ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL OPEN IDEAS COMPETITION

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (16:39): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I am glad those telepathic qualities that you have are still there. My question is to the Minister for Planning. Can the minister update the house about the progress of the government's Royal Adelaide Hospital open ideas competition?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (16:39): As a matter of fact, I can, and I thank the honourable member for his question. Members may recall that a while ago we made an announcement that there would be a competition to look at the future use of the site which is currently occupied by the soon to be decommissioned old Adelaide hospital. This is a site that the government is absolutely determined we are going to make a really good outcome of.

Clearly, the physical location of the current RAH site is very significant to the city, and this is why the government is seeking design ideas from South Australia and, indeed, across the world in a three-stage process. Members may be interested to know that the competition was launched on 18 July this year, and it is a two-stage open ideas design competition based on the Royal Australian Institute of Architects architectural competition guidelines. It is open to teams of registered architects and landscape architects worldwide. We only have to look at the success of such competitions interstate and overseas to see how you can get the biggest and best range of ideas.

I was delighted to discover that at the close of the registration period we had 126 design ideas registered, and that is significant because that puts us ahead of even the Flinders Street Station project in Melbourne which went through a similar process, so we are attracting even more interest than a city several times our size. Those ideas were received, and 71 of them were from Australian contributors and 29 from our own state of South Australia.

The community is also being asked to share their ideas and values for the site, and an open marketplace of ideas was recently held which received over 400 public comments on the future of the site. We are also asking key interested parties such as the cultural institutions on North Terrace, universities and the East End traders to share their expert knowledge of the site's potential through dedicated submissions. The site's redevelopment will help ensure that the East End, which is the cultural heart of our city, remains a great place to work, live and enjoy for future generations.

As we enter the next phase of the competition I would like to thank all the entrants who have participated so far. I understand that very shortly an independent jury made up of experts in their field will be announcing the six finalists. I know some members here watch programs on television where this sort of thing happens. This is real, and it is in our city, and it is going to be very exciting, and it is going to happen within days. The shortlisted design teams will be provided with this valuable community and stakeholder input to enable them to further their submissions.

In November, these more fully explored designs will then be re-submitted to the judges and will be awarded first, second and third prizes as well as there being a public favourite which may or may not be one of those first, second and third prizes. The outcome from the input of stakeholder views and the design competition is the first step for the RAH site and will help us form a brief and a direction for the next step.

In early 2014, all of this information, together with the outcomes of the prizes, will be passed on to Renewal SA. It will be Renewal SA's role then to undertake the feasibility studies relevant to economic and construction assessments to develop a master plan for the site. I would encourage South Australians to get involved in the process, and we look forward very much to seeing those final six shortlisted designs in the very near future.