[COM] Festival Plaza Tower 1 | 115m | 27 Levels | Office

[Smithy85]

Some plans finally revealed.. Well, plans that won't go ahead anyway..

http://indaily.com.au/news/2015/03/11/f ... and-plans/

Adelaide | Previously unreleased documents have cast new light on the long, tortuous and mostly hidden process to develop the Festival Centre Plaza.

As an announcement looms on the government’s plans to rejuvenate the area, InDaily can reveal for the first time the details of developer Walker Corporation’s original plans for the site.

Walker and the Government are still working on a deal to redevelop the precinct, which will include a rebuilt Adelaide Festival Centre carpark and a rejuvenation of the windswept and run-down plaza.

The long process has been shrouded in mystery, with only sporadic -and sometimes unreliable – leaks to the media revealing snatches of detail.

However, Walker last week suddenly dropped court action to prevent a range of documents being given to Greens MLC Mark Parnell under the state’s Freedom of Information laws

The documents confirm that in February 2013, Walker was pushing the Government to accept a huge series of developments on the plaza and surrounding area.

Plans sighted by Parnell – but not allowed to be copied for “copyright” reasons – appear to show a 23-storey tower and a strip of four-storey buildings between Parliament House and the casino, a 16-storey tower immediately to the rear of Parliament House, and four-storey developments on the King William Street side of the plaza, stretching down towards Elder Park.

InDaily understands these plans were vehemently opposed by the Adelaide Festival Centre management and, eventually, by Premier Jay Weatherill in the lead-up to the 2014 election.

The documents released to Parnell also include minutes of meetings between Government representatives and Walker Corporation.

A December 2012 meeting between Walker Corp boss Lang Walker and government representatives from Renewal SA, Arts SA, the Festival Centre and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure reveals the scale of the proposal.

The minutes show the scheme included 1,650 car bays, “60,000 NLA” (presumably, 60,000 square metres of net lettable area) across two towers, and the “potential” to add a three-four star hotel in the northern corner of the site.

The minutes also suggest that Walker Corp wanted the development to be “category 1″ – meaning that no third party could appeal the proposal.

The meeting also discussed “the option of obtaining approval through a special Act (similar to or an extension of the Adelaide Oval Act”. However, the idea was rejected on the basis that it would involve a complex and lengthy process that could delay the project.

Other minutes reveal that Walker wanted to completely close Station Road, which runs between Old Parliament House and the Casino and provides road access to North Terrace from the Festival Centre and to the Convention Centre car park.

The Walker Corp plans as reconstructed by Mark Parnell's office.
The Walker Corp plans as reconstructed by Mark Parnell’s office.

Parnell said he didn’t believe the ideas floated – such as private hotels or office blocks – were acceptable for an area which is part of the Adelaide parklands.

However, he did favour redevelopment of the plaza precinct including more cafes and restaurants.

“Clearly the Walker Corporation want to get as much as they can out of the State Government to help their project go smoothly and maximise their profits,” he told InDaily.

“The Government on the other hand must never forget that the Adelaide parklands belong to all of us – not just their mates in the development industry.”

Walker Corporation refused to comment on the documents, referring InDaily to the Premier’s office.

In a statement, Weatherill said: “These historical plans were rejected by the Government early last year.”

“Since then, the Government has been working with Mr Walker, the Casino and other parties on a plan to revitalise the area and replace the crumbling Festival Centre car park,” he said.

“We will have more to say about these plans soon.”

It was back in April 2013 that Parnell first applied under FOI laws for documents relating to Walker Corporation and the Festival Plaza.

Parnell appealed to the Ombudsman when the Government refused to release the documents. The Ombudsman upheld Parnell’s right to access most of the documents – a decision that was appealed to the District Court by Walker Corporation.

After the usual legal to and fro, the case was listed for a two-day trial on 19-20 March.

Walker then failed to meet the deadline for lodging their outline of argument and, finally, on 26 February, Walker told Parnell they wouldn’t continue with the appeal.

Parnell said the saga showed the FOI system was “hopelessly ineffective in delivering more transparent Government”.

The process also mirrors the tortuous path of Walker’s involvement in the Festival Plaza project.

Walker Corp was selected by the Government in 2012 to provide plans for a revamp of the Festival Plaza and the car park underneath it. The developer was given a period of exclusivity to develop the proposal.

There was little information provided to the public about what Walker had in mind – nor what the Government wanted to achieve from the deal.

InDaily understands that Renewal SA initially was responsible for coordinating negotiations between Walker and other key stakeholders, such as the Adelaide Festival Centre.

That process hit a stalemate, and former Department of Planning Transport and Infrastructure chief executive officer Rod Hook – axed by Weatherill last year – took responsibility for the talks.

In February 2014, the redevelopment project became an election issue with Weatherill announcing that there would be no building on the plaza – a decision which followed a similar promise from the state Liberals. Instead, Walker would be contracted to build a new 1400-space car park.

The Government would lease 400 car parks from Walker at a capped cost of $30 million over 30 years. About 400 car parks will be provided to the Festival Centre to be used as an “ongoing revenue stream”, with some reserved for Parliament House. The remaining 1000 parks will be leased to the Casino for its exclusive use “on terms to be agreed with the parties and on similar terms to that of the State Government”.

Grand plans for the site appeared to have been reduced to a simple car-park rebuild.

Further confusion then ensued in May 2014 when Walker Corp boss Lang Walker told an Advertiser journalist that he had an $800 million plan for the area. Walker added that DPTI had told him the plans would be going to Cabinet soon but, with Hook getting the axe, he wasn’t sure what would happen.

Speculation about an imminent announcement has been going on for months, with many observers presuming that at least one significant building – possibly a hotel – will be built on land adjacent to the plaza.

[Wayno]

Thanks Smithy, beat me too it and here's the picture from the InDaily article.

image.jpg (512.24 KiB) Viewed 4619 times

[Smithy85]

Yes, I suppose we should bear in mind that is Parnell's recollection of viewing the plans.

Personally, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. If the area is to be 'activated', you need to build something there that is going to attract people 7 days a week and a hotel and bars/cafes/restaurants do just that. I say bring it on... would even love a 30+ storey hotel and someone like Meriton to manage it but there is too much opposition for that. My opinion only, i'm sure many will disagree.

Cheers.

[[Shuz]]

Absolutely not. All the redevelopment needs to consist of is the Casino expansion and 3 or 4 standalone bars / restaurants / cafes on the Festival Plaza land.

If the plans as envisaged by Parnell were t be realised is correct, there clearly is a gross miscalculation of the amount of space that is actually available to build upon. Any towers would be very slim and slender and look disproportionate to its surroundings.

Moral of the story; KISS. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

[Nathan]

I mentioned this on InDaily, but walking around the plaza last week it struct me that most of the concepts so far have got it wrong. Arranging buildings around the perimeter of the plaza is not the way to go about it.

What the plaza has going for it is views of three excellent buildings: Parliament House, Adelaide Railway Station, and the Festival Centre. Against it is it is actually quite a large space, which makes it daunting to people to use and contributes to the windswept nature. Sticking things around the edges hides the buildings, and does nothing to make the plaza more human.

Instead, any new buildings should defer to the three existing buildings (only one to two levels, with any additional levels extending down to carpark levels), and be placed through the middle of the plaza. Thus sightlines are maintained of the existing buildings, and the plaza can be broken up into smaller human scale spaces - ensuring activity across the entire area instead of looking like a donut where people skim the edges and no-one ventures into the middle. If a tower must be included, it should fit into the space at the back of Old Parliament House, but not extend any further north of Parliament House's boundary.

This is a very rough 5min mockup (doesn't include any landscaping or specific shapes/positioning). Note that I also think Station Rd should be mostly pedestrianised, with only a 1 or 2 lane, one way road leading to the casino entrance and then immediately going underground (no exit back to North Tce).

plaza.jpg (252.26 KiB) Viewed 4520 times

[crawf]

I really hope the Festival Square and Station Road component of the riverbank masterplan (as seen below) becomes reality. I love the idea; tree lined shared pedestrian zone lined by a mix of restaurants and retail outlets (Topshop, Louis Vutton etc), connecting to a new pedestrian plaza. Potential tenancies above ground level could include a new art gallery, tourist attraction, bars, boutique accommodation etc.



The only thing I would change is including the much anticipated 20lvl+ building next to Old Parliament House and a major tourist drawcard, possibly a large aboriginal art gallery or IMAX cinema.

Nevertheless, Station Road needs to be revamped ASAP. It's for far too long been a bland service road sandwiched between two elegant amazing public buildings with outstanding potential to become the missing link connecting the city to the riverbank.

P.S I found this interesting read on a possible western entrance to the Adelaide Railway Station. Another important step on activating the riverbank.



Please note, these are purely concept ideas.

[serca]

If they are looking for a tower for the area the only practical solution i can think of is a hotel constructed on top of the new casino expansion.

[Matt]

If they are looking for a tower for the area the only practical solution i can think of is a hotel constructed on top of the new casino expansion.

This is happening anyway - SkyCity want a 6 star hotel atop the extension.

From what I can gather, the Walker hotel/office tower was going behind Old Parliament House and was a dealbreaker for the entire project.
The Tiser reckoned plans were likely to be released/announced on Friday as part of the opening of the new Convention Centre building and launch of the plenary project.

[ml69]

I'm glad those original Walker plans were knocked back ... They are an abomination and constructing buildings along the KW edge which block th vista to the Adelaide Festival Centre would have been a massive mistake.

The whole process the State government have gone through with the redevelopment of the Festival Plaza is wrong wrong wrong. It is a repeat of the Gillman land debacle. When will they learn??

What should have happened is the Labor government produce a detailed brief and seek Expressions of Interest from consortiums and developers. From this, shortlist 3-4 consortiums to produce a detailed masterplan for the area. Then invite public feedback and select a winner. Keep the process transparent.

[Honey of a City]

This plaza area's screaming out for a stunning low-rise enclosed glass eco building covering the whole area, with the already magnificent back wall of Parliament House being the south wall, the current casino and soon to be started glass hotel being the west wall, and the north and east walls being glass, letting in the winter sun and showing off the Festival theatres and the riverbank. Fill the building up with flora, bars, cafes, and other vibrant commercial/educational/artistic activities (check out Gardens by the Bay in Singapore as an example). Build a footbridge over King William Rd to a newly opened up park where Government House now is, and make Government House a cultural precinct as well. All linked, all integrated, under cover, wind-protected, preserved sightlines, all exciting, and making money. Everybody's happy.

[Nathan]

All undercover? Not really a plaza then...

Why are people in Adelaide so easily phased by weather, given how moderate it is here most of the year?

[Honey of a City]

All undercover? Not really a plaza then...

Why are people in Adelaide so easily phased by weather, given how moderate it is here most of the year?

Not phased by weather at all. You're right, Adelaide weather is moderate compared to many other cities, but this particular site is a heat sink in summer and windswept in winter. The roof I suggest would be glass, giving the feeling of space and light, but more functional than a concrete plaza, such as the current unwelcoming and mostly deserted space.

[Nathan]

All undercover? Not really a plaza then...

Why are people in Adelaide so easily phased by weather, given how moderate it is here most of the year?

Not phased by weather at all. You're right, Adelaide weather is moderate compared to many other cities, but this particular site is a heat sink in summer and windswept in winter. The roof I suggest would be glass, giving the feeling of space and light, but more functional than a concrete plaza, such as the current unwelcoming and mostly deserted space.

I agree about the current space being a heat sink in summer and windswept in winter. That's why I suggested above that placing any structures through the middle of the plaza in order to help break up the space as a way of addressing such an issue.

[Patrick_27]

I don't understand why anyone would support Walker's proposal for the area, it's invasive. The area does not need anymore random towers, there is so much space in our CBD that could house high-rise development; so why do people insist on supporting a proposal to cram a tower into an area that is already cluttered with a variety of buildings representing the good and bad of the last 100 years of architecture?

Everything west of the railway station should have been bulldozed and redeveloped - new hotel/casino facility and convention centre - remove station road/festival drive. The railway station could have another art gallery or government offices move into it's upper levels. The festival plaza, if it weren't to become a cafe restaurant precinct, they should build a concert hall/recital hall on-top of the car-park; whilst the festival theatre is great for theatre productions, most classical muso's will agree that the venue isn't suitable for concerts of their sort - which considering the ASO have a busy annual calendar the Granger Studios on Hindley don't necessary provide adequate venue for all these events.

[Wayno]

I don't understand why anyone would support Walker's proposal for the area, it's invasive.

Means to an end. Walker clearly makes a motza out of the arrangement. But that's beside the point. Everyone else (Casino, Govt, Festival Centre) gets a permanent revenue stream with car parking fees, and presumably an uptick in patronage...