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i'm sure its just teething issues associated with a busy opening day but the roundabout at the entrance to the car park could not cope with the traffic levels yetserday. I hope its not an ongoing thing as it congests entry onto South Rd from Ashwin Parade in a significant way. Perhaps they should have considered dual entries/exits. Haven't had a chance to stop in yet but from what I saw driving through the carpark the other night while they were still fitting out, it looks like a good quality development.

Been there yesterday! It was absolutely modern looking!
There was even an EB Games store!

The Scooter Guy wrote:There was even an EB Games store!

Were they having a Sale?

I'm working at the new restaurant that was still being fitted out on the day of the grand opening.

Apparently Woolworths have invested A LOT of money into each store to ensure that as many stores as possible were completely fit out before the opening, even up to the last ten hours before the centre opened you had hundreds of tradesmen running around trying to apply finishing touches on the mall and surrounding shops.

There are some exciting restaurants still to come, my boss alone owns six of the shops in the centre.

Two things I noticed when things starting moving on opening day, was how many places in the centre that you could buy a coffee and the rather strange assortment of stores (Jeans West and EB Games?) - it wouldn't surprise me we start to see such stores close up within months due to poor trade, though easily replaceable.

One missed opportunity I feel is that the centre doesn't have a petrol station which could have been built on the side of Dan Murphy's, also feel that they really need underground car-parking to increase capacity.

All in all, really well-built centre. As much as I like Churchill Centre, I feel Woolworths got a lot more right with their lay-out and choice of tenants.

Lots of pics of the opening day!

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace - Big W by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace - Big W by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace - Big W by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace - Big W by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr


And as a bonus, I even managed to sneak into the brick tunnel and take pics of the former food hall! It has truly seen its much happier days!
Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

Brickworks Marketplace by Ryan Smith, on Flickr

To be honest, it looks pretty lifeless. And I'm not talking about the old food hall.

The Chemist was unable to do prescriptions, yesterday (Friday) due to not being covered by the PBS yet. The store was up and running and full of stock but not able to dispense drugs at the PBS price, It's probably Abbott's fault lol.

Nathan wrote:

The Scooter Guy wrote:There was even an EB Games store!

Were they having a Sale?

YES THEY WERE! (thanks Ryan for the pic)

Who on earth is in charge of landscaping in Adelaide? Every developement throws up some cheap nasty bark mulch, some malley scrub, and some dead grass if we're lucky. All councils are guilty. Absolutely no imagination, or effort put in, let alone irrigation. Does anyone on council check the minimum standard of landscaping associated with large developements? I know this is a pet hate of mine, but metropolitan Adelaide could look so much better with a little more pride and effort put into decent landscaping. Same goes for the main roads. Does anyone care?

claybro wrote:Who on earth is in charge of landscaping in Adelaide? Every developement throws up some cheap nasty bark mulch, some malley scrub, and some dead grass if we're lucky. All councils are guilty. Absolutely no imagination, or effort put in, let alone irrigation. Does anyone on council check the minimum standard of landscaping associated with large developements? I know this is a pet hate of mine, but metropolitan Adelaide could look so much better with a little more pride and effort put into decent landscaping. Same goes for the main roads. Does anyone care?

Main roads?
On this topic, one of my pet hates is the barren, ugly Railway Terrace strip from Richmond Road towards the Mile End Homemaker Centre, Bunnings, Netball Centre.

The area is in transformation from mixed, heavy industrial/warehousing to include newer industry, commercial, retail and recreational with many new and refurbished buildings but the road is a disgrace. Other nearby roads appear to have got the $ for landscaping but this one missed out? And more businesses need to get on board.

And the major entry/exit to the city from the burbs out north is another "ugly as" roadway and horrible gateway to the city.

I noticed the landscaping around the tram terminus at the Entertainment Centre appears to have been pared back to the trees and mulch, with all the native grasses, hardy plant understorey removed. Replanting or permanent?
Cheaper than maintenance, weeding etc? Too hard?

On the plus side, North Terrace landscaping looks good and really complements this unique part of the city. But this would have cost serious $$$!!

Vee wrote:

claybro wrote:Who on earth is in charge of landscaping in Adelaide? Every developement throws up some cheap nasty bark mulch, some malley scrub, and some dead grass if we're lucky. All councils are guilty. Absolutely no imagination, or effort put in, let alone irrigation. Does anyone on council check the minimum standard of landscaping associated with large developements? I know this is a pet hate of mine, but metropolitan Adelaide could look so much better with a little more pride and effort put into decent landscaping. Same goes for the main roads. Does anyone care?

Main roads?
On this topic, one of my pet hates is the barren, ugly Railway Terrace strip from Richmond Road towards the Mile End Homemaker Centre, Bunnings, Netball Centre.

The area is in transformation from mixed, heavy industrial/warehousing to include newer industry, commercial, retail and recreational with many new and refurbished buildings but the road is a disgrace. Other nearby roads appear to have got the $ for landscaping but this one missed out? And more businesses need to get on board.

And the major entry/exit to the city from the burbs out north is another "ugly as" roadway and horrible gateway to the city.

I noticed the landscaping around the tram terminus at the Entertainment Centre appears to have been pared back to the trees and mulch, with all the native grasses, hardy plant understorey removed. Replanting or permanent?
Cheaper than maintenance, weeding etc? Too hard?

On the plus side, North Terrace landscaping looks good and really complements this unique part of the city. But this would have cost serious $$$!!

Talking as though this city has the money to invest in highly sophisticated landscaping?

You'll actually find that in MOST cities around Australia that these kinds of developments attract the same generic style of landscaping; whilst I too don't particularly appreciate it, I recognise that the land owners logic is: "Will anyone actually stop to appreciate the effort and finance we've applied to our surrounding gardens?" Also a factor of time, gardens are always the last component to these kinds of developments and therefore are usually rushed.

I don't blame councils, the blame lies with the state government who have a generic plant list and colour palette for all landscaping projects they undertake. Though, I will admit that the Adelaide City Council have an obsession with Platanus Trees. But look at Port-Rush Road when that was redeveloped, all the land-scape work for that entire strip was planned and financed by the relevant local councils because the federal and state governments were simply going to lay bitumen between the gutters and property boundaries.

Don't get me wrong though, Claybro; I agree with you completely. But in the case of suburban shopping centres it doesn't really bother me. I have a problem with poorly land-scaped civic centre (i.e. Victoria Square). If anyone is looking for inspiration on the topic, simply look at the Singapore's Gardens by the Bay; absolutely incredible what they've done with that piece of land.

Now speaking of which, if Adelaide were to do something like that with our entire park-lands (at a cost of $1b) and the obvious annual maintenance costs we'd really have something to show off to the World and draw people into this city. ANYWAY, before I let me stop before my comment take this completely off topic.

Patrick_27 wrote:You'll actually find that in MOST cities around Australia that these kinds of developments attract the same generic style of landscaping; whilst I too don't particularly appreciate it, I recognise that the land owners logic is: "Will anyone actually stop to appreciate the effort and finance we've applied to our surrounding gardens?" Also a factor of time, gardens are always the last component to these kinds of developments and therefore are usually rushed.

Delfin.

In any developement, the council has a provision for a certain area of open space and/or landscaping. The state may not have enough resources for sophisticated landscapaing, but companies like Woolworths proposing these developements were definately not running out of money last I checked. Given during approval process, everything from material used to even colour schemes are submitted for approval, there is absolutely no reason we cannot demand a better outcome from landscaping. As for local councils crying poor for their adjacent areas....well in the last decade our councils have presided over an astromoical increase in property values, and therefore rates. The increase in value of the brickworks site alone would be a huge increase in rates for that site. It just seems a shame that in Adelaide, mediocre is so easily accepted in our desperation for something-anything to get done.

I'd suggest that it's only this forum that is desperate for anything.

Most people don't care.

claybro wrote:In any developement, the council has a provision for a certain area of open space and/or landscaping. The state may not have enough resources for sophisticated landscapaing, but companies like Woolworths proposing these developements were definately not running out of money last I checked. Given during approval process, everything from material used to even colour schemes are submitted for approval, there is absolutely no reason we cannot demand a better outcome from landscaping. As for local councils crying poor for their adjacent areas....well in the last decade our councils have presided over an astromoical increase in property values, and therefore rates. The increase in value of the brickworks site alone would be a huge increase in rates for that site. It just seems a shame that in Adelaide, mediocre is so easily accepted in our desperation for something-anything to get done.

The issue is in fact with Development Plans and their very broad wording. In the case of the Brickworks development, have a look at the City of West Torrens Development Plan, pages 56 and 57: http://www.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_ ... t_Plan.pdf