Adelaide at crossroad over 38-storey ‘tower of regret’

Opinion: Festival Tower Two is deemed “under construction” despite there being no final development approval and intense opposition from a high-profile group, including a former Premier. Heritage expert Elizabeth Vines warns that Adelaide stands at a defining moment for the city’s civic heart.

Adelaide stands at a defining moment. Cities rarely lose their character overnight; they erode through a series of decisions that gradually reshape the places people cherish.

The proposed 38‑storey Walker Corporation tower at Festival Plaza is one such decision—one that will determine the future of Adelaide’s civic heart for generations. This is not a debate about architectural taste or height. It is a question of public land, democratic integrity, heritage protection, and the long‑term liveability of a city whose identity is rooted in Colonel Light’s visionary plan.

A public asset handed over for $1 a year

Few facts have shocked our community more than the revelation that Festival Plaza—public land at the symbolic centre of Adelaide’s civic life—has been leased to Walker Corporation for one dollar per year. The Registrar‑General’s records confirm a lease granted in 2018 under the former Liberal government, running until 2085, and then extended by the current Labour government in 2022 to 2116. This means a private developer now controls a prime civic space for nearly a century at negligible cost.

This is not a standard commercial arrangement. It is an extraordinary transfer of public value into private hands. Other developers must purchase or lease land at market rates. Why is this publicly owned plaza – abutting Parliament House,  adjacent to the Festival Centre, and National Heritage‑listed Adelaide Park Lands – being........

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