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

[ChillyPhilly]

+1 for mural getting wiped clean. Looks outdated and tacky.

[Patrick_27]

The only problem with removing the mural is going to be the public outcry. I'd recommend the government work with local indigenous communities to find a suitable, modern replacement that can be incorporated into the overall design of the area. Perhaps a glass feature or even paved feature?

[Nathan]

The only problem with removing the mural is going to be the public outcry. I'd recommend the government work with local indigenous communities to find a suitable, modern replacement that can be incorporated into the overall design of the area. Perhaps a glass feature or even paved feature?

Is the mural actually painted directly on the brickwork, or is it mounted? If the latter, than I think it should just be relocated to a more suitable location. There's nothing wrong with the artwork itself, the issue is that it doesn't fit it's context.

[stumpjumper]

While everyone's excited about how the tower will look, i'd like to see some analysis of the impact of the large amount of premium office space in this location on rents and occupancy elsewhere in the city.

I suspect that the tower will substantially alter the centre of gravity of the CBD, pulling it northwards. A tower containing parliamentary and government offices would be a great location for lawyers, planners, and a swag of similar businesses. If there's room for them in the tower, what will happen to the floor space they vacate? The development around the GPO has been mentioned here as likely to suffer. Is it a good idea to spread further Adelaide's already relatively large CBD?

[Mpol]

I really hope the Festival Centre will get demolished and rebuilt with forward innovative design that will match that of Adelaide Oval and a lot of the other buildings going up in the area, or an entire re-clad of the all surfaces. It looks like a disgrace as is.

[rhino]

I really hope the Festival Centre will get demolished and rebuilt with forward innovative design that will match that of Adelaide Oval and a lot of the other buildings going up in the area, or an entire re-clad of the all surfaces. It looks like a disgrace as is.

Seriously? Festival Theatre, in it's setting on the riverbank, IS Adelaide's most iconic building - the one that says "This is Adelaide" like no other building does. No other city has a building the same, and I would consider it's demolition a crime against this city. If it needs a clean-up, let it be cleaned up. It's design was innovative for when it was built, and that needs to be kept in mind, because it's important. It doesn't need to match what is being built around it, it would disappear if it did.

[Dvious]

I really hope the Festival Centre will get demolished and rebuilt with forward innovative design that will match that of Adelaide Oval and a lot of the other buildings going up in the area, or an entire re-clad of the all surfaces. It looks like a disgrace as is.

What are you smoking?

[Waewick]

While everyone's excited about how the tower will look, i'd like to see some analysis of the impact of the large amount of premium office space in this location on rents and occupancy elsewhere in the city.

I suspect that the tower will substantially alter the centre of gravity of the CBD, pulling it northwards. A tower containing parliamentary and government offices would be a great location for lawyers, planners, and a swag of similar businesses. If there's room for them in the tower, what will happen to the floor space they vacate? The development around the GPO has been mentioned here as likely to suffer. Is it a good idea to spread further Adelaide's already relatively large CBD?

I agree, I guess however it could anchor the CBD to North Terrace which will see future developments occur around that area - there is a lot of space to fill between North Terrace and Waymouth street.

the C and B grade stock will suffer, I imagine it will be coverted into apartments as the market allows or cut into smaller offices to allow SME businesses to enter the CBD market.

I'm not a huge fan of the proposal to be honest, but that point is moot. I just hope that there is underlying business growth to continue to backfill stock.

[Mpol]

I'm sorry but the brown brick is awful, the white tin shed needs new cladding of some kind to bring up the modern shapes. Something needs to be done as the Centre looks so tired.

[stumpjumper]

No need to apologise for having good taste, rhino. The brown bricks are pretty average as a landscape material.

I agree with waewick that it's a moot point whether or not the new tower is a good planning move. It's going to be built there, by the looks of it, regardless of any negative impacts it may have.

To be fair, the centre of the city was pulled to the the north a long time ago, when Hindley and Rundle streets, both narrow streets that were designed ot be residential, became the main commercial streets. That was partly because businesses need water, and before reticulated supply, the cost of carrying water from the Torrens to Rundle and Hindley streets was a lot less than the cost to take it to the geographic centre of the city.

One of the issues we now face is a sort of dog-bone effect, with the courts around Victoria Square, accountants and businesses in the traditional CBD nearby and now government offices and hangers-on in the tower on North Tce. I wonder who'll get the gig for the leasing of whatever space the MPs don't use?

[Algernon]

While everyone's excited about how the tower will look, i'd like to see some analysis of the impact of the large amount of premium office space in this location on rents and occupancy elsewhere in the city.

I suspect that the tower will substantially alter the centre of gravity of the CBD, pulling it northwards. A tower containing parliamentary and government offices would be a great location for lawyers, planners, and a swag of similar businesses. If there's room for them in the tower, what will happen to the floor space they vacate? The development around the GPO has been mentioned here as likely to suffer. Is it a good idea to spread further Adelaide's already relatively large CBD?

I agree, I guess however it could anchor the CBD to North Terrace which will see future developments occur around that area - there is a lot of space to fill between North Terrace and Waymouth street.

the C and B grade stock will suffer, I imagine it will be coverted into apartments as the market allows or cut into smaller offices to allow SME businesses to enter the CBD market.

I'm not a huge fan of the proposal to be honest, but that point is moot. I just hope that there is underlying business growth to continue to backfill stock.

If being vacant were the catalyst for residential re purposing of C and D stock then it would have started 20 years ago. The economics of it and the building code are a different beast. Things like light penetration in to the building just cannot be achieved on many office buildings with large floor plates without significant and costly structural modifications. Also the owners of these buildings have likely paid nothing for them because of the state of the market for so long, so they're probably fashioning some return with half the building empty anyway.

[Nathan]

By luck, I actually took my son to have a run around the plaza today. Thankfully I managed to scrape that in before the demolition. I've got some photos which I'll process and post some time this week.

IT’S an Adelaide icon that “people love and a lot more people love to hate” but this week, all South Australians will farewell Otto Hajek’s garden of sloping concrete pillars.

Contractors on Tuesday will begin removing the many artworks that adorn Festival Plaza as the State Government prepares to demolish the carpark below it.

In May, the Government signed two formal agreements with private investors for the site, which Premier Jay Weatherill said would allow the $900 million revamp to proceed — including the plaza upgrade, high-rise office tower and casino redevelopment.

The Czech-born artist’s sprawling installation, between the Festival Centre and Parliament House, was built into the plaza surface itself, which is riddled with “concrete cancer”.

A Government spokeswoman said artwork removal would begin Tuesday

“Tenders for early works (on the plaza site) are expected to be awarded in late August with preliminary on-site works expected to commence in early September,” the spokeswoman said.

“Restrictions on access to the northern end of the Adelaide Railway Station is not expected until later in the year.”

The Government has set aside almost $1 million to demolish, remove and in some cases store and reinstall all of the plaza art.

Bert Flugelman’s Tetrahedra and the Kaurna Reconciliation Sculpture have been planned to feature in the redeveloped plaza.

During public consultation on the plaza redevelopment’s design, the Government found there was support for retaining the giant Hajek sculpture and the artist’s estate was also keen to see it saved.

Arts SA executive director Peter Louca said it was a significant piece of art, the largest Hajek ever produced, and had an important place in SA’s history. But he admitted it had certainly “divided opinion at the time and divides opinion now”.

“I think it’s safe to say the Hajek sculpture has been divisive through its history. There are people who love them and a lot more people who love to hate them,” he said.

Mr Louca said the agency had been working with Hajek’s estate for some months to preserve a “tribute” to the artist for the new plaza.

It could include salvaging of one of the rhomboid concrete pillars but the options were still being discussed.

“We have engineering reports showing we can’t preserve that work ... but it depends on what the builders can keep. We don’t know what condition they’re in so we might have to remake one,” Mr Louca said.

“We’ve done a 3D laser scan, taken high-definition photographs and commissioned History SA to record the development of the work.

“Potentially we could do a 3D laser print, a reproduction of it at a different scale. Or

there’s glass blocks which you can etch.

“But when Otto Hajek was alive he made very clear if we had to interfere with or remove the art his preference was to remove it all so what we’d be looking to do is preserving something as a tribute.”

[ghs]

“Restrictions on access to the northern end of the Adelaide Railway Station is not expected until later in the year.”

This why you should never pay for The Advertiser. Pathetic English.

[Norman]

On the radio this morning it was said that site works should start today or tomorrow and the main construction work will start early next year.

[Blimp]

Was the height of the office building ever established? Forgive me if I'm asking previously answered questions.