by Shane Sody
A 38-storey office tower has been approved for Festival Plaza, part of Park 26 of your Adelaide Park Lands.
Approval was given by the State Commission Assessment Panel (“SCAP”) on Thursday 12 June 2025, on the basis that Government re-zoning back in January 2025 had already cleared the way.
Less than a week earlier, a group of 125 prominent South Australians had urged a re-think, but their intervention did not change the outcome.
Planning Minister Nick Champion says there is no obstacle remaining for construction to proceed.
However the “Save Festival Plaza Alliance” says the fight is not over.
Alliance spokesperson Robert Farnan says it’s now “a political and moral test” for Premier Peter Malinauskas and Planning Minister Nick Champion:
“SCAP’s role is limited to assessing compliance, not consequences,” said Farnan. “The panel doesn’t ask: is this tower in the public interest? Will it respect our history, heritage, and future? That question now sits squarely with the Premier.”
How big would it be? An artist’s impression of how a 38-storey tower such as the one proposed for Festival Plaza would dominate even Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament at Westminster in London. Unless the Premier intervenes; after its construction, it will tower over Festival Plaza, State Parliament House, and the Festival Centre.
The Save Festival Plaza Alliance has started a petition:
How did it come to this?
The land (YOUR land) was gifted to the Walker Corporation without any public tender, without any public consultation, nor any electoral mandate; a process roundly criticised by the State Auditor-General back in 2017.
SCAP effectively had no choice but to approve this tower, because the Planning Minister, Nick Champion effectively tied SCAP’s hands. On 9 January 2025 the Minister changed the zoning for Festival Plaza, so that (guess what?) a new building of up to 40 storeys would be permissible there!
In early 2025, State Parliament’s Environment, Resources and Development Committee rubber-stamped that change. They held no public hearings, and did not release any minutes of their deliberations.
Even earlier, in April 2024, State Cabinet gave its political approval, and the Premier proudly unveiled artist’s impressions.
Premier Peter Malinauskas unveiling the proposed second new Festival Plaza tower on 9 April 2024. (ABC News: Rory McClaren)
In recent months, there has been a slowly-growing public awareness of the size and scale of what’s been dubbed a “monster”; and its proposed location on your public land, Festival Plaza.
The controversy was referred to the Australian Heritage Council, and on 12 May 2025 the City Council belatedly withdrew its support for “the Monster”.
The controversy made national media headlines, featuring prominently on The Guardian Australia on 27 May 2025:
However, Walker Corporation was very confident of getting approval from SCAP because construction on the foundations of the tower commenced well before SCAP’s approval!
Immediately after the SCAP decision, a former member of the Australian Heritage Council, Elizabeth Vines, OAM spoke about the "Monster” tower with Spence Denny on 891 ABC Adelaide:
Read more
Background
Few people realise that Festival Plaza is part of the Adelaide Park Lands. Yet way back in 2012, it was given away to a billionaire for what was (at the time) proposed to be one 27-storey office tower, (what is now “Festival One”) some shops, and a car park.
That was not enough for the Walker Corporation. For more than a decade they’ve been trying to get more real estate returns from your Festival Plaza. Both Liberal and Labor State Governments have supported Walker Corporation’s privatisation of your Festival Plaza.
The Marshall Liberal State Government (2018-2022) approved the now-constructed 29-Level Tower “Festival One”; along with a separate four-level retail building.
In April 2024, the Malinauskas Labor Government approved allowing Walker Corporation to scrap the proposed four-level building, and replace it instead with a 38-storey tower.
The last chapter in this saga; the final approval for a second “monster” tower - the ultimate corporate takeover was granted by the State Commission Assessment Panel (“SCAP”) on Thursday 12 June 2025.
However, the Plaza could have been easily and cheaply returned to Park Lands to celebrate Adelaide’s world-unique asset.
A design competition for this purpose was run in 2015, by the then-leader of the Greens Party in SA, the Hon. Mark Parnell:
Design by Arnie Blanden - just one of the several winning designs in the competition hosted by former Greens MLC Mark Parnell.
Read more here: https://www.adelaide-parklands.asn.au/festival-plaza
