'Parliament tower' approval a tall order for opponents
They have vowed to fight the Walker Corporation's $600 million Festival Plaza Tower 2, which will be built directly behind the SA parliament.
The 38-storey tower, adjacent to the 29-storey Festival One, will accommodate up to 5000 office workers and is due for completion by 2027.
In granting the development application this week, the State Commission Assessment Panel found it "is not considered seriously at variance" with the Planning and Design Code.
The building is only the second skyscraper approved for Adelaide, after the Freemasons' 183m city tower received the green light in July.
Similar buildings would barely receive a second glance in other cities, but Adelaide does not yet have a building that meets the skyscraper definition of 150m.
The world's tallest building is the 828m Burj Khalifa in Dubai, while Australia's tallest is the 322.5m Q1 on the Gold Coast.
East coast capitals have dozens of 200m-plus buildings, but they dwarf Adelaide's tallest - the 138m Crowne Plaza Hotel.
An open letter from more than 120 prominent South Australians, including former premier Lynn Arnold, said the festival tower would overshadow parliament house, create a wind tunnel, block views from the city parklands, and "place private profit over public purpose".
Save Festival Plaza Alliance convenor Robert Farnan said the assessment panel's role was "limited to assessing compliance, not consequences".
"The panel doesn't ask: is this tower in the public interest? Will it respect our history, heritage and future?" he said.
"That question now sits squarely with the premier."
Premier Peter Malinauskas has hailed the project as "transforming our capital for the better, and demonstrative of Adelaide's rise as a truly global city".
Urban Development Minister Nick Champion said the "refined plans ensure that we preserve the visual integrity and heritage of parliament house".
Heritage conservation architect Elizabeth Vines questioned whether other capital cities would approve a 38-storey building "8.7 metres from their parliament".
"Have the politicians been consulted on whether they want all their windows on the north face blocked out by a high-rise building?" she said.
Greens MP Robert Simms said he would introduce a motion in the upper house to call on the government to intervene and halt the project, for which foundation work has begun.
He called it an "appalling outcome" and said it was "outrageous" that Walker Corporation had been granted "exclusive use of this parklands site".
"If ever there was a symbol of the power of developers in our democracy, this is it … like something out of Lord of the Rings, overlooking our parliament house and reminding everybody who's boss," he said.
Walker Corporation managing director David Gallant said the company "appreciates the trust South Australians have placed in us to deliver a development of the highest quality and long-term civic value".
SA's old and new parliament houses were listed as National Heritage Places in 2006.
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