80m footbridge to link Port Adelaide Dock One housing to Dock Two maritime precinct

An 80m bridge will link key sections of Port Adelaide’s historic inner harbour to a 750-home development.

An 80m jetty-style footbridge linking Port Adelaide’s dock one and two will be built to create a pedestrian and cyclist link between the inner harbour’s retail hub and a maritime heritage precinct.

Deputy Premier and Port Adelaide MP Susan Close on Friday announced Largs North-based BluBuilt would design and build the bridge from the Dock One project – a 750-home development in the inner harbour.

More than 120 jobs are projected to be created during construction, which is expected to start mid-next year.

BluBuilt, based in Largs North, will design and build the 80m bridge linking the Dock One project. Picture: Supplied

BluBuilt, based in Largs North, will design and build the 80m bridge linking the Dock One project. Picture: Supplied

BluBuilt, based in Largs North, will design and build the 80m bridge linking the Dock One project. Picture: Supplied

BluBuilt, based in Largs North, will design and build the 80m bridge linking the Dock One project. Picture: Supplied

BluBuilt, based in Largs North, will design and build the 80m bridge linking the Dock One project. Picture: Supplied

An 8m-wide waterfront promenade will extend from the bridge, wrapping around the Port River’s eastern side and under the Port River Expressway to the City of Adelaide clipper ship.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion said the bridge was a vital component of the Dock One development, part of supporting the growing population of the rapidly transforming Port precinct.

“Boosting housing supply in the heart of Port Adelaide is even more important in the wake of the AUKUS announcement (about nuclear-powered submarines to be built nearby at Osborne Naval Shipyard) – and a future jobs boom in Adelaide’s west,” he said.

The $150m Fort Largs housing development, at nearby Taperoo, coupled with the federal government’s nuclear-powered submarines deal have fuelled interest in property along the Lefevre Peninsula.

Real estate agents have reported increasing interest in recent months, saying this is ramping up prices in an already rising market.

A beachfront property at Taperoo sold recently for $2.61m, which property records show is one of the highest sales in the area.

Up to 4000 workers will be employed to design and build the submarine construction infrastructure at Osborne Naval Shipyard, north of Port Adelaide’s inner harbour.

A further 4000 to 5500 direct shipyard jobs are expected to be created to build nuclear submarines when the program reaches its peak, along with an estimated 20,000 jobs nationally in the next 30 years.

In an interview with The Advertiser in May, Premier Peter Malinauskas said both the quantum and quality of submarine work would outweigh the defunct car manufacturing industry – up to 5500 Adelaide shipyard jobs versus Holden’s 944 when the Elizabeth plant closed in 2017.

Mr Malinauskas said building nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide would outstrip the shuttered car industry in job numbers, pay, skills and contribution to the state economy.