STEPPING INSIDE THE gilded-handled doors of Saint Haven’s new location in North Sydney, you feel the worries of the world melt away. It is the ultimate sanctuary. Both a social and lifestyle hub as well as a place to train and recover, you never really need to leave – and you won’t want to, either.

Located at 123 Walker Street, the six-level, 3,000sqm club is the fifth Saint Haven location and the first outside of Melbourne. It’s also the largest Saint Haven to date. But if you’re not already a member, you’ve got a long waitlist ahead of you. Membership reached capacity before the club even opened. If you do get to visit, it’s not difficult to see why it’s so difficult to get in.

The on-site restaurant is what greets you upon arrival. It offers a range of healthy breakfasts, smoothies and supplements, while a row of liquor bottles behind the bar hint at a more hedonistic offering after dark. Of course, you can order a simple coffee, but you will be asked if you’d like lion’s mane powder, MCT oil or ashwagandha with that.

The restaurant is part of Saint Haven’s efforts to grow into something bigger than the standard wellness club. It boasts a café, bar, business club, co-working facilities, a boardroom and the aforementioned restaurant, which bring together an active, engaged community of members.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s still the pinnacle of health and fitness hubs. Saint Haven North Sydney features the brand’s first dedicated preventative medicine and advanced imaging and testing unit. They’ve called it ‘The Lab’, and it has a Prenuvo full-body MRI machine (the first of its kind in Sydney) that can detect early signs of cancer and other abnormalities without the use of radiation. There are also doctors and nurses on-site who can conduct reverse-ageing protocols, peptide, hormone and bloodwork treatments.

It’s easy to get lost in the labyrinthine stairways of Saint Haven North Sydney, which lead into five dedicated studios including strength and conditioning, pilates, yoga, meditation, breathwork and sound therapy. It’s the latter that caught this writer’s attention during a visit to the facility.

Saint Haven’s sound healing space, which is dubbed ‘The Portal’ is a standout. It has a spatial audio engine, meaning sound doesn’t simply come from a speaker, it moves, flows and orbits around you. This makes The Portal a physical experience as much as an aural one.

Staff can adjust The Portal’s settings while you’re in it, meaning you get a personalised, multi-sensory experience that can regulate your nervous system, reduce cortisol levels and increase circulation.

The Portal
The ancient bathouse

Then there’s the ‘Haven Zone’, which offers Australia’s most advanced biohacking and reverse-ageing equipment. This might just be the most impressive space in the entire facility. First, there’s medical-grade hyperbaric chambers from Prime Platinum. These are pressurised chambers that allow you to breathe close to 100% pure oxygen, allowing more oxygen dissolution in blood plasma and improved oxygen delivery around the body.

The chambers are taking off among elite athletes, according to Prime Platinum founder Josh Kersten, because of how effective they are in aiding injury recovery. Prime Platinum is bringing those benefits to the consumer. “Our chambers can create up to a 15x increase in dissolved oxygen within the plasma,” Kersten says. “Helping oxygen reach areas of the body that may be under stress, fatigued, inflamed, or recovering from injury.”

Prime Platinum red light beds are also available in the Haven Zone. These beds are industry-leading tech. “One of the biggest misconceptions around red light therapy is underestimating the importance of the dose,” Kersten says. “We’ve developed a system built around clinical evidence, allowing users to select a specific focus such as sleep, skin health, recovery, soft tissue support, among many more, and simply press start. From there, the software communicates directly with the hardware to deliver a tailored dose of light energy over a precise treatment time, helping optimise the body’s natural production of ATP, the molecule responsible for cellular energy production.”

This writer was hesitant to try out the zone’s cryotherapy chamber after Kersten explained it could get down to -110°C, but ultimately relented once the founder rattled off the myriad benefits. “Cryotherapy triggers a cold shock response within the body, increasing levels of norepinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter linked to alertness, focus, mood, and inflammation regulation,” says Kersten. “Following a session, many people experience improved circulation, reduced stiffness, and better movement quality, helping the body feel more prepared for performance and training.”

It’s an interesting experience, to say the least. My hair temporarily turned white as all traces of moisture immediately froze, but I certainly felt more alert afterwards.

If cryotherapy interests you, you might also be keen to know that Saint Haven North Sydney has an ancient bathhouse, where you can either embrace the frigid temperatures with a cold plunge, or warm up in the magnesium pools, sauna and steam room.

One of Prime Platinum’s red light beds
A Prime Platinum hyperbaric oxygen chamber

If this all sounds good, you’re welcome to jump on that waitlist. We have no idea how long you’ll be on it, but judging by how quickly memberships reached capacity, it’s probably best to register sooner rather than later. The selling points are numerous, but perhaps most impressive of all is how Saint Haven manages to balance exclusivity with a genuinely welcoming atmosphere.

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