Former oil refinery tapped for 3600 homes in Adelaide’s south
The former Port Stanvac Oil Refinery in Lonsdale is set to be transformed into a new employment and housing precinct, in what the state government says is one of the few remaining opportunities for a major housing development in the southern suburbs.
The state government on Thursday announced that global oil and gas company ExxonMobil had reached an agreement with Melbourne-based developers MAB Corporation for a new 3600-home development at the old Port Stanvac Oil Refinery.
The refinery, located on roughly 230 hectares of coastal land in Lonsdale, opened in 1963 but was mothballed by ExxonMobil in 2003. It was substantially demolished in 2014.
The land has long been earmarked for redevelopment, with the draft Greater Adelaide Regional Plan released in September designating the refinery as an urban renewal area that is “underutilised”.
Coastal land at Lonsdale adjacent the Port Stanvac Oil Refinery. Photo: supplied
Premier Peter Malinauskas said roughly 3600 new houses will be built on the site, with MAB Corporation expecting the first residents to move in by 2028 and the development expanding over 10-15 years.
Sporting fields and new shopping facilities are also planned along with space for new businesses in logistics, warehousing, research and training. The government says the public will also be able to access 40-hectares of protected coastal land, including the beach.
An early indication of how the Port Stanvac Oil Refinery could be redeveloped. Image: supplied
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“The land in and around the Port Stanvac Oil Refinery has been sitting there disused, ready to be turned into something special for decades,” Malinauskas told reporters today.
“Finally, I’m very pleased to announce the nut has been cracked and we have seen an agreement reached with MAB to redevelop this beautiful part of Adelaide and turn it into something quite special.
“The strategic nature of this land is there for everybody to see: it is right on the coastline with spectacular views, we’ve got the Seaford rail line running straight past along with the Southern Expressway.”
The land at Port Stanvac is currently zoned for industrial use and will need to be rezoned next year via a planning code amendment.
Planning Minister Nick Champion said he expects the new zoning to be “masterplanned neighbourhood”, which allows building heights up to three levels or 12 metres.
“There might be some apartments in there, but I don’t think we’re looking at high-rise or anything like that,” Champion told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Champion said the 3600 new homes will be built within a “buffer zone” near the coast; this land was part of the ExxonMobil precinct but did not house the oil refinery.
The new business land will be located further inland where the refinery was based.
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Champion said it is better to have employment land – rather than residential – on the old refinery site “because of the remediation aspect”.
“There’s already been a huge amount of remediation – all of the industrial apparatus around the oil refinery has been removed,” he said.
“The important thing to understand about the oil refinery was… there was a buffer zone around it. That buffer zone is where the residential housing will be, and the old sites with the refinery sits are more likely to be mixed-use sites for employment.
“They’ll end up being remediated but eventually covered in bitumen or roads.”
Champion later added that residents of the new development can expect “a normal backyard to the same standards and expectations that the rest of residential Adelaide have”.
MAB Corporation is also responsible for the remediation and redevelopment of the former Brompton gasworks site in Adelaide’s inner-west. Malinauskas said the gasworks are “a lot more contaminated” than Port Stanvac.
Port Stanvac is within the Outer South housing area of Adelaide as defined by the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan, which sets the policy direction for the next 30-years of urban development.
The Outer South runs from Morphett Vale and Aberfoyle Park down to Sellicks Beach and stretches east to McLaren Vale.
Only 8 per cent of Adelaide’s housing growth over the next 30-years is targeted for the Outer South, according to the draft plan, equating to roughly 25,000 new homes. The bulk of Adelaide’s growth is expected to come from the inner and outer northern suburbs, which are expected to hold 109,000 new homes.
Housing targets by area under the draft Greater Adelaide Regional Plan.
Champion has previously said that the Outer South is “reaching the end point of its time as its development front” given it’s between the coast and the McLaren Vale wine region, which is subject to stringent planning protections.
The land at Port Stanvac has become more valuable over time, Champion said today, because of limited development opportunities in the southern suburbs.
Other major development sites earmarked for the southern suburbs include an 800-home development in Aldinga and a 2000-home development across Hackham and Old Noarlunga.
Another 1700 homes are slated for Sellicks Beach, although this development has come under scrutiny due to issues associated with floating dust from a nearby quarry.
The Greater Adelaide Regional Plan will be finalised in March.
