Developer says $500 million revamp of SA courts has been terminated by State Government

6000-job plan for former multi-function polis site at Gillman CAMERON ENGLAND chief business reporter The Advertiser December 22, 2013 6:44PM Start a New BusinessProven Perfomance. Not a Franchise Watch our Video & See For Yourself propertymaintenancecashbusiness.com.au/ Former Port Adelaide Mayor Hans Pieters pictured in 1996, at the ex multi-function polis site at Gillman. Former Port Adelaide Mayor Hans Pieters pictured in 1996, at the ex multi-function polis site at Gillman. DEVELOPMENT at the former multi-function polis site at Gillman could start as soon as next year after a deal was struck between the State Government and a consortium led by former Santos chairman Stephen Gerlach. Adelaide Capital Partners intends to develop a 400ha industrial hub it has dubbed "Lipson Estate" to support the state's growing resources industry. The company intends to buy the first 150ha of land in 2014-15, subject to finalising its business case. Mr Gerlach said Lipson Estate would be a key part of realising South Australia's resources potential. "Apart from meeting the more immediate-term needs of large-scale transport logistics and other local industrial warehousing operators, Lipson Estate is the ideal gateway for the world's major resource companies to establish and support the global-scale projects that will underpin the South Australian economy over coming decades," Mr Gerlach said. "The Lipson Estate precinct has long been regarded as having state economic significance by successive governments. The capabilities and resources of ACP have solved the challenges of this site and can create the gateway.'' Housing and Urban Development Minister Tom Koutsantonis said once fully developed, the proposed precinct could support more than 6000 jobs. "Our vision for the Gillman area is a large-scale employment precinct. ACP is keen to join us in turning this vision into a reality," Mr Koutsantonis said. EPA workers at Adelaide Ship Construction International at Gillman in 2002. EPA workers at Adelaide Ship Construction International at Gillman in 2002. "By working with the private sector we hope to create a modern industrial precinct where businesses can flourish and create jobs across a diversity of industries. "The site is the ideal location for businesses with unparalleled access to road, sea and rail networks and links to Port Adelaide, the broader metropolitan area, regional South Australia, interstate and overseas." ACP chief executive Andrew Gerlach said the site would also serve the agriculture industry. "We think it can drive the industrial part of the South Australian economy over 20 or 30 years; it's a critical piece of infrastructure that can be transformational for the state,'' he said. Mr Gerlach said final development designs would be completed over the next 12 months and potential investors and tenants for the site would also be approached. The failed MFP project was to be a joint venture between the Federal Government and Japanese investors, and would have included up to 100,000 residents and a hi-tech industrial hub. In 1998, 11 years after it was first proposed, then state premier John Olsen announced that the MFP, which cost Australian taxpayers about $150 million, would not go ahead. Adelaide Capital Partners is a joint venture between Gerlach Asset Development and ResourceCo. ==================== Developer says $500 million revamp of SA courts has been terminated by State Government Chief Court Reporter Sean Fewster The Advertiser March 12, 2015 4:44 Lend Lease says the planned $500 million redevelopment of the courts has been terminated Lend Lease says the planned $500 million redevelopment of the courts has been terminated by the State Government. THE State Government has decided to terminate the proposed $500 million redevelopment of the courts precinct, the developer that won the project tender has announced. A Lend Lease spokeswoman today told The Advertiser the much-hyped project, slated to have begun earlier this year for completion by 2017, would not go ahead. “We are aware of the decision by the State Government to terminate the Courts Precinct Renewal Process, which did not reflect on the high quality of our proposal,” she said. “Lend Lease looks forward to working with the Government on future capital projects, including other options for renewal of the Courts Precinct.” In a statement this afternoon, Attorney-General John Rau said the decision on the proposed private/public partnership came down to “value for money”. “The process involved seeking a value for money, PPP solution to the undoubted need for investment in courts infrastructure, including IT,” he said. “The actual build proposed was fit for purpose, however it did not achieve the value for money proposition needed by Government for the project to go ahead. “Further consideration of a courts precinct development and IT provision will now occur in the context of budget deliberations.” The vacant lot behind the Supreme Court building in January. Picture: Roger Wyman The vacant lot behind the Supreme Court building in January. Picture: Roger Wyman Opposition deputy leader Vickie Chapman said the government must now reveal how much it had spent on the “abandoned” proposal. “There was $300,000 spent on a scoping study, and we estimate millions have been spent on expressions of interest and to ensure there were staff overseeing this process,” she said. “The process has now been abandoned — we want to know why, we want to know how much has been spent. “We want the government to issue a timeline for any restart to this process.” Mr Rau, Premier Jay Weatherill and then-Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis announced the project in September 2013, calling it the centrepiece of a “massive” justice system reform. The announcement followed a $300,000 “scoping study” in 2012 to ascertain the need for redevelopment. Judges and lawyers have long called for an upgrade of the facility, which features malfunctioning elevators, limited disability access, cracked walls and crumbling exteriors. One of the State Government’s ideas for how the new courts precinct could have looked. One of the State Government’s ideas for how the new courts precinct could have looked. Its IT systems are more than 25 years old and considered to be at “high risk” of failure, with the cost of upgrading them alone estimated at more than $50 million. In March 2014, Mr Rau said contracts would be signed by December of that year, construction would begin in 2014 and the building would be finished by 2017. By January, however, work had yet to begin on the project and, in February, a Parliamentary Committee was told it faced significant delays and would not be completed on schedule. Lend Lease was part of the Activate 408 consortia chosen, by the government, as its “preferred negotiating partner” for the tender. The consortia also included developer and financier Capella Capital, design and project manager Mott MacDonald Australia and engineers Aurecon. Today, top barrister David Edwardson, QC, said the situation was “appalling”. He has previously dubbed SA’s court system “the worst in the nation” due to “chronic” under-resourcing by the government. One of the State Government’s ideas for how the new courts precinct could have looked. One of the State Government’s ideas for how the new courts precinct could have looked. “All the promises in the world turned out to mean nothing,” Mr Edwardson said. “We are in a worse position now than we were when I made those comments because more time has passed, we have fewer judges and even longer trial lists.” He said the outdated state of the courts posed real safety risks. “In a recent trial, several high-security prisoners had to be moved from the dock to the jury box because they could not see a DVD of evidence that was being played,” he said. “Can you imagine that, in 2015? It’s breathtaking.” Ms Chapman said Lend Lease’s announcement would prompt “many questions” in State Parliament next week. She said the redeveloped courts precinct was supposed to be a centralised location for courts, the Attorney-General’s department and prosecutors, as well as an opportunity for private business. One of the State Government’s ideas for how the new courts precinct could have looked. One of the State Government’s ideas for how the new courts precinct could have looked. “There are a lot of unhappy parties that have presented, to the government, to be part of this precinct,” she said. “This was to be a major opportunity, a major development, and for it to just be abandoned would be very, very disappointing.” Law Society of SA president President Rocco Perrotta called the revelation “a regrettable development for the justice system”. “The state is in dire need of new courts facilities and it seems we will have to wait significantly longer for our tired, inefficient courts infrastructure to be revamped,” he said. Mr Perrotta said the proposed redevelopment had “somewhat mitigated our grave concerns” about the “chronic underfunding” of the courts. He said that, if it were not going ahead, then IT systems should be overhauled and upgraded “as a matter of urgency”. “This should be an absolute priority — it is inexplicable that well into the 21st century files have to be hand delivered to the court,” he said. “Backlogs in the court are not going away ... the government must confront the problems facing our court system and come up with some solutions.” However, Mr Perrotta said he expected the government would “remain committed to building a new courts precinct”. ============== Mark Mar 12, 2015 No contract was ever signed. I feel sorry for the 3 consortia who submitted tenders, including extensive design work, and have not received a dollar towards their costs. I think the same consortium was shortlisted for the prison project that also was cancelled. The new courts built interstate in the past few years have featured smaller courtrooms that use video links to take evidence etc, and IT systems that allow the use and sharing of electronic documents. We don't have any of those features, and the state government still mandates the use of paper documents for all records. It's hard to see how a new court system could become obsolete in our lifetimes, especially given the current state of affairs. Why was the contract signed in March 2014 if it is considered not value for money? Is the person who signed it being held accountable for the waste of money? --------- Well firstly was it ever value for money, secondly if the contract was signed and now knocked on the head how much was the contractor paid out , Or are we going to be hauled through the very courts that were to be overhauled for compensation. Either way I do not see it as VALUE for MONEY giving a contractor cash for doing NOTHING. More waste more stuff ups. After all the contractor does have a signed contract. What was he paid or what will he be paid.? -------- Cam Mar 13, 2015 All too often there is an attitude that we can't fix anything without pouring taxpayers dollars into a megaproject. This thinking has left a legacy of expensive white elephants such as the mothballed desalination plant, the $40 million dollar footbridge and the billions spent on urban rail which benefits very few people. Therefore it is both surprising and refreshing to see a more responsible approach by government in this case. Surely it can be argued that there is more chance of fixing IT problems and employing more judges to cope with the workload in the longer term without the additional budgetary strain from blowing half a billion on a piece of real estate? I'm sure the footbridge is very useful, but $40 million? Why so expensive? As for the desal plant, in case you'd forgotten the Libs actually supported the first stage. I suggest to you it would have been much cheaper to negotiate a bigger share of the Murray to cover all contingencies. But do you agree that building an additional $500m palace for the courts is expensive overkill that actually threatens the long term sustainability of our criminal justice system? ---------- asa Mar 13, 2015 @Cam The footbridge is not a white elephant Cam, it has had a huge amount of use. Also the desal plant will get a huge amount of use when we have a drought which we seem to be in the start of one right now and also when our population grows. The desal plant is ready to go, if we left it up to the liberals we would be drinking runoff from our streets. Also the desal plant plant in another decade would probably cost 10 billion to build. ---------- Earl Peregrine Mar 13, 2015 "Value for money", as the Attorney-General claims, is obviously a subjective argument when compared to the Adelaide Oval project. It's amazing that South Australia hasn't progressed much since the times of the Roman emperors. As Tiberius Caesar (BC42-AD37) said: "It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them." Obviously the administration of justice isn't a high priority with this flaccid government. -------- Gary Mar 12, 2015 Yet they will happily spend $160,000,000 on a O'Bahn extension /tunnel so four minutes can be shaved off a bus trip! Are they for real? How is that value for money? This is a government that has no clue, no idea and making it up on the fly. ----- Close Mar 13, 2015 They plan on selling anything not bolted down so we can rent.. SA Water buildings owner have a tax free exemption go figure. You have forgotten to tell us that the tax exemption is due to the fact that a Catholic school is the owner? Don't twist fact please. Add it to the list of cancelled or deferred squeals from this lot. Electric trains to Gawler? Tunnel taking South rd under Port n Grange rds..wow thats two elections ago now, Mt Bold reservoir expansion, trams to Westlakes, trams to St Clair, trams to Semaphore.. even the pretty coming soon tram billboards have faded in the sun and been taken down.Announce and forget about it. The only thing they canbe counted on to do is raise taxes and their own salary. -------------------------- Des Mar 13, 2015 @deluded @John be glad we're not W.A. or Qld , their combined debt is close to $100b and the downturn in mining in both states leaves them navel gazing to find ways to pay back , the decision is a good one but like most who post only negative opinions you can't see the forest for the trees ------------- Peter Mar 12, 2015 Not really a surprise. The fiscal over reach of the last 12 years has finally hit home since they won the election that was supposed to go to the Libs ,so they could be saddled with budgetary problems ( like the feds have been ) and they can't blame the feds for the State problems can they ,when the funds to the states have been "rivers of gold " since the GST came in. Now for the Billion dollar Torrens Riverbank redevelopment . No election in the near future so that will be delayed until six months before we go to the polls and suddenly the money will be found no doubt ( if they can find another Mt Gambier worth of forest to sell ) . --------------