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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-15 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: PARK OFFICE ACCOMMODATION FIT-OUT

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (11:23): I move:

That the 379th report of the committee, on the Park Office Accommodation Fit-Out, be noted.

SafeWork SA's main office is located at 1 Richmond Road Keswick, where there is capacity for 235 staff. The lease expires in 2011. The government has entered into a commitment to lease space for 291 staff at 33 Richmond Road, from Axiom World Park Adelaide Pty Ltd. This will allow 15 staff to be relocated from Waymouth Street and a further 35 staff from the Netley Commercial Park. The estimated government capital cost contribution for the fit-out in this proposal is $5.478 million. The building design targets a five-star Green Star rating and will feature cutting-edge ESD technology. The fit-out will:

maximise natural light to all workstations and internal offices;

use circulation space to create an open and light appearance;

minimise the number of enclosed offices;

maximise the innovative use of information and communications technology;

reduce unnecessary paper production and storage at workstations;

utilise energy management of lighting;

utilise fit-out materials based on their potential for re-use and recycling; and

incorporate layout designs that provide for maximum recycling of office consumables.

Each floor has been designed in a flexible generic manner with minor deviations to suit particular business units. Axiom's master plan for the development includes:

three five-star green rated office buildings set in a landscaped environment and linked to a central plaza;

conservation and management of water, resulting in a 90 per cent reduction in the reliance of mains water as compared to traditional buildings;

a town centre feel with indoor and outdoor cafes, gym and childcare centre; and

a decked car park to be completed as part of stage 2 of the project.

The final built form will offer more than 34,000 square metres of A grade office space, and the total development is estimated to cost in the order of $150 million. Axiom expects stage 1 to stimulate interest in the precinct and bring forward construction of the remaining stages.

The lease incorporates 4,375 square metres of net lettable area for 10 years with two five-year rights of renewal at a rental of $397 per square metre, fully grossed per annum. It also provides for fixed 3.5 per cent per annum rent increases with reviews to market at lease renewal and 85 car parks at an annual rental of $105,480, to be reviewed in line with the office rental.

SafeWork SA's fit-out at 1 Richmond Road is over 15 years old, and most areas would require a substantial refit to meet contemporary working practices. Many workstations have little access to natural light, and the fit-out is extremely inflexible and would be difficult and not cost-effective to improve. The current tenancy also provides limited meeting rooms and staff breakout spaces.

This project will advance ecologically sustainable development principles, create jobs, promote private investment, deliver a catalyst for related developments and support the green city image. The benefits for government include:

a reduction in the average floor space from 18.8 square metres to 15 square metres per person, which will reduce the department's current area allocation by 524 square metres;

reducing the number of offices from 40 to 10;

consolidating staff at one site and enabling hot desking for country staff with scope for accommodating authorised projects;

co-locating the majority of working groups; and

contributing to the government's energy reduction targets.

Based upon the evidence it has received and considered, pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (11:27): I rise to support the motion that the report be noted. This is a significant expenditure by the government on the fit-out of offices for the state Public Service. I note a total of around $7.728 million is to be spent, including construction works, base building integration of workstations of nearly $5 million, furniture fittings and equipment of nearly $1 million, IT costs of $260,000, contingencies at $680,000, relocation costs of $30,000, professional services contractor and Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure departmental costs of $780,000, which is a significant fee.

There is no doubt that we need to house our public servants, who do such a good job for us, in up-to-date, modern accommodation. There is no doubt that the accommodation that they were using was poor; this will be an improvement.

I would observe, however, that the government has an opportunity to think strategically across the whole of government about coming up with something a little more bold and visionary with regard to the housing of public service departments so that we can take Adelaide forward. We had the extraordinary—and, many would argue, very excessive—expenditure of funds on Victoria Square for the new home for SA Water. At a time when we were enduring the worst drought on record, we were spending, I think it was, around $46 million fitting out and upgrading alone (let alone the building costs) that Taj Mahal, if you like, to SA Water presently located at Victoria Square.

Here is another nearly $8 million being spent fitting out and housing another group of hardworking public servants. Perhaps it's time for the government to think outside the square and to bring some of this government business back into the city. This particular development is outside the city and I think jobs will actually move from the city to the outer precincts. We are in the middle of the debate about how to re-enliven Adelaide, how to bring people into the city, how to get more people to come and live here. We are developing Gawler, we are developing Mount Barker. There are community concerns about that. There is an argument emerging that we need to get more activity and life into the city.

We are also engaged in a debate about the development of City West and creating a brighter, more exciting Adelaide for the future. Perhaps a good way to start would be for the government to rationalise how it houses its operations, maybe consider bringing more of those operations into the city and seize whatever opportunities that flow from that to encourage the people who work in these buildings to live in the city, particularly if they are single, mobile, and if a city lifestyle suits them.

Getting people to work and live in the city of Adelaide is something that we should be aiming for rather than continuing the urban sprawl of Adelaide beyond the reach of infrastructure out into the outer precincts like Gawler and Mount Barker. No doubt, public works will have a string of these proposals over the coming years where we get requests to approve accommodation fit-outs as departments move hither and thither. Why not get behind a major construction in the city, a major new development that houses a significant number of government's operations into the sort of iconic building that I have heard the Premier talk about earlier in parliament in past years.

Perhaps we could build a new, superior high-rise development somewhere in the city and spend some of this money as it becomes necessary to relocate departments and public servants into that new facility to provide anchor tenants. This is exactly what the government did with The Advertiser green high-rise building development in Waymouth Street when it provided anchor tenants in the form of a relocated department.

I noticed we have recently fitted out Defence SA, the Department of Trade and various other departments, apart from the one I mentioned, SA Water, which have spent considerable amounts of the taxpayers' money fitting out new accommodational spaces into old buildings or new buildings, as the case may be. Why not think strategically and try and concentrate some of this activity into the centre of Adelaide, whether it is into existing buildings or some new development?

Let us get Adelaide to fully benefit from these developments rather than see it sprinkled about the whole of the city in a dispersed way. Surely it makes sense for as much of government to be as close to one another as possible. We are talking about trying to find economies. Surely a good place to start would be to collocate as much of government's operations as possible into the city so that there is less time, money and expense spent on interdepartmental and intra-departmental communication.

The opposition supports this project in the interests of ensuring that our public servants are well housed in good accommodation so that they can get on with their jobs. However, I would make this appeal to the government: rather than bringing forward in future years an array of small packages like this, why not think big, think outside the square and think about how we can do something in the centre of Adelaide and harness some of this capital and this investment into creating something bold and creative here in the city in the way of either a new building or new life into the city of Adelaide. I wish the public servants who will work in this building well and recommend that the report be noted by the house.

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (11:34): I thank the member for his contribution. I just reaffirm that on a cost-benefit basis the project is warranted and seek the support of the house.

Motion carried.

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