Kiwi firm gets the go ahead for $100m development

Kiwi architecture firm gets the go ahead for $100m luxury development

Ignite Architects has had 88 O’Connell Street, a major project in North Adelaide approved for construction by the South Australian Government.

Ignite Architects managing director, Jeremy Whelan says the $100m Makris Group development will be a signature project for the New Zealand based firm.

“We won the work for our unique design and understanding of the site, applying learnings from local projects that the other competitors failed to solve. This is a significant project for Ignite which we will be running out of our Auckland and Sydney offices,” he says.

The mixed use residential and retail streetscape design is a new concept for Adelaide and is expected to attract tourists and new residential apartment owners to the area with its high end retail offering.

The O’Connell Street site has languished as a vacant lot for the past 20 years and will soon boast an 8,000 square metre six story retail street scape with 52 high quality apartments, to be valued between $1.5 and $4m each.

Ignite Architects has been involved in this project with Makris Group for four years, negotiating with local council for development approvals. Approvals failed after three years of negotiations due to council rejecting its own proposed planning rules change and the Makris Group applied to have the O’Connell Street development declared a major project by the State Government.

Major project development status was awarded in May 2007 and allowed the developer to deal directly with the Department of Planning, overriding local council. State Government gave final approval to Makris Group for its development in September 2008.

Ignite is now progressing with delivery of the proposal, developing the design and documentation to comply with state regulations, over the next 12 months. Ignite will also oversee construction, which is planned to be completed within three years.

This mixed use development will be resourced across the retail and residential teams at Ignite Architects and will be project managed by Jeremy Whelan, managing director and Peter Harrison, director who leads Ignite’s Sydney office.

The project is part of Ignite’s long term strategy to connect with clients on both sides of the Tasman.

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