Pelligra Group to turn Holden’s Elizabeth plant into hi-tech manufacturing hub

JUST 56 days after the automotive industry in South Australia was given its last rites, a Victorian knight is set to splash $250 million on reinvigorating the state’s most iconic industry site, creating hundreds of jobs in Adelaide’s north.

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JUST 56 days after the automotive industry in South Australia was given its last rites, a Victorian white knight is set to splash $250 million on reinvigorating the state’s most iconic industry site.

The Pelligra Group, a Melbourne-based industrial and construction powerhouse, is to turn the Holden site in Elizabeth, which shut down in October, into a world-class and hi-tech manufacturing hub fuelled by local, national and international tenants.

The deal for the newly named Lionsgate Business Park — for an undisclosed sum — is set to go through on Friday after Pelligra chairman, Ross Pelligra, signed the unconditional undertaking on Wednesday night.

Up to 400 construction jobs will be created during the initial phase of a master plan expected to stretch to 20 years before it is completed, Mr Pelligra told The Advertiser.

A further 100 jobs could be created via a plan to make the site green — renewable energy has a vital and huge future in Adelaide, he said.

Pelligra Group chairman Ross Pelligra at his newly purchased property, the old Holden factory in Elizabeth. Picture: Matt Turner

The Pelligra Group has been working on the deal since May this year, said the company’s development manager Sean Doyle, who has driven the purchase along with his 39-year-old chairman.

Sustaining its heritage and helping the local workforce will be integral to Pelligra’s attempt to position Lionsgate as a destination for clean manufacturing and engineering along the lines of the standards set by the food industry in Japan, Mr Pelligra said.

An on-site museum to pay tribute to the culture and legacy of the GMH workforce will be up and running soon.

“We will start the process of interviewing operators for it,” Mr Pelligra said.

“By February, we will be in a position to start naming some clients. There is already a lot of interest in Lionsgate from our clients in Melbourne.”

High-end manufacturing and research and development are Mr Pelligra’s initial goals.

“We will take manufacturing to the next level of urban renewal,” he said.

“All of the key infrastructure is in place in the surrounding areas, there is no box this project doesn’t tick.

“Manufacturing is not dead in Australia, it’s dead for the $2 job which we should not be working for anyway.”

Ross Pelligra at Holden’s former Elizabeth plant, which will be turned into a manufacturing hub and renamed Lionsgate Business Park. Picture: Matt Turner

Pelligra will lease back about 30 per cent of the site to GMH so it can continue its parts and servicing operations, a process expected to last up to 10 years, while education, sport and recreation and retail precincts will all be developed once the manufacturing precinct is under way at Lionsgate.

A separate GMH decommissioning process expected to last until mid-2019 has already begun.

Holden director of manufacturing, engineering and facilities Matthew Goodwins said Holden was pleased the site would continue to be a hub of industry and jobs.

“Our wish for the future of the site has always been that it continues to create jobs for Elizabeth and the surrounding area and we believe that Pelligra’s master plan for the site is positioned to achieve this,” Mr Goodwins said.

“We are also delighted with Pelligra’s intention to recognise the heritage of the site and its important place in Adelaide’s history and in the Elizabeth community.”

Mr Pelligra confirmed Salisbury and Playford councils, and SA Premier Jay Weatherill have been wholly supportive of the project.

“This is exciting news for the people of the northern suburbs and demonstrates the confidence investors have in the South Australian economy” Mr Weatherill said.

“This site is set to become a shining example of our state’s transition from old economy to new economy.

“Hopefully it won’t be too long before the site has more people working on it than Holden did.”

The Melbourne-headquartered Pelligra group — a third-generation family outfit — has 700 staff across southeast Australia and parts of Asia and comes with a heavy construction catalogue of industrial warehouses, business parks and offices around outer, industrial Melbourne.

Mr Pelligra says the new acquisition will allow former automotive workers to re-employ their skills and experience within the many companies he hopes to bring to Lionsgate.

“I don’t want GMH to become a storage facility,” Mr Pelligra told The Advertiser.

Among its construction achievements, Pelligra boasts a landmark 8400 sqm warehouse for Steelforce in Melbourne, a multipurpose business centre in Roxburgh Park and is constructing a huge state-of-the-art industrial and logistics facility in Altona, North Victoria.

It is also about to develop a former ECH site in Largs Bay in Adelaide and has expansive plans for South Australia.

“We are not stopping there, we are looking at other projects in Adelaide,” Mr Pelligra said.