Collinswood’s ABC building could become export incubator hub under Prospect Council GigCity bid

ADELAIDE’S ABC building would host an export business incubator under a bid for super high-speed internet.

• Super-speed fibre network approved for Adelaide CBD
• Pricing for super-fast GigCity broadband released
• New Adelaide Palace Nova cinema opens on December 7
• ABC building rated by readers as among Adelaide’s ugliest

THE ABC building would host an export business incubator under a Prospect Council funding bid for State Government-funded super high-speed internet.

The council’s proposal also includes an addition to the Prospect Rd “innovation precinct” with a co-working space in fourth-floor offices in the new Palace Nova Prospect cinema.

Setting up the two hubs is contingent on the Department of State Development choosing the council to be part of its $4.7 million GigCity program — connecting various sites around Adelaide to broadband of up to 1 gigabit per second, or 10 times faster than the NBN.

The council is also looking for $100,000 from the Federal Government’s Incubator Support initiative for the export hub on the fourth floor of the ABC building on North East Rd, Collinswood.

The ABC building on North East Rd, Collinswood. Picture: Eugene Boisvert

The council would contribute $105,000 to the ABC hub and $5000 to the cinema site.

Start-up businesses with a focus on exporting and a need for high-speed internet would be encouraged to rent a space at the hub.

The public broadcaster occupies three floors of the eight-storey ABC building.

Other tenants of the 43-year-old edifice include the Office of the Public Advocate.

In approving the bid and the funding at a meeting last week, Cr Matt Larwood said winning the bid would attract businesses with high demand for data to set up in Prospect.

The new Palace Nova Prospect Cinema on Prospect Rd, Prospect. Picture: Eugene Boisvert

“I would say it will be a feather in our cap, but it’s more than that because it’s useful,” Cr Larwood, who is also the chief executive of software company Axios IT, said.

Fourteen locations in Adelaide are already connected to GigCity internet — mostly State Government sites such as the Thebarton biotech precinct and the former Mitsubishi factory at Tonsley.

Stage two winners — mostly commercial entities — will be announced later this month.

The optic fibre used for the high-speed internet already passes through Prospect.

Prospect’s bid would require a 1.5km extension of the optic fibre from Main North Rd to the ABC and a shorter connection to the cinema.