Walker Corporation’s Festival Tower is ready to start its climb into the Adelaide skyline after construction company Built was awarded the contract to deliver the new Riverbank icon.
Walker Corporation Executive Chairman, Lang Walker AO, said Festival Tower will be Adelaide’s tallest all-electric office building.
“Festival Tower is setting the new benchmark for environmental sustainability, going fully electric, to plug into South Australia’s growing renewable power resources and shift away from fossil fuels,” Mr Walker said.
“The building will also be targeting 6 Star Green Star and 5.5 Star NABERs, making it one of our most ambitious projects to date.”
“We’ve finetuned Festival Tower with our customers front of mind and we are excited to award Built the building contract to begin construction of what is set to become a landmark tower.”
“They are an experienced Tier 1 builder who have successfully delivered many transformative projects around Australia, including four award-winning commercial buildings at our acclaimed Parramatta Square development in Sydney.”
Walker has recently engaged local SA contractor Outside Ideas to simultaneously begin delivering the next major stage of the Festival Plaza public realm.
The project will ensure Festival Tower will seamlessly integrate with the reinvigorated 5,000 square metre plaza and broader Riverbank precinct.
“There is simply no other location like this in this great city and we expect to see some of Adelaide’s signature bars and restaurants join the precinct in what will become a new meeting place for Adelaideans and visitors,” Mr Walker said.
The major tenants’ fit-out will commence in August 2022 with the building set for completion in November 2023.
Built Managing Director and CEO, Brett Mason, said Built the project will reshape the Adelaide skyline and further promote the state as a leader in green buildings.
“Festival Tower will be a major drawcard for Adelaide to attract businesses both local and international, wanting to share in over 40,000 square metres of premium office space, with unrivalled views across the Riverbank and out to the Adelaide Hills,” Mr Mason said.
“We’re excited to also continue our commitment to green building practices to deliver a project which sets the standard for sustainable and future-thinking buildings that take advantage of renewable energy, to be carbon neutral from day one and address the growing impact of climate change.”
Upon completion, the tower will be one of the few modern commercial buildings in Adelaide with a floorplate nearing 2,000 square metres.
“A floorplate that large provides tenants with flexibility, efficiencies and cost savings that just aren’t possible with some of the older generation stock we see around,” said Mr Walker.
“Festival Tower has been specifically designed to be flexible and scalable to embrace the rapid development of new workplace technologies.”
“Occupancy and wellbeing analytics will elevate the way tenants interact with Festival Tower while the smart system platform will proactively monitor energy management and comfort control.”
A dedicated precinct app will allow tenants the ability to pre-book parking, access the building, call the lifts, order lunch and receive precinct news, offers and notifications all from the convenience of their phone.
Construction will power on through the pandemic and beyond, boosting South Australia’s economic recovery by securing jobs and keeping the state’s construction pipeline delivering during COVID-19.