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The money has been allocated as part of SA signing up to the Gonski reforms. its basically a contractual obligation for the feds to fund this and if the libs want to get rid of Gonski they will have a fight on their hands to take this funding away from SA. By the time they get in I can see contracts with suppliers already signed to ensure this goes ahead no matter what.

I'm not sure if many are aware, there is substantial funding for labs within our emerging "medical precinct" coming from internationally recognised medical researchers. The roots of this, can be traced back to the days when Adelaide was at the forefront of much ground breaking medical research. Many left for other cities and other countries, as our government funding dried up and other states and countries increased theirs. This relatively small contribution from the Feds and state government should not be under estimated in the snowball effect of bringing back home some great research people, who have gone off, made their fortunes and are/will return now the facilities are provided and the support environment is there. This whole precinct has the potential to be as important to SA as the mines/ defence/ Holden and we should all leave the opposition in no doubt as to our enthusiasm for this project. Well done to all involved.

cruel_world00 wrote:Coming in from the West to the city is going to be an architecturally amazing journey in a few years!

This is all good news, but I am hopeful they try and find a new home for the North Terrace skate park. It would be a shame to not give those young people an alternative place to congregate. It always looks well patronised down there.

The old RAH site would make for a neat skate park replacement.

Patrick_27 wrote: The old RAH site would make for a neat skate park replacement.

Sorry, Patrick. I have to disagree with you on this one. There are other priorities such as Botanic Gardens extension, cultural/arts and educational uses that should occupy the site once the RAH shifts to its new location. Some mix of these and re-purposing the fine heritage buildings would be a better use of this premium site, given its proximity to such functional uses.

It's good that you have raised the fate of the skate park with the development of the bio-medical/ health/ education/ research precinct. This needs to be considered - perhaps in a new thread? - where suggestions can flow in.

It would be interesting also to see the views of the ACC on this one, given the varying suggestions for the location of the new City Beach volleyball courts.

Vee wrote:

Patrick_27 wrote: The old RAH site would make for a neat skate park replacement.

Sorry, Patrick. I have to disagree with you on this one. There are other priorities such as Botanic Gardens extension, cultural/arts and educational uses that should occupy the site once the RAH shifts to its new location. Some mix of these and re-purposing the fine heritage buildings would be a better use of this premium site, given its proximity to such functional uses.

It's good that you have raised the fate of the skate park with the development of the bio-medical/ health/ education/ research precinct. This needs to be considered - perhaps in a new thread? - where suggestions can flow in.

It would be interesting also to see the views of the ACC on this one, given the varying suggestions for the location of the new City Beach volleyball courts.

Sorry Vee, I have to disagree with you. There's a lot of room on the old site. Plenty for both a skate park, even the relocation of the city beach volleyball, as well as all the nebulous things you have decided need priority. Putting a skate park out of the way sends a message to the people who use it that they are second class citizens. Let's have such facilities in the thick of it, integrated with nice gardens and such.

Let's not screw over the filthy skaters while taking care of the filthy students on this.

I did not say a skate park is not a worthy function to have in the city. Your choice of words in your response would tend to suggest this. My point is, respectfully that I don't think the old RAH site is the best place for the re-location. This in no way is meant to reflect on the value of a skate park per se.

I do not have an opinion on where it should be but I'm sure others will come up with suggestions, including the skateboarders themselves. It does require some available land and proximity to public transport, amongst other criteria.

mattblack wrote:The money has been allocated as part of SA signing up to the Gonski reforms. its basically a contractual obligation for the feds to fund this and if the libs want to get rid of Gonski they will have a fight on their hands to take this funding away from SA. By the time they get in I can see contracts with suppliers already signed to ensure this goes ahead no matter what.

So Matt are you saying that this money is part of the $656 million SA will get, or on top of as a sort of reward?

Vee wrote:I did not say a skate park is not a worthy function to have in the city. Your choice of words in your response would tend to suggest this. My point is, respectfully that I don't think the old RAH site is the best place for the re-location. This in no way is meant to reflect on the value of a skate park per se.

I do not have an opinion on where it should be but I'm sure others will come up with suggestions, including the skateboarders themselves. It does require some available land and proximity to public transport, amongst other criteria.

My points are; that you haven't given a reason why you don't think the old RAH site is suitable; and the mix of things you do think suitable is nebulous and unjustified. The skate park is an active and well patronised facility, I'm concerned that it will be forgotten in the excitement of the new precinct. (Which I'm all for.)

Good to see Kate Ellis supports the skate park:

https://twitter.com/KateEllisMP/status/ ... 3546553345

stevedude95 wrote:

mattblack wrote:The money has been allocated as part of SA signing up to the Gonski reforms. its basically a contractual obligation for the feds to fund this and if the libs want to get rid of Gonski they will have a fight on their hands to take this funding away from SA. By the time they get in I can see contracts with suppliers already signed to ensure this goes ahead no matter what.

So Matt are you saying that this money is part of the $656 million SA will get, or on top of as a sort of reward?

On top of. Money directed towards futher education initiatives to get SA to sign on.

I've only just came across the two University Medical threads, and I'm really pleased to see that this is being proposed!

I've mentioned a million and one times in the thread about the Convention Centre development that joins the existing building up with Morphett St, that building over the train lines on the other side of Morphett St would look so much better than having a building on one side and nothing but a drop down to a pretty ugly train line on the other. This seems like an awesome idea, as stupid as it sounds, but hiding those train lines from immediate sight is probably a good idea. It seems to have been worked in to the Docklands area in Melbourne rather well.

But I do have to ask, has anyone else noticed how on the Channel Nine video, that it oddly doesn't show how it will look from the other side of the Torrens?

I really do hope they can manage to work that area into the plan, perhaps redeveloping it to make it more user-friendly? I'd love to see that side of the river looking as good as the area between Morphett and King William.

Great point. Hope these buildings engage with the riverfront rather than backing onto them as buildings in the past have done.

mattblack wrote:

stevedude95 wrote:

mattblack wrote:The money has been allocated as part of SA signing up to the Gonski reforms. its basically a contractual obligation for the feds to fund this and if the libs want to get rid of Gonski they will have a fight on their hands to take this funding away from SA. By the time they get in I can see contracts with suppliers already signed to ensure this goes ahead no matter what.

So Matt are you saying that this money is part of the $656 million SA will get, or on top of as a sort of reward?

On top of. Money directed towards futher education initiatives to get SA to sign on.

Correct. On top. Reward, teaser, dare i say bribe. Certainly no coincidence this announcement occurred the same day as SA signing up to Gonski.

Really hopeful about these proposals. The designs look great -- rather than being fortress-like and becoming obstacles to the river (my beef with previous developments along Nth Tce, particularly ASER), these buildings and SAHMRI are open/transparent and appear permeable at ground level. Actual physical connections over the railyards and to the riverfront are of course crucial, but at least these buildings won't block people from get-go at North Terrace.

Apart from the design, the actual agglomeration of these medical facilities will be a boon for our city. I look forward to Adelaide becoming a world-leading medical research capital. In some ways, the emerging precinct reminds me of the Texas Medical Centre. Now that future of the railyards development is decidedly health-oriented, we should go hard down that path.

As for the skate park, I feel it should probably stay in the West End, where there's ample room for it (perhaps Light Square, UniSA-owned land or elsewhere in the riverbank or western parklands). Though if one of the potential future uses for the RAH heritage buildings is a relocated Adelaide High School, that location might then make more sense.

SRW wrote:Though if one of the potential future uses for the RAH heritage buildings is a relocated Adelaide High School, that location might then make more sense.

Haven't heard that one before. Who has it been proposed or rumoured by? Seems odd however, given that Adelaide High School is having extensions done?