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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-04-09 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Festival Plaza

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:23): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Festival Plaza is at the heart of the Riverbank Precinct and synonymous with the state's skyline that includes Festival Centre, the Casino, Parliament House and then further west along the riverbank. Adelaide is a growing, vibrant city, with our state's economy ranked number one in the nation by CommSec's State of the States Report, record low unemployment, along with an influx of private capital coming into the state.

Today, the Minister for Housing and Urban Development and I announced the proposed development of a 38-storey modern high-rise tower to be built on Festival Plaza adjacent to One Festival Tower. The building of this second tower on Festival Plaza is a sign of our state growing up, seizing its opportunities, providing our capital city the skyline to warrant its standing as a global city.

The building of a second tower will see approximately 1,300 construction and associated jobs created throughout the tower's $600 million development. Once built, the second tower will transform Festival Plaza, providing a vibrant public and civic hub that will see thousands of visitors daily, provide office accommodation for 9,500 workers and will generate an estimated $1.3 billion in economic activity annually.

The second tower will incorporate the best A-grade office accommodation that can be offered, which is proposed to include 36 floors of commercial office space, an option of 3,000 square metres of public civic space across four podium levels, two floors of high-quality food and beverage space with direct access from Festival Plaza and 800 square metres of additional public realm adjacent to Parliament House—additional public realm.

On 3 November 2021, the former Liberal government negotiated a second deed to the development agreement which enabled the Walker Corporation to secure an additional lease over the air space above the proposed three-storey retail building and to request additional development rights for an alternative proposal, such as now being proposed.

The three-storey building was required to commence in June 2023. A proposal was received from Walker Corporation formally in 2023 and, following an evaluation of the proposal against key criteria, including value, contribution to the precinct and community benefits, the state government and Walker Corporation have finalised the key commercial terms, including securing payment of over $40 million of direct value to the state.

The decision to proceed with the development of a second tower has enabled this government to be able to provide significantly more public space and public amenity on the ground and in the building to South Australians, while creating an active community precinct for the public's enjoyment in the heart of our city and its Riverbank Precinct.

The footprint of the second tower is smaller than the three-storey retail building, which provided very little public amenity, which Walker Corporation was contractually obliged to build under approval which was provided by the former Liberal government whilst obscuring the state parliament's northern heritage facade and balcony entirely.

The second tower also strives to deliver improved heritage outcomes which were an important consideration in the decision to proceed with Walker Corporation's proposal for a second tower, which include:

the tower's footprint being smaller—smaller—than what was originally proposed, that is, with the three-story building;

a glass foyer which allows for continuous sight lines between Parliament House and Festival Plaza, including revealing the Parliament House balcony;

options allowing for new public artworks; and

significantly more public space and public amenity at both ground and podium levels.

The government has made no precommitment to Walker Corporation to any tenancy in the second tower, with all commercial and funding risk to be borne by the developer.

A code amendment specific to the Festival Plaza footprint will be initiated and consider aspects such as building height, design, heritage and interface with the Riverbank Precinct's existing infrastructure.

The Walker Corporation must now go through the standard planning statutory processes to seek approvals for the commercial building and additional public space which will be considered by the State Commission Assessment Panel in due course.

Subject to planning approvals and tenancy agreements, construction is estimated to start next year, with the tower to be complete as early as mid-2027.

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