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

[cruel_world00]

All of the things here:

http://www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.a ... nt-project

[Nathan]

Now that's what I want to hear.

Plans are here: http://adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/me ... lution.pdf

Just a quick comment as I have to pop out, but this looks like it addresses many issues with the northern edge. Loss of amphitheatre is a shame, but the justification is sound (it's in an unrepairable state, and hasn't worked well as a space due to sun and wind) and the arts playground sounds good. *Hopefully* there's strong discussion between Hassell and whoever is handling the plaza so that everything works together as a whole, rather than as two obviously separate projects.

[Wayno]

From a cursory read it appears the AFC northern side works will be done prior to festival square...

[SRW]

From a cursory read it appears the AFC northern side works will be done prior to festival square...

Makes sense, as the new entries planned for the northern side will be crucial once the plaza is upended. The show must go on.

[Jaymz]

Just build it. No proposal could be worse than what is there now.

[crawf]

Finally!, some news about the Festival Centre.

The visual detail for the entire project needs alot of work (hate the circular things), but the concept sounds great.

[SRW]

It's good to see at least some money finally spent on our arts facilities, even if it's not enough and only in response to spending elsewhere. I wish the plans were more ambitious in, say, relocating the Banquet Room to the site of the amphitheatre and building a new theatre/concert hall in its former position. That would still help rectify the transition from plaza to riverbank as well as provide a needed facility. There'd even still be space for an interactive public park à la Millennium Park in Chicago (as opposed to a children-specific playground).

[Patrick_27]

A few points worth noting:

- They seem to be leaving the function room located on the North-Eastern corner of the building, it's look out of place since they added it to the structure; surely they could blend this better in the upgrade?
- No mention on interior upgrades to the Dunstan Playhouse or the theatre itself in regards to seating and decor.
- They don't appear to be doing anything about the concrete supports that sit throughout the building, whilst I realise they're require structurally, surely they could modernize them.
- I don't understand how all these plans are going to work with each-other. From design photos of the casino upgrade - the new northern entrance to the Railway Station doesn't appear to have Station Drive running through that area... None of these proposals show where the entrance to the new underground car-park is, there is no valet area for the casino or it's new hotel, and I can't see how any of these plans even out the un-level ground throughout the whole area.

Otherwise, it's a good start; if the interior turns out anything like Hamer Hall in Melbourne did after it's upgrade then I'll be very happy. But then again, $90m can only go so far.

[Patrick_27]

A few points worth noting:

- They seem to be leaving the function room located on the North-Eastern corner of the building, it's look out of place since they added it to the structure; surely they could blend this better in the upgrade?
- No mention on interior upgrades to the Dunstan Playhouse or the theatre itself in regards to seating and decor.
- They don't appear to be doing anything about the concrete supports that sit throughout the building, whilst I realise they're require structurally, surely they could modernize them.
- I don't understand how all these plans are going to work with each-other. From design photos of the casino upgrade - the new northern entrance to the Railway Station doesn't appear to have Station Drive running through that area... None of these proposals show where the entrance to the new underground car-park is, there is no valet area for the casino or it's new hotel, and I can't see how any of these plans even out the un-level ground throughout the whole area.

Otherwise, it's a good start; if the interior turns out anything like Hamer Hall in Melbourne did after it's upgrade then I'll be very happy. But then again, $90m can only go so far.

Found an answer to my last point on the AFC fact-sheet - "Festival Drive will run through the carpark and under the Plaza. Cars and deliveries will travel below the landing of the footbridge. The loading dock of the InterContinental will also be dropped a level. This means people walking off the bridge will be able to walk into the Railway Station without
traffic interference."

[Patrick_27]

I've recently been working on a local news piece as part of the journalism degree I'm studying in regards to the Festival Centre face-lift, as part of this I've been trying to saturate myself to as much information on this topic as possible. I've had interviews with people from both sides of politics and with a senior staff member of the Adelaide Festival Centre itself.

During my research, I noticed Channel Seven's Today Tonight were running a story on the adjacent Hajek Plaza development and Walkers Corp's involvement. As a more sensible member of the Adelaide community, I almost always avoid watching news and current affairs programs on commercial networks and also reading The Advertiser; but in this case I decided to watch Today Tonight to see what it was about.

All I can say is, WOW. Are television networks allowed to fabricate detail that much? Aside from the politics of the relationship between Labor and Walker which I'm sure is somewhat true - their detailing of the proposal itself and the arrangement of Walker's involvement was almost all incorrect. And to make matters far worse, they had some irrelevant clown on the show who was further adding to these incorrect outlines, for example the man said that the new car-park would extent under the Hajek Plaza and Festival Centre and then opening up at Elder Park?

I ended up going onto the show's Facebook and making a point of how bad the report was only to realise that the APPA had praised the piece on their own page so I had a lengthy discussion with their page admin about their reasoning for trying stop this development which as per usual was stupid.

Anyway, I know this probably belongs in the pub forum but I thought it was worth sharing on here; because anyone like me who wonders how and why the people of Adelaide are so dismissive and misinformed on all sorts of development in this city, the answer is seemingly in Today Tonight's content.

There's a link to the report on their Facebook page for anyone who has time to literally waste.

[how good is he]

I saw the TodayTonight video. The point they try to make is, why is the govt giving a billionaire free public land in the best location in Adelaide? They also go on to say that the plan for the $350m new Casino hotel is also on public land which is also being given away.
In defence of the govt, they have done a deal with Walker to spend $3 for every $1 dollar the govt spend, therefore the govt investment of say $200m generates $800m in economic activity. Add the $350m casino investment & total is $1 billion+.
As no plans have been released, it was commented that to fit the approved 1540 car park underground car park that the footprint could/would reach as far as being under the Rotunda in Elder Park.
The biggest gripe was against the 24 storey office tower. I personally prefer if it was residential apartments or a hotel.
The points made were that there was no available plans, no finishes or no architect named/chosen etc add to that it was an iconic high profile location that shouldn't have such building.
I suspect personally it will be leased back by the govt anyway (esp. as they are in the process of selling the state admin centre and assoc. buildings on 16,000sqm opp. Victoria Square at the moment for approx $180m -$200m.)
My overall assessment is its a fair deal in that the govt is using Walker and Walker is using the govt. It is too premature to comment on the merits of the project/design etc until detailed plans are released and more info. given.
Once finished it could be a precinct like Federation square with food/bars/entertainment, a new 6star hotel, a1540 car park, 24 storey hotel/offices plus a re-juvenated Festival centre etc.
Not bad for a govt investment of maybe $200m.

[SRW]

I saw the TodayTonight video. The point they try to make is, why is the govt giving a billionaire free public land in the best location in Adelaide? They also go on to say that the plan for the $350m new Casino hotel is also on public land which is also being given away.
In defence of the govt, they have done a deal with Walker to spend $3 for every $1 dollar the govt spend, therefore the govt investment of say $200m generates $800m in economic activity. Add the $350m casino investment & total is $1 billion+.

But does that equation stack up if you were to include in the government's contribution the $ value of "free" public land? I suspect it doesn't, though I'm sure many are still happy to accept the premise of government money "unlocking" private investment. And tbh, I'm personally less concerned about the finances than I am about the design outcome for the civic plaza being compromised for private interests.

[Nathan]

I'm still not happy about office space in that location (I wouldn't agree with residential either), but one thought that would I had that would make it a bit more palatable was if they restricted the office to cultural related industry. Federation Square has long had offices for SBS, which fits in with ACMI and NGV. What about Arts SA (obviously not all the space), who got turfed out of their rather nice digs on Hindley St and moved into Wakefield House a little while ago? Could the downsized Adelaide arm of the ABC also be an option?

[phenom]

I suspect personally it will be leased back by the govt anyway (esp. as they are in the process of selling the state admin centre and assoc. buildings on 16,000sqm opp. Victoria Square at the moment for approx $180m -$200m.)

I think you nailed it with this.

I'd suspect most of the SAC would be moved to this new building.

[Smithy85]

"It comes as Riverbank Authority chair Andrew McEvoy said that he would present two to three design options for the plaza to Cabinet within the three months."

This was early to mid March... Suppose they can't be too far off.