News & Discussion: General CBD Development

[Anthony Murphy]

Was just wondering if anyone knows where to obtain information on current student accomodation developments.

Or specifically, information on occupancy levels of current developments
and current demand for student accomodation in Adelaide.

[Howie]

A couple of links here for you, that's if you haven't been there yet :

http://www.unisa.edu.au/accommodation/

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/accommodation/uni/


BTW, adl uni - village just opened.
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/accommodatio ... hevillage/

[Al]

Just in case you missed it. An article in today's Advertiser.

Mission to double Asian student quota
23aug05

FURTHER Education Minister Stephanie Key sets out this week on a mission to double Adelaide's national share of international students by 2013.

South-East Asia is her target area. While it accounts for the majority of international students in Adelaide, Ms Key says it represents the greatest growth opportunity.

A similar mission to India last year resulted in a 91 per cent increase in the number of students coming here.

"SA's students hail from a staggering 130 countries but the Asian region accounts for 80 per cent of the market," Ms Key said yesterday.

Adelaide is Australia's fastest growing destination, increasing at more than double the national average.

There are 17,000 international students in Adelaide, the majority from China, Malaysia and Hong Kong and the industry injects more than $300 million a year into the economy.

Ms Key will visit Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia on the week-long visit.

A 34-page guide, Alluring Adelaide - Your Ultimate Guide to Living and Learning in South Australia, will be launched in Singapore.

Nadia Mazlan, a Malaysian international student at the University of Adelaide, said Adelaide was "very quiet and a good place to study" with low living expenses compared to Melbourne and Sydney.

Ms Key said efforts to grow the sector in the next 18 months would include an advertising campaign, post-graduate U.S. degrees through the new Carnegie Mellon University and a four-day Education Cities Conference in Adelaide.

[AtD]

What do you guys think of the recladding of William Grenfell House (80 King William Street, corner of Grenfell Street)?

If anyone has a 'before' pic, could you please share it? Cheers.

During recladding:


Almost done!


I personally think it looks much better. Has a Grenfell Centre style imposing dark tower feel to it, and the gold stripe makes it a bit more modern.

Thoughts?

[Adelarch]

Not bad, liking the stripe but it could do with a bit of extra 'razzamataz' of some sort IMHO (aluminium louvred shutters or something?...)

On a broader note though I think recladding of ordinary older buildings like this is a good way to go - its had a longer history in Syd/Melb but it seems to be a growing trend in Adelaide too - good way of modernising the city without having to start from scratch

[Howie]

For a moment i thought it wasn't finished with that gold strip!

Still, looks awesome. Definately black for sure.

[Algernon]

Marginal improvement. I had nothing against the original design, but feel the AMP building is a far better example of that style of architecture, so nothing was lost with the redevelopment.

Good:

The black style is sleek, and the corner strip is a nice touch.

Bad:

The north and eastern sides look absolutely shocking without the recladding.

Its scale is totally unsuitable considering the company it keeps, mainly its next door neighbour and the buildings at the base of Santos. This of course isn't the fault of the redevelopment.

The window sills were not replaced. It's a dead give away of a facade job. You don't notice if you view the walls at an angle (such as from the corner where Duckmachine took those pics). However, if you look at it from a flat angle, it looks dodgy.

I will personally murder people who reclad builing facades but don't touch the plant room! Again, it's a half arsed facade job and it shows. At least they didn't paint it like they did on Hooker House, uuugghhhh!



On balance, I may have said a lot more bad stuff, but an improvement is an improvement. It will look better with the ground floor finished.

[Pikey]

I think we'll find that the Plantroom, Northern and Eastern sides will get a paintjob, or at least that's what I've read. The old building next to it on Grenfell is getting a "make over" too, which is good IMO, I like the classic features integrated.

[Al]

I think it looks quite good. Much better effort than the three colour paint job applied to that building on the corner of King Willy and Hindley. *Two thumbs up*

[UrbanSG]

That sounds better Pikey. I like the look of this building now compared to before. An all glass job would have been perfect but hey it is an improvement. I really hope they atleast repaint or even better reclad/render the northern side especially, which is such an eyesore when looking down King William Street from the north. I don't even know what I'd call that colour, old woman's bathroom green/blue Now that this building has been refurbed the adelaide metro building on the opposite side of King William looks even worse! That really needs some improving.

[AtD]

Well that was a rather one-sided debate. With all the negative comments I've heard about it, I'd expected it to be a more even result.

[Algernon]

I think I want to change my vote now. Every time I look at it, the black looks even more out of place.

[AtD]

You just want to be different, don't you!

[Will]

I have always said it, the building looks worse now. Black glass looks good but black masonry looks appaling! This building reminds me of that cheap black furniture which was in fashion back in the 1980's. Black makes the building look out of place and incompatible with the nearby buildings. I have no idea how the council approved such a makeover. They should have spent extra money and re-clad the building in glass.

[AtD]

Well I be damned, Will and Algernon agree on something.