[CAN] 20-22 Currie St | 123m | 31lvls | Office

[Paulns]

This is so awesome I can't wait for this to be built!!!! Woo Hoo!!!

[Howie]

Well it's pretty much already been approved... there are just a few small changes made to the proposal (that doesn't affect the height - something that seems a contentious point with many developments around Adelaide). So yeah, hopefully they'll make a future landmark even better!

Hey Plasmatron, good to hear! Can you elaborate on some of the small changes ? Do you mean it still requires some small modifications to the altered plans presented? Were you at the dap meeting tonight? Any news on rundle convergence?

[Will409]

If I wasn't having dinner in Rundle Street and had a tight TAFE schedule to keep to, I would have more then likely attented the DAP meeting. Great to hear the additions have largely made it through no worries.

JUST GET TO WORK BUILDING IT ALREADY!

[Ben]

So did the amended version get approved last night?

[Like putty]

This went before DAP on Monday night - any update on the amendments which include the new property acquisitions?

[Ben]

Bad News:

From The Messenger:

Fears wave tower could drown site

Chris Day

22Jan08

A PLAN to build Adelaide's biggest office tower has come unstuck with concerns the giant ``wave'' building will swamp its city site.

The city Development Assessment Panel this week deferred a decision to approve the 31-storey office tower fronting Currie St, wanting the developer to re-consider keeping six existing buildings in two tiny side streets.

These buildings including Gilbert House, in Gilbert St and Peel St, would be razed to make way for the soaring 46,000sqm wave tower one and a half times the size of Westpac (formerly Santos) House with room for about 3000 workers.

The DAP believes the lower-scale buildings add to the ``historical character'' of Gilbert Place and Peel St and suggested the new tower be designed above the current streetscape.

``I think this would be a very exciting building on the skyline of Adelaide,'' DAP member and architect Sandy Wilkinson told Monday's meeting.

``But (Gilbert Place) is a beautiful laneway that's about to be completely wrecked.''

Developer Lilly Nominees announced plans for its 31-storey tower with a striking wave-like design last July; it has since increased the design by half. It includes parking, a gym, pool, creche and restaurant.

The company declined to comment.

``It's a bit of a trophy building and would make a big statement about how the state is travelling economically,'' Tony Ricketts, of Jones Lang LaSelle, said.

He also said it was the right time to propose buildings of this scale given the growing interest in Adelaide from the mining, defence and technology sectors.

[Norman]

HISTORICAL CHARACTER? Who the hell goes down that lane??? Noone that I know. I have never seen any old buildings that I want to keep down there. FFS!

[Howie]

As above, the buildings are not heritage listed, so what historical character are we talking about?

I'll await the minutes of the dap before making a comment.

[UrbanSG]

This is the Adelaide City Council Development Assessment Panel at its worst. This should have been approved on Monday night and not delayed! This project is far too important.

[Will]

This is really pathetic. I sometimes wonder why I bother at all. With such decisions, that little voice inside my head telling me to go interstate when I graduate are only going to get louder and louder. As a positive person, the barrage of negativity expressed by those in charge here in SA is depressing.

[Shuz]

Oh the frustration....

I could easily just choke on everyones head and remind them what pathetic idiots they are for deferring the oppurtunity to capitalise on building one of the most-awaited projects in the city.

Adelaide has MORE than enough heritage around, and honestly, half of it isn't worth preserving because rather than enhancing the cityscape, it dehances it. Why I would want to preseve something whose integrity falls way short of the prospect of having a landmark tower in the CBD that is a representative of the times we are going through now.

This calls for serious Goverment intervention, sack the ACC and its DAP and let some level-headed urban planners take control of the city's development. I have had just enough of this bullshit.

[Pikey]

Preserving the facades of the buildings in question could work, ala the Myer Centre.

It's not all doom and gloom yet guys - keep positive!

[thechap]

The absolute worst scenario here would be if the whole thing was scrapped just for the sake of these smaller buildings. As much as I want to see the larger scale building go up, if Lily Nominees have to, then swallow your damn pride and build the slightly less bulky version. This city needs this buildings height more than anything.

[AG]

I agree with what Pikey said, that would be probably the best possible compromise. Aurora Tower in Brisbane and the GPO Redevelopment incorporated the use of the facades of other buildings which became part of an entrance or the front of the new building. In the case of Aurora Tower, the building behind the old facade was demolished, but the facade itself was retained and featured as part of the podium of the new building.

[rhino]

That's worked well at our old East End Markets site.