Huge part of Concordia rezoned for new 12,000-home suburb as government releases detailed concept map

The future of Adelaide’s newest mega suburb is locked in as the government promises essential works will be built as fast as its houses. See the new map.

A huge part of Concordia has been rezoned to allow 12,000 homes to be built as a new map reveals locations in the area chosen for schools, emergency services buildings and a potential hospital.

Planning Minister Nick Champion on Tuesday said he had adopted the code amendment, sealing in the future of the 995ha site as a new masterplanned suburb expected to house 25,000 to 30,000 new residents over the next 30 years.

A new concept map of the future mega suburb includes a hospital, a community centre, four public primary schools and a public secondary school, with housing construction hoped to start in 2029.

The CFS and SES would share a combined 1.66ha building in the suburb’s southeast.

If the above map doesn’t load, go here

The government said a landscaped buffer zone around the outside of the development area would keep housing from being built too close to primary production land and preserve the character of the area.

An infrastructure scheme, overseen by an independent co-ordinator, is set to lock in essential infrastructure for the development such as roads, bridges, stormwater management, water and sewerage.

It includes a charging model to let the government recover infrastructure costs from developers.

The government wants such schemes to prevent issues like those at Angle Vale, where the development of sewage infrastructure did not keep pace with the construction of houses.

Mr Champion said infrastructure schemes were part of the government’s new approach to housing developments.

The government on Tuesday announced Planning Minister Nick Champion had adopted the Concordia Code Amendment.

“The infrastructure scheme model will become the new benchmark for how to plan and develop growth areas, replacing ineffective and inefficient methods of the past that delayed and made critical housing supply more expensive,” he said.

He said the development was on track for homes to start being built by the end of 2029.

UDIA SA chief executive Liam Golding, whose association counts many of the state’s biggest housing developers as its members was cautious in response.

He said infrastructure schemes “require significant commitment from the government to ensure costs are not escalated and passed on to the landowners over time”.

“We need hard timelines on when the costs will be known,” he said.

“Ultimately, the home buyer is the one footing the bill – we need to ensure affordability remains front and centre as the Concordia development process continues.

“There is still significant work that needs to be done to deliver more housing without significant impact on housing affordability.

Opposition housing spokeswoman Michelle Lensink said she was “extremely skeptical” of the minister’s comment housing would be built from 2029.

“With these developer charges, there’s no transparency about what’s intended, so it’s a huge concern for those people who might want to buy into that development, that that’s going to escalate their costs,” she said.