reduced unnecessary redesign and created greater certainty around cost, programme and quality, while allowing the branch to respond to its individual site conditions.

Fountain Gate proved that the HCF experience did not depend on flagship scale or investment. The same principles could be delivered within the footprint and economics of an everyday branch, giving HCF a repeatable model for the locations that make up the majority of its network. The project demonstrated the value of the modular system: consistency for members, efficiency in delivery and a format capable of scaling nationally without compromising the experience.