[COM] Victoria Square Upgrade - $24m

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Stubbo
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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#766 Post by Stubbo » Wed Jun 09, 2010 4:07 pm

rhino wrote:I think what you are describing are driving habits, and I totally agree that here in Adelaide our driving habits are some of the worst, and most selfish, I've seen in this country. However, I don't think our driving skills are that bad. or your english, for that matter, it was a gentle jibe :)

Sorry, but I am more concerned about driving Hobbits. How can they reach the pedals AND see over the wheel? Accident waiting to happen if you ask me (plenty of people do ask me by the way...)

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#767 Post by Ho Really » Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:17 am

Fellas, you are going off track here. I know some would like to see the square remain flat and in one piece. I would like that too. It's an option that gives you the most out of the square. But why can't we have the best of both worlds for the square? Let's keep the only direct east-west thoroughfare open, the only one that can get you from the hills to the airport (and vice-versa). I had another suggestion I was going to post earlier, but couldn't find the time. It was something similar to an overpass already mentioned. How about leaving Grote-Wakefield as is, flat, but have the square go underneath it? This would cost less than undergrounding the road. With pedestrian access under Grote-Wakefield, lowering the square would be substantially less than if it were on top of the road. You could also build under the road. You could have an indigenous museum, cafes, or whatever else there. Also Grote-Wakefield would be narrowed slightly to two lanes each way without any parking or bus stops. Surely this is a better compromise?

Cheers
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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#768 Post by Nathan » Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:54 am

Ho Really wrote:Fellas, you are going off track here. I know some would like to see the square remain flat and in one piece. I would like that too. It's an option that gives you the most out of the square. But why can't we have the best of both worlds for the square? Let's keep the only direct east-west thoroughfare open, the only one that can get you from the hills to the airport (and vice-versa). I had another suggestion I was going to post earlier, but couldn't find the time. It was something similar to an overpass already mentioned. How about leaving Grote-Wakefield as is, flat, but have the square go underneath it? This would cost less than undergrounding the road. With pedestrian access under Grote-Wakefield, lowering the square would be substantially less than if it were on top of the road. You could also build under the road. You could have an indigenous museum, cafes, or whatever else there. Also Grote-Wakefield would be narrowed slightly to two lanes each way without any parking or bus stops. Surely this is a better compromise?

Cheers
Is it really that difficult for someone going from the hills to the airport to make a turn? Are their steering wheels locked so that they absolutely must maintain a straight line all the way to their destination (in which case, how do they turn off Sir Donald Bradman Dr into Airport Rd)? If you're talking about the time penalty, then if you're cutting it so fine that a 1 minute difference (if even that) is the make and break between making the flight or not, then you're doing it wrong.

I think people will find that by closing the Grote-Wakefield link, that the concerns will be unfounded.

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#769 Post by Straze » Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:59 am

Wikipedia:
Tarndanyangga (Kaurna pronunciation: [?t?a??a?a??a][1]) is the Kaurna word for red kangaroo dreaming or red kangaroo rock, and although is one half of the official name of Victoria Square, Adelaide, it was used in Kaurna language to refer to the greater area of what is now the immediate Adelaide city region.

Tarndanyangga derives from tarnda (red kangaroo) and kanya ('rock'), -ngga is a suffix frequently found in Kaurna place names to denote location. The name is said to originate from a former red rocky outcrop in Elder Park, Adelaide which resembled a kangaroo; the rock has since been removed and was used in the construction of Parliament House.

Tarndanyangga is still considered an important meeting place for Indigenous peoples. It is the focus for many political and community-based Indigenous events, such as the Journey of Healing and it is the starting point for the annual NAIDOC march to Parliament House.

The Australian Aboriginal Flag was first flown here in 1971 and now flies permanently in Tarndanyangga adjacent to the Australian Flag.
Victoria Square is a public square in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. The square is in the centre of the city's grid of one square mile, and was named by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837 after Princess Victoria, heir presumptive of the British throne.[1] Less than a month later the King died and Victoria became Queen. The Kaurna know the area as Tarndanyangga and in line with the Adelaide City Council's recognition of Kaurna country, it is officially referred to as Victoria Square / Tarndanyangga.

A statue of Queen Victoria stands in the centre of the square. The fountain in the north of the square was designed by artist John Dowie to represent the three rivers from which Adelaide receives most of its water—the Torrens, the Onkaparinga and the Murray. During the Christmas period, a 24.5m high Christmas tree is erected in the square.

Victoria Square is bordered by numerous public institutions, including the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Adelaide Magistrate's Court, the Federal Court of Australia, the Treasury and the Adelaide General Post Office. On the eastern side is the Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of St Francis Xavier and the SA Water Headquarters. The Torrens Building, home to a number of community organisations, is now also used by the Heinz College Australia, an international campus of Carnegie Mellon University. The Adelaide Central Market is located to the west of the Square.

King William Street passes through the square making a diamond shape with the southbound carriageway passing through the east side, and the northbound carriageway passing through the the west side of the square. The square is bisected by a piece of road (technically part of the square) that connects Wakefield Street (entering from the east) with Grote Street (to the west). A tram stop (formerly the terminus) for the Glenelg Tram is in the southern part of the square; it was shifted from the centre to the western edge of the square on 6 August 2007, as part of the extension that was made to the tram line around that time.[2]
I suggest we design the square so that it reflects both the Aboriginal & English heritage or beliefs. Tarnda means red kangaroo, kanya means rock and ngga is a suffix frequently found in Kaurna place names to denote location. And Victoria Square is named after a Princess in the English monarchy.
Do yourself a favour and come to South Australia.

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#770 Post by mattblack » Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:30 pm

it really amazes me that everybody thinks they are a competent urban designer. Ideas are all good but I doubt that most of the people on here have done a SWOT analysis on the area let alone incorporated any urban design principles. It really is very complex in getting the balance right. Ultimately its a mix of landscape designer, architect, planner and engineer. Anyone got all those degrees?

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#771 Post by Nathan » Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:52 pm

mattblack wrote:it really amazes me that everybody thinks they are a competent urban designer. Ideas are all good but I doubt that most of the people on here have done a SWOT analysis on the area let alone incorporated any urban design principles. It really is very complex in getting the balance right. Ultimately its a mix of landscape designer, architect, planner and engineer. Anyone got all those degrees?
Should we all log off and shut down the forum then?

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#772 Post by iTouch » Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:00 pm

yes.
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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#773 Post by AtD » Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:10 pm

But if the road though the middle is closed, grannies will struggle to find their way from church to the markets, cows will become confused and stop producing milk, the curtains will fade, etc, etc, etc.

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#774 Post by rhino » Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:55 am

Rann gives Riverbank priority over Vic Square
DANIEL WILLS From: The Advertiser June 15, 2010 11:30PM

PREMIER Mike Rann has backed the Victoria Square overhaul plans but says the Riverbank precinct takes priority as a host of CBD building projects stretch the state Budget.
Mr Rann said he had been heavily lobbied to fund the "exciting" Victoria Square proposal, which carries a pricetag of about $100 million.
Adelaide City Council has budgeted $24 million and will seek help from the state and federal governments after completion of detailed engineering and design studies.
Mr Rann said Adelaide faced a rare opportunity for lasting reform, with building plans in the pipeline for several sites across Adelaide's CBD.
"Southbank has done a lot for Melbourne, really re-invigorated Melbourne. I want the Riverbank, the Convention Centre, a hospital and a park and a redeveloped Adelaide Oval to make this city even more vibrant," he said.
"We've got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring off something in terms of the face of our city for the next 100 years."
The council is collating almost 200 public submissions on the plans released on May 10. The State Government has provided $2 million to the consultation and final design process.
Lord Mayor M ichael Harbison yesterday said the council was awaiting outcomes from deliberations of the State Government's new Integrated Design Commission.
"The idea really is to put all of these projects together and try and work out where they all stand in terms of priority and what the essential elements are that you need to get done," he said.
Federal Member for Adelaide Kate Ellis is in South Africa for the soccer World Cup and was unavailable for comment yesterday.
cheers,
Rhino

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#775 Post by Prince George » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:25 am

Who remembers the original time-table for this project? The design team and review panel were announced back in May 2009. The expectation was that the draft masterplan would be done late last year and available for public comment. Then we hear nothing for 6 months.

We ask the council what has happened back in April and we learn:
Council signed off on a design concept for the Regeneration of Victoria Square last December. This is the plan that would form the basis of the public consultation. ... Because the scheme will obviously need State Government support, Council was anxious that the Lord Mayor should brief the Premier before the plan was released for public comment. Unfortunately this did not happen before we struck the Christmas/summer holiday period and then the State election process was upon us and Victoria Square languished.
At the time, I thought to myself "you've got to be kidding - look at the way both sides were pork-barrelling; surely you put the plans out and get them to commit to supporting it". But we expect that the council has enough political connections to know what they were doing; Harbison was the Liberal candidate for Adelaide back in 2002, for example. Now the completely obvious outcome has happened - there's been so many election promises that there's no money left for the square - and I'm left with just a few possible explanations:
  1. There is an alternative funding plan (private donors? Federal money?) that will let the project go ahead, so it's not the disaster that it appears to be.
  2. The council is actually not at all as politically savvy as I hoped and have made a monstrous error of judgement.
  3. Forces within the council don't want the square to happen and engineered this so it won't be them that causes it to fail. For example, with the council election coming in November, they might want to have the $24 million available for reducing council rates (aka vote buying).
  4. Council learnt that one or both sides didn't want to fund this project and didn't want to embarrass them during the election by forcing them to admit it then. Council then opted to fall on their sword and delay the project until after the election when the government could decline it with less political fallout.
Or am I just being too negative? Is there some other explanation I'm missing?

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#776 Post by Wayno » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:55 am

Prince George wrote:Or am I just being too negative? Is there some other explanation I'm missing?
Really too early to tell. However it could be that Rann & Foley want to save face with respect to the AO saga. Throwing $$$ at the Riverbank precinct (as a part of the AO & footbridge plans) will create a "wow factor" that may override much of the recent negativity in the media. Delaying VSQ won't hurt them (as much), but it will hurt the ACC.
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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#777 Post by Prince George » Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:06 am

Wayno wrote:
Prince George wrote:Or am I just being too negative? Is there some other explanation I'm missing?
Really too early to tell. However it could be that Rann & Foley want to save face with respect to the AO saga. Throwing $$$ at the Riverbank precinct (as a part of the AO & footbridge plans) will create a "wow factor" that may override much of the recent negativity in the media. Delaying VSQ won't hurt them (as much), but it will hurt the ACC.
But that's exactly I think that they should have made the design public prior to the election. During the election, especially a tight one, the council actually has leverage; now, they've got no position at all to negotiate from, unless there's some fantastic Plan B we don't know about.

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#778 Post by SRW » Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:36 pm

I suspect that the council election has a lot to do with it.
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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#779 Post by Waewick » Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:42 pm

Ok guys I have another uncosted and most likely unviable alternative to the problem of traffic

why not sink all 4 roads leading into the sqaure (which would result in the likely closure of Franklin and Gouger street onto vic square)

this way instead of having to build over passes you retain the stop lights its just they are 5 metres below ground level with the whole to be covered by a pedestrian stregth covering removing the need to have extended ramps and supports?

the only problem I see is the tram....oh and the cost in digging down 2 major roads :D

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[COM] Re: PRO: Victoria Square Upgrade

#780 Post by Nort » Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:54 pm

capitalist wrote:Ok guys I have another uncosted and most likely unviable alternative to the problem of traffic

why not sink all 4 roads leading into the sqaure (which would result in the likely closure of Franklin and Gouger street onto vic square)

this way instead of having to build over passes you retain the stop lights its just they are 5 metres below ground level with the whole to be covered by a pedestrian stregth covering removing the need to have extended ramps and supports?

the only problem I see is the tram....oh and the cost in digging down 2 major roads :D
Would probably be cheaper to develop a working portal gun that could allow cars to travel from one side of the square to the other without having to travel through it.

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