Calling Total Fusion Platinum, Brisbane’s new $80 million wellness complex, a “gym” somewhat understates what founder Leon McNiece has created.

Your average gym, for example, probably doesn’t come with a dedicated altitude training room. Or a snow room with real falling snow (said to improve circulation and aid detoxification). Your typical gym might have a yoga studio, but does it have a yoga studio where one of the walls is made from Himalayan salt bricks? Or a hyperbaric oxygen chamber? It probably doesn’t have a grand lobby-style atrium with a sunken lounge and a co-working hub with a five-storey “tree of life” that acts as a natural air purifier.

Created in partnership with property development group Cavcorp, Total Fusion Platinum (TFP) is a top-to-bottom “holistic experience” offering everything from reformer Pilates and spin rooms to a selection of medical-grade recovery options and Goop-esque wellness treatments.

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“There is growing market recognition that health is not just about fitness, but also encompasses mental and emotional wellbeing,” McNiece, who heads up the club with his son Ben McNiece, tells Broadsheet. With more than two decades in the industry, in which he founded gym chains Goodlife Health Clubs and Snap Fitness, McNiece has seen and done it all when it comes to the fads and trends that have dictated our approaches to health. TFP, he explains, is the crystallisation of those years of experience.

“Wellness is becoming such a high priority for many, and offering a luxury space which entices people to move and take care of themselves, as well as improve their mental state, and reset before or after a workout, is the ultimate solution in creating overall happier and healthier humans who can live a longer and better life,” he says.

Located in upmarket Newstead (minutes away from hip hotel The Calile and Italian dining spot Bianca), the sprawling 9000-square-metre, six-level facility is the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. To manifest this health haven, McNiece and Cavcorp CEO Damien Cavallucci hired Caroline Choker and Vince Alafaci of design firm Acme, the team responsible for Felons Brewing Co, Sydney dining hotspots Margaret and The Grounds of the City, and Melbourne’s Gimlet. The brief, says Cavallucci, was to create “a Roman-esque bathhouse with state-of-the-art technology and Olympic training ambience”.

“[We wanted to] create a facility which allows people to not only challenge themselves with physical exercise, but to balance that with restorative practices and recovery protocols – crucial when promoting a holistic approach to health and fitness,” says Cavallucci.

Consider the objective achieved. Boasting two acres of gym-floor space, there are plenty of discrete corners to ensure privacy every time you work out. A mix of open-plan weight rooms decked out with top-of-the-range Technogym equipment is available alongside more targeted training options like an inclined indoor climbing wall and a HIIT room. But even when you’re standing in the middle of the action, TFP feels distinctly un-gym-like in the best possible sense. The reason, says Cavallucci, comes from the “seven sense architecture” that Acme employed in the design process to engage all five traditional senses, plus additional proprioceptive ones of balance and movement. Colour schemes are muted, and walls are gently textural with no hard edges – instead they are curved with seamless rendering to produce organic spatiality. Even the acoustic treatments of the various training rooms were designed to induce a state of calm as you push your body to its extremes.

But the true standout element might be TFP’s integration of recovery into your visit. Knowing how often most of us forget the post-workout care that’s required to ensure the body stays in peak condition and injury-free, you’ll find an entire floor dedicated to post-training treatments, including cold-plunge pools and infrared saunas. This also extends to what you’re putting into your body, too. There’s an outdoor dining and bar area, overlooking a 25-metre Olympic short-course magnesium pool, where you can top up on essential protein or refresh your system with a juice or tonic made using ingredients grown on the rooftop farm.

If it all feels a little OTT, perhaps it is. There’s no doubt that the fitness industry has grown exponentially in the last decade, and standing out in an increasingly competitive field takes more than just multiple squat racks.

“There is a significant social element and the community has long been a part of everything we do,” says McNiece. “People inherently want and need somewhere they can belong, where they are accepted as they are, and can connect with like-minded individuals over a common interest – that interest being a desire to improve themselves and live a healthier lifestyle.”

Total Fusion Platinum
Lucent Gasworks, 18 Longland Street Newstead
(07) 3539 9999

Hours:
Gym
Mon to Thu 4.30am–10pm
Fri 4.30am–9am
Sat 5am–7pm
Sun 6am–7pm

Wellness rooftop
Mon to Thu 5.30am–9pm
Fri 5.30am–8pm
Sat 6am–6pm
Sun 7am–6pm

totalfusion.com.au
@totalfusionplatinum

The writer travelled to Brisbane with assistance from Total Fusion Platinum.