Tower over Newmarket Hotel on North/West Terraces may forces changes to incoming planes

Two towers proposed for the corner of North and West Terraces could alter the flight path of nearby planes. The fate of the buildings will be decided this week.

Aircraft approaching Adelaide Airport in poor weather could be forced to fly higher to avoid two apartment towers proposed for a busy city site.

Developers are seeking renewed permission to build the 32-storey towers on the site of the heritage-listed Newmarket Hotel on the corner of North and West terraces.

The State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) will decide on Wednesday whether to approve the $72m project, which will include demolition of heritage-listed stables and a side wing attached to the hotel.

Restoration of the 138-year-old building will become a key part of a controversial development which has been the subject of a successful Supreme Court challenge by a neighbouring property owner and protests by heritage groups.

Concept designs for a 32-storey apartment tower on the Newmarket Hotel site on North Tce. Picture: Cox Architects

Property company One North Terrace is proposing to repair damage caused by vandals to the three-storey hotel’s interior, including a vintage staircase, so it can be become part of a new entrance lobby with a bar, restaurant and cafe.

The damaged stairwell in the Newmarket Hotel. Picture: Cox Architects

The complex will be connected to a six-level podium with 6800sq m of office space and two 107m-high towers containing 352 serviced and residential apartments and three-level basement parking.

The towers, if approved, will be 64m higher than those allowed under existing zoning.

The proposed height has required consultation with the federal aviation authority, Airservices Australia, over the potential impact on pilots using instruments or visual sighting to land aircraft at Adelaide International Airport.

In a report prepared for SCAP supporting the project, government planners said One North Terrace had “proposed amendments to Adelaide Airport’s operational procedures to alter the characteristics of protected airspace to accommodate the height of the proposed building”.

“Procedural changes of this nature have not been proposed before,” the report said.

“However, information conveyed via Airservices Australia provides a high degree of confidence that the required approved pathway under federal legislation is legitimate and achievable.”

The report said consultants had recommended changing “minimum descent altitudes for aircraft operating on instrumentation only (in poor visibility) on approach to Runway 23 from the northeast” by 21.3m or 70 feet.

“(This) would effectively remove the proposed building and its temporary crane operation (during construction) from the airport’s final vertical approach such that they would no longer constitute potential obstacles in a descending aircraft’s flight path,” it said.

Airservices Australia had concluded the flight path change “would not result in adverse effects on the safety or efficiency of Adelaide Airport’s aircraft operations”.