Bowden’s industrial past to be kept as suburb-defining $1 billion development kicks in
BOWDEN’S past industrial life as a gasworks site will be retained as the next phase of the suburb-defining $1 billion development kicks off.
KEY structures of Brompton’s historical gasworks site will be preserved as work begins on the next phase of the $1 billion city fringe development.
The remediation of the area in Adelaide’s inner west is known as the Bowden Heritage Precinct.
Renewal SA Property chief Mark Devine said the derelict industrial region is gradually being transformed into a blend of retail, residential and commercial.
Among heritage structures to be retained include the 21m high gasworks chimney, an imposing bluestone wall along Chief St, the Retort House, the former Purifying House, Carpenters’ Workshop, Works Superintendent’s Cottage and the Chemistry laboratory. In April, bulldozers levelled the old Clipsal factory’s Plant 1 on the site, to the anger of some locals who claimed it was destroying the suburb’s history.
But Mr Devine said the heriprecinct would honour and enhance its rich industrial heritage as part of the wider goal for the area — “marrying old and new in a development of the highest design and liveability standards.”
Mr Devine said: “Bowden as a whole is set to become home to 3500 people, who will have the benefits of living in a near city area, across the road from the beautiful city parklands and with excellent transport connection.
“New streets, landscaping and buildings will be sensitively added to articulate and revitalise the site as a thriving precinct of special heritage character, providing a blend of history, culture and sustainability.”
Three years ago, the SA Heritage Council provisionally declared the gasworks — which operated from 1863 to 1964 — as a place of archaeological significance to the state.
Site works will include demolition of selected non-State Heritage listed structures to enable accessibility through the precinct and to showcase the retained structures.
The demolition works are expected to take two to three months to complete.
Remediation work on the former industrial site — led by Australasia’s leading site remediation contractor Ventia — is planned to begin in November and is expected to take 12 to 15-months to complete. Bowden is designed to be a “transport-oriented development” as envisaged by The 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.
The site had long stood dormant as a result of environment issues created by previous heavy industry uses.
Renewal SA purchased the site with a vision to revitalise it as part of the Bowden project.
More than 680 apartments and townhouses have been sold on 20 parcels of land.
A further 319 homes are under construction and building work will start on a further 205 in the next 12 months.
The population is expected to grow by at least 1000 by Christmas. The Bowden development is expected to be finished by 2025 at the latest and is billed as Adelaide’s fastest growing region.