Defence swaps Keswick Army Barracks for Osborne land to allow shipyards expansion – see the artist impressions

The historic Keswick Barracks site will be unlocked for housing in a critical land-swap deal allowing the Osborne shipyards to expand for the nuclear subs fleet.

The historic Keswick Army Barracks will be unlocked for redevelopment as the Defence Department commits to handing over the prime real estate to the state government in a remarkable land swap crucial to the expansion of the Osborne shipyard.

Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed on Wednesday the site would be provided to the state in exchange for land around the shipyard as part of a new ‘co-operation agreement’.

As part of the deal, the state government will also receive land at Cultana on the Eyre Peninsula to boost plans to establish a hydrogen hub at Port Bonython.

“(The) land exchange is going to provide South Australia with really important land at Keswick in urban Adelaide (and) land at Cultana, which is important in terms of the hydrogen project, but from the defence point of view is going to provide an exchange of the land right here at Osborne necessary to put in place the construction yard, which will ultimately build the submarine,” Mr Marles said.

The Keswick Army Barracks is prime Adelaide real estate long mooted for high-density housing.

Unley Mayor Michael Hewitson is a fan of the idea of redeveloping the Keswick Barracks site.

Swapping the Defence-owned, inner suburban site in return for land surrounding the current shipyard would allow for a major expansion of the Osborne precinct under the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program.

New artist impressions of the future submarine shipyard shows the scale of the planned expansion, wrapping around the Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve just north of the existing Osborne site.

Artist impression of the Osborne shipyard showing the eventual expansion around the Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve. Picture: Supplied

How the Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve looks now

Premier Peter Malinauskas and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles check out the sleeping quarters of the NUSHIP Arafura at the Osborne shipyard. Picture: Mark Brake

800 new STEM uni spots

Under the agreement signed between Mr Marles and Premier Peter Malinauskas in Adelaide on Wedneday, SA universities will be bolstered with an additional 800 places over the next four years in crucial STEM qualifications needed to assemble a workforce capable of constructing nuclear-powered submarines.

The federal government has agreed to allocate the additional 800 university places, with the first 200 beginning next year.

The new Commonwealth-supported places will be in crucial STEM disciplines including mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering.

Computer science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, psychology and management courses will also be included within the 800 places.

Keswick housing plan

The state government has not yet firmed on a specific project for the Keswick site.

But it is highly interested in the prized parcel of land due to its extremely high value, proximity to the CBD and convenient public transport access including the Adelaide Showground train station, The Advertiser understands.

The Keswick Army Barracks has been a contentious site in recent years, as calls have grown for it to be developed for housing.

Its potential has been likened to the high-density Bowden-Brompton precinct.

In 2020, prominent Adelaide property developer Theo Maras suggested the barracks be razed and converted into a “new suburb” also taking in the former Le Cornu site on Anzac Highway.

At the time, Mr Maras said the barracks appeared under-utilised and could be ripe for major high-density development.

A highlighted area of Theo Maras’ proposed new suburb, incorporating the Keswick Barracks and old Le Cornu site on Anzac Highway. Picture: Metromap

Also in 2020, Unley Mayor Michael Hewitson said the barracks could be turned into “one of the world’s best developments” that would help prevent the need for Adelaide’s urban sprawl “to spread to the edge of the desert”.

The barracks site, a large triangle of land on the corner of Anzac Highway and Greenhill Rd on the edge of the south parklands, neighbours the Adelaide Showground.

It is unclear whether the state government is pushing for the whole site or part of it.

Any potential development plans would need to consider the significant heritage status of ‘Headquarters Building 32’, built in 1913 and celebrated as the “first substantial Commonwealth building constructed in South Australia”.

It is considered one of the first significant barracks in Australia, given Commonwealth Heritage status in 2004

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Originally published as Defence swaps Keswick Army Barracks for Osborne land to allow shipyards expansion – see the artist impressions