New details about IHG’s proposed $110m InterContinental Barossa Resort & Spa, featuring winery, lower speed limits, hundreds of permanent jobs
New details and images have revealed a luxury hotel chain’s enormous scope and vision for the Barossa Valley – but 1200 people are fighting it.
The construction of a $110m Barossa Valley tourist resort would create more than 220 permanent jobs while lowering speed limits on local roads, new details about the project’s enormous scope has revealed.
In March, IHG Hotels announced a plan to open a 150-room luxury hotel, the InterContinental Barossa Resort & Spa, featuring a 130-seat fine dining restaurant overlooking vineyards and rolling hills.
New planning documents have revealed the huge hotel at Williamstown would also include a winery, while supporting 461 full-time jobs over its two-year construction period and creating 229 ongoing jobs.
It is projected to contribute $123m to Australia’s economy and $60.9m to the region’s economy during construction, then $55.9m nationally and $27.9m regionally each year during its operation.
The 500-tonne winery and cellar door would incorporate wine production areas, tasting rooms and an additional restaurant, separate from the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant.
About 11ha of vineyards at the site would include grape varieties such as Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Frontignac.
The resort and winery would be located at Hoffnungsthal Rd, which is proposed to get a speed limit reduction from 100km/h to 80km/h near Menzel Rd and Tweedies Gully Rd.
The plan said there was a risk the project may “intensify competition for skilled workers, potentially leading to construction delays, cost escalations, or talent displacement across other local projects”.
The demand for new jobs could also “draw staff away from existing businesses” and the development could “contribute to localised inflation, particularly in housing and service costs” because of an increased housing demand from incoming workers.
However, the report concluded if the project did not proceed, the region would “miss out on approximately $60.27m in value added … a loss that would directly impact local contractors, suppliers, and service providers”.
Almost 1200 people have signed an online petition opposing the development, which was started in June by Gina McCulloch.
The petition argues the area already has enough tourist accommodation and draws attention to its large size at about 14,000 sqm and 235m in length, compared to Adelaide Oval’s length of 167m.
In planning documents, consultants appear to cast doubt on the existence of Gina McCulloch, placing her name in quotation marks while noting there was a “challenge in determining the number of verified signers that are local to the project area”.
Ms McCulloch is pictured in local media reports.
The six-storey hotel would be 16m tall, but consultancy Ekistics stressed “its elongated horizontal form and careful siting below the ridge line into excavated ground help reduce its visual prominence”.
More than 330 parking spaces would be created across the hotel and winery.
The project would also require an extension of water mains.
The plans are open for public feedback until December 17.
12 arrested after major Rebels raid uncovers drugs, guns
