Scotty’s Motel’s Giant Scotsman statue could be demolished under rezoning bid for Medindie property

He’s been part of Adelaide for nearly 60 years but could Adelaide’s Giant Scotsman be about to get his marching orders under a rezoning bid?

Adelaide’s trendsetting Giant Scotsman, which has loomed over one of the city’s busiest intersections for nearly 60 years, is facing an uncertain future.

The owner of Scotty’s Motel wants to replace the building – and likely the iconic 5m-tall fibreglass sculpture that adorns the Medindie property – with townhouses, apartments and shops.

Chris Shopov – on behalf of his mother Yanka – has applied through consultants to the State Planning Commission to have the property rezoned to allow for a potential development of up to seven storeys at the junction of Nottage Tce and Main North Rd.

The Giant Scotsman was designed by Adelaide Hills’ artist Paul Kelly and installed on Scotty’s Motel in 1962

The Advertiser had sought clarity through Mr Shopov’s consultant Chris Vounasis about the future of the Scotsman and whether the bagpipe-playing kilted model, which was installed in December 1962, would be spared or destroyed.

Mrs Shopov, 86, said the property was her son’s inheritance and that any plans for the site were his decision.

But she said the site should be rezoned. “They have to , the city is growing, infrastructure is very expensive, we (the site) is only two kilometres from the city, it’s a beautiful site,” she said.

“If the buildings are demolished (the Scotsman) can’t stay there, and sooner or later they will be demolished,” she said.

“If that day comes ... I personally wouldn’t chuck him in the rubbish, I would fix him and maybe build him like a statute; to me he is very important.”

Adelaide artist and Scotsman creator Paul Kelly – who also designed and built Larry the Lobster at Kingston SE – told The Advertiser in 2018 that the Scotsman set the trend for “Big Things” which have popped up across Australia

“They got onto all sorts of things after that. But that was the first one and people took their cue from that,” he said at the time.

“People said you couldn’t do it and that’s what bugged me … I had to prove them wrong.”

Paul Kelly in front of the Giant Scotsman, in 2017, believes it was the first ‘Big Thing’ in Australia.

Mr Vounasis, director of planning firm Future Urban, raised potential rezoning of the site in February 2020 during consultation for the state government planning reforms.

Under the new planning system, instituted across metropolitan Adelaide on March 19, any property owner can apply to the State Planning Commission to have their site rezoned.

The Scotty’s Motel site has a height limit of three levels under the new planning and design code.

In the submission Mr Vounasis said “redevelopment of the subject site would realise greater value and amenity …”.

“The subject site has sufficient depth to ensure that an economic development could be accommodated on the land whilst respecting the interface with established dwellings …” he wrote.

In the submission he says the proposal would support government planning policies such as increasing housing affordability and diversity and locating high-density and mixed-use development close to transport.

Ms Shopov, a Bulgarian refugee, told the BBC in 2017 that people loved the Scotsman but that he was expensive to maintain.

“He is exposed to the weather day and night (and) it costs between $7000 to $9,000 to have him painted. It’s not cheap but he draws attention to the business here,” she was reported to have said.

Any proposed amendment to the motel site must go out for public consultation.