SA Property Advocate bi-monthly Member-only newsletter – Property Council of Australia, South Australia
Time for Adelaide to start growing up We are entering a new phase in Adelaide’s development with a renewed push for a high-density and highrise future for inner city living. The catalyst behind this new enthusiasm has been the unequivocal call from new Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide, The Hon John Rau for us to retreat from our sole reliance on greenfield urban development to house our state’s expanding population. He has made the analogy that the residential development industry has been ‘addicted’ to this form of growth, and this addiction has exacerbated our sluggish adoption of higher density, near-city development. He has extended this analogy to say the industry needs a slowly reducing dosage of methadone to kick the habit and gradually transform its direction – and the market – to infill-type products.
This push will hasten the transition already underway. The Property Council has had an unwavering commitment to housing choice, and in Adelaide, some people will always want the lifestyle afforded by low density, single dwelling homes. But until the market has the opportunity to experience the alternative – new, high quality and vibrant communities – it’s understandable many see the broadacre proposition as the only one available to them. This doesn’t represent genuine choice. In the Minister’s new enthusiasm for an everincreasing proportion of SA’s growth to be housed within existing near-city suburbs, our sector has an opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to adapt to evolving community needs and to exceed expectations in delivering new ways of living. We’ll be asked to lead the creation of spaces that improve the lives of their inhabitants and add to the overall amenity of the city. I believe we’re up to the challenge but we’ve made it clear to the Minister that there are plenty of ways that the Government can help. If we’re to invest and innovate in the way he
expects, he needs to level the playing field. Currently apartment homebuyers labour under a series of tax and regulatory disincentives that add significantly to the cost of apartments as compared with traditional greenfield developments. Home buyers need to be incentivised not penalised to embrace higher density living, and the only way to achieve that is to eliminate these disincentives. If the home buyer marketplace embraces this new opportunity, I have no doubt that the development sector can and will deliver. The Minister has approached us openly and honestly on this question, seeking our advice as to how we can resolve these disparities. It’s been a great start to the relationship; although we have a long way to go to eliminate barriers to multi-level residential development, all cards are now on the table and we’re on the same wavelength. Progress will be quick, and the industry needs to be ready to gear up. Justin Hazell South Australian President Property Council of Australia
Adelaide Oval redevelopment is a lynchpin in city revival Despite what some may say, the Adelaide Oval debate is less about the redevelopment itself and more about whether we will progress as a modern city or retreat into the parochial cave where we have hidden our treasured city from prying eyes for decades. There’s no doubt that this project has the South Australian community divided; we’re famous for our passionate debates over our built heritage. But as St George Bank CEO, Rob Chapman pointed out at the SA Division’s April luncheon, we’re also infamous for letting our debates paralyse us to the point of inaction. That’s where this vote becomes of historic importance for our city. This debate is no longer about the location, the design or the cost. This debate is now about who we are as a people and who we want to be in the future. A redeveloped oval will be the beating heart of Adelaide’s new entertainment precinct – the revitalised and redeveloped Riverbank precinct. The new precinct will represent a new direction for Adelaide: confident, proud, prosperous and forward-looking. It will speak of us shaking off
our rust-bucket past and accepting that we no longer depend on the pitiless uncertainty of agricultural industries to keep us afloat. We now boast a modernised and diversified economy, stronger for our new expanded base. We need a city that reflects that new reality. The Oval redevelopment is a crucial lynchpin in delivering an enlivened city precinct we can be proud of. It’s not for one second about trashing the built heritage that makes Adelaide Oval such hallowed turf for cricket purists, but it is about building upon it so all South Australians can have a precinct that encapsulates their hopes and ambitions. For too long, South Australia’s direction has been guided by a conservative elite whose primary interest was in keeping the state as it was in their own heyday. Those days are long, long past and it’s past time that we embraced the future that’s all around us, barricaded only by a fear-driven parochialism. This parochial voice tells us repeatedly that our heritage and our traditions are all that differentiate us from other cities and states. And it’s this parochialism that leads to shallow accusations that young South Australians wanting the Oval development ‘want us to be like Sydney or Melbourne’. These snide remarks are invariably finished with ‘so maybe they should move there.’
The Voice of Leadership
It’s precisely because of that attitude that young people leave this city in droves. It’s made clear to them that their ideas aren’t welcome, that they don’t deserve to be heard until they’re older, when the genteel lifestyle afforded by Adelaide will beckon them back. This attitude cannot and will not reconcile with the change going on around us. We need as many people as we can get to support our transition to a new economic base that includes mining, defence and tourism, and we need young people to support the rest of us as our population ages. Adelaide’s Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood often talks about cities being in ‘competition for people’. Never has this competition been so important to Adelaide. The Adelaide Oval redevelopment is pivotal in our ability to compete. If we keep doing the same things, we’ll keep getting the same results. It’s time we embraced our future. Nathan Paine Executive Director Property Council of Australia (SA Division)
MAy 2011
this edition proudly brought to you by
2011 Division Council President Justin Hazell Principal, Connor Holmes Immediate Past President James Sarah Joint Managing Director, Sarah Group
Vice-Presidents Ben Yates General Manager – SA/NSW, Aspen Group James Young State Chief Executive SA, Colliers International
Treasurer David Cooke Director, Hames Sharley
Councillors Todd Brown Urban Construct Alex Candetti Executive Chairman, Candetti Constructions Anthony Carrocci Director, Build-Tec Group Malcolm Creswell Regional Manager SA, Westfield Nick Emmett Managing Director, Emmett Property Gavin Kain Principal, Woods Bagot Steve Lockwood State Director, Schiavello Steve Maras Director, Maras Group Jamie McClurg Managing Director, Commercial and General Lachlan Perks Director, Perks Property Investments Philip Rundle Managing Director, CB Richard Ellis Vince Scanlon General Manger – Airport Operations, Adelaide Airport
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