[COM] Victoria Square Upgrade - $24m

[Ben]

If anyone was in Victoria Square last Saturday evening for the concert and lighting of the christmas tree, they would know that if Grote-Wakefield Streets were underground and the whole square available for use, it would have been used.

I know exactly what you mean. I was there and there was no room to move. If the Square was enclosed it would have been far better.

[bm7500]

Selling off part of Vic Square is the worst idea i have ever heard for this area!

[Tyler_Durden]

Selling off part of Vic Square is the worst idea i have ever heard for this area!

Yes it is. I like his explanation, that is the area needs more people to give added vibrancy and vitality to the square. But the solution to that is to just build those apartments or whatever he wants to build in the vicinity around the square. Building anything at all in the square is absolutely ridiculous. There is so much scope for development within the 4 terraces. Adelaide is hardly bursting at the seams.

[JamesXander]

A centrepoint tower in the middle of the Square with a good bar or something at the bottom is what I want. 180-220 metre tower with 2-3 storeys of Viewing Decks. Maybe something different again, like a spire in which the whole building moves up and down, like a massive elevator

I should be mayor.

[Shuz]

Maybe all that needs to happen to Victoria Square is for the Grote/Wakefield underpass to happen and to just re-do the landscaping throughout the square so that it is more of a 'park' which people can frolick in. The 4 corners (little triangles) should be outdoor eateries that will help bring in some livability and atmosphere to the square. There is so much unused and highly promising developmental potential for 'landmark' structures to be located within the CBD square mile other than the squares. Adelaide's skyline would look much better growing naturally, than to have a 'defined' focus point(s) as proposed with these observation towers ideas. Leave that to Sydney, thats what makes Sydney be, so Adelaide should have something else, be it the Currie St Tower for now which will bring much needed architectural merit to the CBD.

[mooshie]

Victoria square needs a lot more dirt put on it especiaally around the edges, to raise it up or separate it from the surrounding roadways. at the moment you wouldn't really want to go laze in the park or have your lunch, because all you can see or hear is cars.

[cruel_world00]

Just wondering, if the plan that was proposed back when Huang was Lord Mayor ever came to fruition...do you think it could detract from the Torrens/Festival precinct improving?

For example, at present, Carols etc are always on the banks of the Torrens, but if an amphitheatre type venue was created at Victoria Square and the road in the middle was shut, this would become the more high profile public space. Is this necessarily a good thing or would both be able to co-exist?

I am all for development in Vic Square, I was just wondering what would happen to any possible developments at Elder Park etc. I think we need both.

[Dave_The_Planner]

Sounds like this has, yet again, been put in the too hard basket.

[rhino]

From today's Adelaide Now:

'We'll fix Vic Square'
KIM WHEATLEY, CHIEF REPORTER
January 23, 2008 10:30pm

LORD Mayor Michael Harbison has declared the new Adelaide City Council will finally resolve the long-running Victoria Square saga.
After countless plans that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and date back decades, Mr Harbison believes the new council has the political will to sort out the issue.
"I'm unbothered by sceptics – we know what we're here to do," Mr Harbison said yesterday.
"There's a great opportunity for a really popular public space . . . provided council maintains its political will, but I think that will is there."
Newly-elected councillor Ralph Clarke echoed the sentiments but said he would not resign if the council failed to deliver.
"Victoria Square has been buggerised around for too long and someone's going to have to bite the bullet and just do it and wear the bouquets or the brickbats," he said.
Another new councillor, town planner Stephen Yarwood, said he wanted to set a date for a new design to be agreed upon.
Options to be reconsidered include the controversial idea of blocking off Grote and Wakefield streets to create a large square that would require an expensive underpass or a super-roundabout. An $18 million plan in 2003 to block off the square resulted in a backlash by market traders and the Metropolitan Fire Service.
It also contributed to former mayor Alfred Huang's losing his job in favour of the "do-nothing" candidate, Mr Harbison.
Mr Clarke said: "I do personally favour one large square . . . but the idea that taxpayers should spend millions of dollars (on an underpass) because Adelaide drivers don't know how to drive around a bloody roundabout is beyond me."
Mr Harbison, however, favours the "wiggle" concept – which involves turning the section of King William Rd in front of the Hilton Hotel into a pedestrian boulevard while the road on the eastern side of the square would become two-way.
He suggested blocking off Grote and Wakefield streets only on weekends and for events.
Colonel Light laid out Victoria Square in his original design for Adelaide in 1837, and plans to extend it began as early as 1854.
Mr Harbison said despite the council's having "cupboards full of plans – since Light's day", another design will be needed.

[ozisnowman]

Lord Mayor Michael Harbison should stop coming up with hairbrain Wiggly ideas
and quit his job and become a Wiggle. I mean what a Tosser, he first gets
elected on a do nothing campaign against a totally good plan (see previous
page) and now he says its time to do up Victoria Square and the design he
likes most is the Wiggle concept...

[Howie]

There's a time and place for everything, I think during the time Alfred Huang was the Lord Mayor, there were much more pressing issues at hand. Alfred Huang had a term to put his plan into action, and left his run a little too late waiting for an election year to announce plans to revamp victoria square. Under Harbison, he got down and dirty pretty much from day one - I can't remember a time the cbd has been so alive and prosperous. I think the time is right now for a new Vic Square.

[rogue]

I agree. The time is right to finally do something. However the Central Market traders have already voiced their opposition to the idea believing that amending the current design will somehow lead to a decline in business. What a load of shit!

[stelaras]

I agree. The time is right to finally do something. However the Central Market traders have already voiced their opposition to the idea believing that amending the current design will somehow lead to a decline in business. What a load of shit!

it would only increase business due to an increase in the volume of people in and around the square....

Just for the record i prefer the underpass idea!

[Matt]

Attention: Harbo... State Government... the powers that be... whoever else is in a position of power...

If you are out there, please, PLEASE spend some money on this... not the paltry $10,000 design competition that's only going to attract school kids and bored retirees.
If this is going to be done properly and actually become something worthwhile for SA - please get serious, throw some $$$ at it, and attract actual professionals, preferably worldwide, that have the experience and knowledge to come up with a design that is going to work.
It doesn't have to be an SA design, it just has to be a GOOD design.
If the best design happens to be from an SA planner/architect, so be it, but we shouldn't always limit ourselves under the guise of parochialism. (Use SA workers to implement the design if we're concerned about keeping cash in SA)

My wish, as I've said many times on here, is something similar to Fed Square in Melbourne.
It works so well - huge big screen, lights, music, cafe's, information places, clubs, bars, buskers, public art, public transport... just overall it's a brilliant, vibrant place where thousands of people are naturally drawn to.
Whenever there is an event, it's the place to be.

I want something like this for Victoria Square - not another pretty grassed park that has no actual purpose and doesn't get used (surely we have enough of them? there are 4 other squares and an entire belt of parkland that is used merely for workers eating their lunch or rich fringe dwellers taking the pet poodle for a walk).

With the surge in development in the southern sector of the city, Victoria Square is rapidly becoming the central hub of the CBD, so we shouldn't underestimate the importance of this. I'm sick of hearing "if it aint broke, don't fix it". It is broke.

If it's the heart of the city, it needs a defibrillator - stat - because at the moment, it's flat-lined.

I look forward to seeing earthmovers, cranes, construction workers, and "VICTORIA SQUARE - The New Heart of Adelaide... Opens 2009" signs up in the near future, but I'm not holding my breath.
Please prove me wrong.

[aussie2000]

^^^ well said