In the bowels of the CBD, independent firms are locking up Adelaide’s valuables
With banks digitising further day-by-day, independent firms are stepping in to fill old vaults with new tech. Business Insight got to peek inside a sub-basement on Victoria Square to see how KWS is modernising the strongroom.
Where once Adelaide’s wealthy would’ve ventured into the bowels of a city bank to store the personal and the valuable, they’re instead turning to independent vaulting services for peace of mind.
And with about 1800 instances of theft reported to SA Police per month on average last year, demand is rising for the kinds of services offered by local private vaulting businesses.
KWS Vaults is one such business that offers private storage solutions in a purpose-built vault.
Two floors down at Victoria Square KWS offers a tailored service to clients. It uses an underground vault that was once owned by the Reserve Bank.
Clients can pick from safe deposit boxes that range in size, and take advantage of the business’ luxurious viewing suites to ensure privacy.
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Keys are still used, but to get into the vault one needs to pass stringent biometric hurdles. Good luck blasting through the two-foot-thick steel doors that were winched into the basement when the building was constructed; this old vault is built to last.
Construction of the Reserve Bank building began in 1963 when Australia was enjoying the post-war boom, meaning no expense was spared on the vault nor the Victoria Square building that is covered in Western Australian granite and white and grey marble from New South Wales.
It’s one of many underground vaults in Adelaide that sit quietly under the feet of office workers. There’s another in the basement of the Elders building, and any building that had a bank inside it originally would have a subterranean vault too.
But they’re mostly privately owned now, with banks more or less getting out of the vaulting business.
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KWS stores whatever might be precious to their clients. This ranges from gold to fine art, diamonds, coin collections… anything with value, even personal value.
“Especially in times when there is concern out there in the economy and people are saying there is no safe place to store things that is away from the banks,” KWS Vaults managing director Jarrad Panes told InDaily.
Panes said he’d noticed an uptick in clients requesting the services of KWS, which go beyond simple storage of items.
“We’ve got security on site as well if the client wants to come in with their bullion,” he said.
“We’ve got parking in the basement, and we can offer them a full escorted service if they need it as well.”
And for items that won’t fit into a safe deposit box, like a violin for example, KWS also offers a service called ‘safe custody’.
“Our clients’ peace of mind is our top priority,” said Panes.
