Project Update

In September 2024, we reached out to the community for feedback on the draft Adelaide Park Lands Community Buildings (Sport and Recreation) Policy. The consultation responses were diverse, reflecting a shared commitment to thoughtful, inclusive, and sustainable development of community buildings in the Park Lands, all while adhering to industry standards. A consultation summary can be found here.

On 10 December 2024, Council officially adopted the Policy, which outlines investments aimed at upgrading and redeveloping community buildings within the Adelaide Park Lands. This initiative ensures that current and future generations have access to the facilities they need. The Policy will serve as a guide for the design and investment in these buildings, with a focus on:

  • Promoting active lifestyles through leisure, sport, and recreation
  • Meeting community needs for accessible and inclusive sports and recreation facilities
  • Protecting and enhancing the Adelaide Park Lands
  • Addressing the impacts of climate change through integrated, sustainable development

The final, endorsed version of the Policy is available here.

Project Information

The draft Adelaide Park Lands Community Buildings (Sport and Recreation) Policy (draft Policy) applies to the upgrade and redevelopment of community buildings that can be leased to eligible community sport and recreation groups and educational organisations.

Community consultation on a previous version of the draft Policy occurred in October and November 2023. Information about the feedback received can be found in the background information below. This feedback was workshopped with the Kadaltilla / Adelaide Park Lands Authority and Council Members, and a revised draft Policy was developed.

Community feedback was sought on this revised draft Policy to inform the final version of the Policy before it is presented to Council for adoption in November 2024.

In addition to committing 1.5% of rates revenue to the upgrade and redevelopment of Park Lands community buildings, the Draft Policy proposes:

  • Consolidating buildings to ensure shared resources and multiple users
  • Broad utilisation throughout the day and evening
  • Infrastructure aligned to the outdoor areas being serviced
  • Design prioritising compact layouts, multi-functional space, efficient circulation and shared use
  • All community buildings containing core elements that are publically accessible, eg public toilets, seating
  • Most community buildings containing essential elements, eg changerooms, amenities
  • Some community buildings containing optional elements, eg common room, kitchen
  • To achieve 5-star Green Star or equivalent rating and encourage sustainable transport options
  • City of Adelaide lead the design process for community buildings
  • Utilising the skills and knowledge of Kadaltilla Board Members for design reviews including a visual impact assessment
  • City of Adelaide investment focused on:

    • - Facilities not exceeding the minimum standards
    - Accessible core elements
    - Landscaping
    - Compliance
    - Sustainability

The draft Policy can be found here.

The City of Adelaide (CoA) is committed to investing in the upgrade and redevelopment of community buildings in the Adelaide Park Lands. This investment includes demolishing and consolidating existing community buildings.

This investment realises Council’s vision to protect, enhance and activate the Park Lands, while meeting the needs of our community into the future.

Community consultation on a previous version of the Draft Policy occurred in October and November 2023. The primary themes from the feedback received were:

Theme

Context

Fit for Purpose Buildings

Strong support to replace existing sports buildings in the Park Lands with new community sports buildings that were fit for purpose in relation to the facilities and users they intended to serve.

Quality Design

Strong support for new community sports buildings to be inclusive, safe, environmentally sustainable and accessible.

Shared Facilities

Strong support for creating shared facilities that serviced multiple sporting groups and non-sporting community use.

Co-funding Essential

Strong support was given to co-funding community sports buildings, with multiple references to quality design buildings being beyond the financial capacity of community organisations.

Greater Flexibility

Multiple respondents did not agree with the policy regarding:

  • no additional car parking, with suggestions that car parking be provided on permeable surfaces
  • no loss of trees, with suggestions that any loss of trees be replaced with new plantings to achieve an overall net increase
  • no net loss of Park Lands was deemed unrealistic in the context of replacing existing building footprint with fit for purpose shared facilities, with suggestions for multi-level buildings and an overall reduction in the number of Park Lands buildings.

Competing Objectives

Multiple respondents indicated that the policy objectives of creating fit-for-purpose shared facilities, avoiding a net loss of Parklands, and using low-scale single-level buildings to optimise accessibility were conflicting.

This feedback was workshopped with the Kadaltilla / Adelaide Park Lands Authority and Council Members, and a revised Draft Policy was developed.

Revisions to the Draft Policy include:

  • defining key elements of Park Lands Community Buildings
  • shared and consolidated Community Buildings
  • optimising broader community use
  • providing Community Buildings that meet the needs of the number of users and fields serviced
  • using a design process to respond to each Community Building and park setting on a case-by-case basis to achieve the best outcome for each park

Council intends to implement this Policy through an investment plan, with priority Community Building upgrade and redevelopment projects considered annually as part of the Council’s Business Plan and Budget process.

On 10 September 2024, Council approved this draft Policy for the purpose of public consultation.

As the Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy (APLMS) states, the Park Lands are for all South Australians, including city users who utilise the Park Lands as Adelaide’s hub for sport and recreation. Community sports accounts for 20% of visitation amongst the diverse uses of the Park Lands. This usage is predicted to increase in alignment with population projections across the Greater Adelaide region, community expectations for accessible and inclusive community sport infrastructure, and pressures on inner ring Councils to seek access to open space.

Within the 685 hectares of Park Lands under the care and control of the City of Adelaide (CoA), there are 118 buildings. 63 of these buildings are related to sport, with 55 of the 63 sports buildings owned by the City of Adelaide (CoA).

A number of these buildings require upgrades to meet evolving community needs (particularly in relation to increasing female and junior participation in sport) and ensure facilities are functional, safe and sustainable.

In the latter half of 2022, Council Administration developed an ‘Investing in Community Sports Infrastructure: Discussion Paper’ following identification of the opportunity to strengthen the Park Lands community use asset base to meet functional, accessibility, safety, amenity and environmental objectives, standards and expectations set by the City of Adelaide. The Discussion Paper recommended a robust approach to improving community sports infrastructure on the Park Lands through a co-investment funding policy.

On 2 May 2023, a workshop was held with Council Members to obtain feedback on a proposed co-investment strategy to improve Park Lands sites containing community recreation and sport infrastructure. The workshop provided Council Members with several key messages including:

  • half of all city residents were aged between 20-39 (49.8%) compared to only a quarter of South Australians 26%
  • population growth in the city and surrounding residential areas along with urban infill is placing increased demand on the Park Lands
  • of the approximately nine million annual Park Lands visits, organised sport made up 20% of these visits
  • the extent of formal sporting areas in the Park Lands has reduced by approximately 28 hectares or 19% over the last 30 to 40 years
  • spatially, organised sports facilities represent around 14% of the Park Lands, with only 2.5% of these facilities currently restricting access outside their usage times
  • Park Lands community leasees are responsible for all maintenance and operational costs
  • relative to local government in Australia, CoA charges relatively high community lease and licence fees and provides low levels of financial support
  • CoA does not presently budget for the renewal of community leased and licensed infrastructure in the Park Lands
  • the current leased asset renewal process is triggered, led and funded by lessees, resulting in Park Lands sport facilities and buildings that:
    1. are unsightly, dated and not fit-for-purpose
    2. service a single user group and/or purpose
    3. are disconnected with other Park Lands facilities and landscapes
    4. do not meet community facility standards

On 27 June 2023, Council requested Council Administration present ‘a report providing policy options for Park Lands buildings for the provision of fit for purpose facilities including toilets, changerooms and storage’.

On 10 October 2023, Council approved public consultation on the Draft Park Lands Community Buildings (Sport and Recreation) Policy.