The Adelaide Skyline

An occasional commentary on building construction around Adelaide and South Australia

**A recent article in Adelaide Now The Advertiser 31 May 2018 gave me a reason to pause and think about our state heritage.**

Here is a small excerpt.

State heritage-listed properties affected by State Government cuts to grant funding, says former head of SA Heritage Council

PROTECTION of the state’s most significant buildings has been “significantly impacted” because of State Government funding cuts, the former chair of the state’s heritage council has warned.

Judith Carr has also estimated that more than $2 million a year in private investment towards protecting heritage buildings has been lost due to the government scrapping two key programs that -subsidized- heritage restoration.

Her concerns were raised in a February letter to the new SA Heritage Council, headed by Keith Conlon, which has the power to enter buildings on the State Heritage Register.

Mrs Carr, who stepped down from her three-year term in April, said there were no grants available to help conserve and “activate” state heritage-listed places aside from those provided by Adelaide City Council, which budgets $1 million for ratepayers of city-based heritage-listed properties.

What a lot of South Australia’s history and character may be lost with this reduction!

If these buildings are no longer sustainable in their current form through lack of funds, then perhaps commercially repurposing them could protect our heritage and architectural character.

Looking around Adelaide I see most notably the Treasury Buildings repurposed as the Medina Hotel as a great example of preservation and private investment. The Law Courts is another fine example of repurposing, turning a heritage retail building into a magnificent public building. (Brimblecombe Builders worked on the interior joinery here.)

At Brimblecombe Builders, we have worked on the preservation of old buildings, including the façade and roof of Government House, restoration of the heritage veranda at Salvation Army headquarters in Florence Street, Hahndorf Academy building, Terowie Railway station just to mention a few.

We have also repurposed heritage buildings too, turning the old Penfolds Winery building into a new Technical Studies Area for Temple Christian College. Another example is the conversion of the old Unley Police Station into new headquarters for St John Ambulance SA.

Other notable examples of preservation and or repurposing are the Port Adelaide and Semaphore Council buildings, Harts Mill and the Maritime Museum.

It is important that we keep in touch with our past, and preservation and or repurposing old buildings is one way. For the preservation or preserving of Adelaide's or South Australia's heritage buildings, consider consulting Brimblecombe Builders.

Female friendly changing rooms for sportswomen

It seems amazing that girls and women in sport are being held back for the want of a female friendly change-room environment.

Yet this is what has been reported in various articles in the press and on TV this February. And it coincides with the release of the Stage 4 of the Female Friendly Facilities initiative of the South Australian State Government and the Office of Recreation and Sport.

Historically, changerooms for footballers and cricketers were only designed for Men's sporting teams as it wasn't envisaged that women would play these team sports.

Changerooms were available for some girls only sports, but with the growth of AFLW, and Womens cricket, the need for previously male dominated sports to share or provide separate female friendly change-rooms facilities is becoming more urgent. Grants have been made recently to 2 SANFL clubs for this purpose.

Brimblecombe Builders support this initiative and have had considerable experience in building changerooms for a gymnasium, golf club, restoration and refurbishing of Park 10, new clubhouse with changerooms for a football club, and other amenities.

For building construction Adelaide - think Brimblecombe Builders!