New planning rules to guide future Festival Plaza development

Have your say on new planning rules to guide future development in Festival Plaza, particularly building height and design.

What's being decided?

The South Australian Government is reviewing the planning rules for Festival Plaza to ensure this prime location in Adelaide’s city centre provides the greatest benefits for the state and our community.

The draft Festival Plaza Code Amendment focusses on providing clear building height and design guidance to ensure the remaining development site is maximised to make Festival Plaza a world-class hub for the arts, culture, tourism and entertainment.

These draft planning rules have come into effect on an interim basis at the same time as being released for consultation to ensure that any undesirable development applications are not submitted for this important precinct while these rules are reviewed.

The review also aims to ensure that planning rules for this important area are consistent with the South Australian Government’s vision for the broader Riverbank Precinct.

Background

Recent upgrades and development have renewed Festival Plaza as a cultural and entertainment hub in the centre of Adelaide.

These improvements include:

• redeveloping the public plaza, including a new five-level underground car park
• the new SkyCity Casino building
• enhancements to the Festival Centre and surrounding areas
• a new northern entrance to the railway station concourse
• completion of the 29-storey One Festival Tower.

A 38-storey mixed-use tower alongside the One Festival Tower has been proposed to complete renewal of the precinct.

The draft Code Amendment does not consider specific proposed developments but would provide building height and design guidance for any future development in Festival Plaza.

Therefore, changes to the planning rules through this code amendment would guide whether the proposed 38-storey building is the highest and best use of the precinct’s remaining development site, considering its relationship with national and state heritage listed Parliament House and opportunities to create public space.

Get involved

Find out more:

• read the draft Festival Plaza Code Amendment
• take a look at our frequently asked questions
• read our fact sheet
• view the concept plan for Festival Plaza
• attend an online information session
• ask a question.

Have your say by:

• taking our survey
• emailing a submission to plansasubmissions@sa.gov.au (subject: Festival Plaza Code Amendment)
• posting your written submission to:
  Submission - Festival Plaza Code Amendment, Code Amendment Team, Department for Housing and Urban Development, GPO Box 1815, Adelaide SA 5001.

Hard copies of the draft Festival Plaza Code Amendment are available to view at PlanSA, level 9, 83 Pirie Street, Adelaide.

What are the next steps?

We will consider all feedback in finalising the draft Festival Plaza Code Amendment and all feedback will be captured in an engagement report.

The engagement report will be provided to the Minister for Planning to assist with final decision-making.

Once a decision has been made, the engagement report, including all feedback received during consultation, will be published on this webpage and the PlanSA website.

Note: names and organisations will be published in the engagement report with submissions. Addresses, email addresses and phone numbers will not be published.