Adelaide Botanic High needs parklands land swap deal, city council told

Just three years after its opening, Adelaide councillors have been told a new CBD high school must expand – and it needs part of the parklands to do it.

A land swap is being proposed by the Education Department to secure parklands for a $98m expansion of Adelaide Botanic High School.

Adelaide City Council has heard the department wants to increase the capacity of the three-year-old school by 700 students by 2024.

A council workshop was told this involved adding a slender multistorey building with a 1800sq m footprint on the school’s southern side.

Chief operating officer Ben Temperly said the department wanted to sign a memorandum of understanding which included a land swap for the space needed for the school expansion.

“We want to work collaboratively with the council to ensure there is no net loss of open space in the parklands,” he said.

“We are still going through all the options for a land swap.”

Concept designs of the $98m redevelopment of Adelaide Botanic High School, South Australia. Picture: Department for Education

Mr Temperly said the department had examined 33 options before deciding on the expansion of Adelaide Botanic High.

“We monitor changing demand (for schools) regularly and act as quickly as we can,” he said.

“One of the issues is the location of secondary schools in the CBD and area out to the saltpans (near Bolivar).

“There are only three high schools and we have identified a need for 1000 additional places.

“Expanding Botanic was decided to be the best option.

“ ... we are looking at the future proofing the supply of public education in the CBD.”

The school originally opened in 2019 with year 8s and 9s. It since has added a year level annually, with the first year 12 classes taught this year.

The proposed new building would increase the school’s capacity to 1950 students. It would include modern, flexible learning spaces with specialist facilities.

Roma Mitchell Secondary College at Gepps Cross also will be expanded to take 300 of the extra 1000 students expected by 2024 in the CBD and inner north.

Once the expansion was complete, Botanic High’s zone would extend to include all or parts of Hilton, Torrensville, Mile End, Kurralta Park, Glandore, Richmond, Marleston, Black Forest and Clarence Park.

Department infrastructure head Bill Glasgow said the expansion would have “minimal intrusion” on the parklands, and no interruption of the existing tree-lined pathway to and from the Botanic Gardens or line of sight from the Unversity of Adelaide.

“It will have a narrow footprint,” he said.

“No trees will be touched during the proposed construction.”

Concept designs of the $98m redevelopment of Adelaide Botanic High School, South Australia. Picture: Department for Education.

Mr Glasgow said the department was trying to meet “quite a challenging timetable”.

“We are looking at opening the doors in 2024,” he said.

Asked by Cr Keiran Snape what other sites had been looked at before the department decided it wanted to build on parklands, Mr Temperly said its investigations had been exhaustive.

“We looked at a range of options, includng talking to the universities,” he said.

“Adelaide High School already is under pressure,” he said.

“In terms of squeezing more into existing classrooms, they are already fully maxed.

“This gives us the ability to provide significant education within the CBD and we see that as a win.”

Both Cr Anne Moran and Cr Alexander Hyde asked what sort of parklands the government was prepared to hand over to the council in exhange for the Frome Rd site.

Cr Moran said the council had spent considerable money landscaping the area, which connects Frome Rd with a tree-lined pathway to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

“You say you want to work collaboratively with the council,” she said.

“Well, we are the council and you are not working with us.”

Concept designs of the $98m redevelopment of Adelaide Botanic High School, South Australia. Picture: Department for Education

Cr Moran said the site was of special significance to the Kaurna people as it contained “buried relics”.

“We had maps and maps of the relics years ago,” she said.

“Our job is to protect the parklands ... we need to see what the land swap is and it needs to be a good one.”

Cr Hyde agreed, saying he wanted to know what guarantees the department could give about building on the parklands when PlanSA previously told councillors the Frome Rd site would not be built on.

“It has come as quite a shock to see only months later an expanded high school campus,” he said.

“Considering your (state government) colleagues said there were no plans, how can we trust you? It all comes to that fundamental question of trust.”

Cr Hyde said he also wanted to know what sort of land would be offered by the department in exchange for the “prime” Frome St site.

“I will take a very dim view if we were to receive parklands which are contaminated or not that well maintained,” he said.

Mr Glasgow said the department was “reaching high and wide” across all government departments looking for a suitable piece of land to offer the council.

The project will be discussed by councillors at their monthly meeting next month.