Lord Mayor slams “unaesthetic” second festival tower
Adelaide’s Lord Mayor has taken aim at the 38-storey festival tower the state government has planned for being “thuggish in size” and “overpowering” the heritage of Parliament House.
Jane Lomax-Smith made these comments when the council’s City Planning, Development and Business Affairs committee discussed their response to the state government’s Festival Plaza code amendment.
The Malinauskas government confirmed a second tower in April, which will be developed by Walker Corporation, the same developer responsible for the existing festival tower.
The government said the “sleek, modern” tower would have 36 floors of commercial office space, and “two floors of high quality food and beverage space with direct access from Festival Plaza”.
“I think the real issue about this is a heritage one,” Lomax-Smith told the committee on Tuesday night.
“There is a very important heritage building next door to it which is Parliament House and my dislike of this development, or the plan amendment is the fact that it’s unneighbourly, its unaesthetic, it’s overpowering and it’s thuggish in its size.
“I think we’ve got one and one is enough.”
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The 38-storey tower planned for Festival Plaza behind Parliament House and next to Walker Corporation’s existing tower. Image: supplied by state government
The Festival Plaza code amendment has just closed for consultation and the government will review responses from the community and stakeholders before it’s adopted by the planning minister.
It doesn’t consider specific proposed developments, but it provides building height and design guidance for any future development in the Festival Plaza.
The council are largely unsupportive of the second tower, and in their response to the government consultation some of their suggestions include:
– Reduce the building’s maximum height to less than the height of the 29-level Festival Tower 1.
– Increase the setbacks from Parliament House to increase its visibility and retain valuable public space.
– Emphasise canopy and greening, pedestrian wayfinding and disability access in the design of the festival plaza area and create a safe night-time area for cultural events.
– Provide an architectural response that uses principles for economically sustainable development and improves surveillance of the laneways to the north and west of Parliament House.
Part of the 38-storey Walker Corporation tower to be built on Festival Plaza behind Parliament House. Picture: supplied.
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Lomax-Smith said she thinks it’s “charming” to think they can move the setbacks, the minimum distance a building needs to be from a property line, but that the project has “reached the stage of no return”.
“I do think if it was two or three stories, I could just about bear it, but I do think a notion of another huge tower is actually an unaesthetic piece of vandalism,” she said.
Originally, the second tower was planned to be three storeys. In April, the government said the 38-storey tower “delivers an improved heritage outcome” because the three-storey option “would have obscured views of Parliament’s heritage facade and balcony entirely”.
The original three-storey building proposed for the Festival Plaza. Image: Johnson Pilton Walker/supplied
A state government spokesperson told InDaily today “the proposal for the second tower includes a taller, more slender tower that allows for Parliament House to be seen and accessed, not blocked out”.
“The former Marshall Government signed a contract which would have seen construction of a three-storey retail building the height, length and width of Parliament House that would have obliterated all sight lines of the historic building from the North.
“The Festival Plaza Code Amendment focuses on providing clear building height and design guidance to maximise the remaining development site and make Festival Plaza a world-class hub for the arts, culture, tourism and entertainment.
“The proposed development is expected to draw a further 9,500 workers to the revitalised Riverbank Precinct – bringing $1.3 billion in economic activity to the area annually.
“The proposal for a second tower on Festival Plaza would create an additional 800 square metres of public space adjacent to Parliament House as well as the option of public civic space which could be used for arts and cultural events.”
Construction on the second tower is expected to begin in 2025 subject to planning approvals and tenancy agreements, with a completion date as early as mid-2027.
InDaily contacted Walker Corporation for comment.
