Lot Fourteen

Before the new RAH building was complete, various ideas were mooted about uses for the site of the old buildings. In January 2017, the then South Australian Government had plans to redevelop the site which included more than 1,000 apartments and a five-star hotel. It was decided that five heritage buildings would be retained, and about a third of the site would become part of the adjoining Adelaide Botanic Garden.[6] There were also plans to turn the helipad into a "roof-top hotel".[7][8]

In March 2018, there was a change of government, with Steven Marshall's Liberal Party voted into office. With the focus on its development as an "innovation hub", the state budget in September allocated A$476 million over five years to government authority Renewal SA to help lure startups and industries associated with the Australian Space Agency, which would be located on the site. Industry and Skills minister David Pisoni said the site would host up to 650 workspaces, conference and collaboration facilities. Several of the heritage buildings would be maintained and redeveloped.[9][10]

By the end of 2018, over 150 people had moved into the development, in the focus areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics, cybersecurity, defence and space technology, and creative technology.[11] An entrepreneurial hub known as FIXE@LotFourteen (Future Industries Exchange for Entrepreneurship at Lot Fourteen) had also been established.[12]

On 12 December 2018, Prime Minister Scott Morrison officially announced that the Australian Space Agency, a department of the federal government, would be located at Lot Fourteen in 2019.[13]

In June 2019, Adelaide City Council raised concerns about the proposed exemption from paying rates by businesses on the site, after RenewalSA had announced plans for a proposed 250-room hotel at the site.[14] Also in June, the state government announced an injection of federal funds, which made a total of A$551 million, known as the "Adelaide City Deal", much of which would be used on Lot Fourteen. By that time, there were a number of space-related companies already there or signed on, and plans for the Gallery for Aboriginal Art and Cultures, an International Centre for Food, Hospitality and Tourism Studies and an Indigenous Business Hub were being consolidated. The state government would be implementing a new governance arrangement for Lot Fourteen.[12] The amount involved in the deal was reported as A$649 million in November 2020.[2]

Canadian expert Ilse Treurnicht, formerly CEO of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, a not-for-profit innovation complex built on the site of an old hospital, was invited to submit recommendations to the government in September 2019, during a second visit arranged by the Don Dunstan Foundation. Among her recommendations was that the non-government sector should have a greater say in the management of the redevelopment. She also recommended establishing an independent board, which could consult widely and create cross-sector collaborations between government and business groups.[1]

Tenants of the refurbished Hanson and Eleanor Harrald Buildings included Inovor Technologies (space technology) and Presagen (health technology) in June 2019, with a forecast of over a thousand people working there by the end of the summer season in 2020.[15] Also in June, the independent not-for-profit innovation hub operator Stone & Chalk was commissioned to help start-ups at the site develop and grow and to provide advice to the government. They said that FIXE at Lot Fourteen would be launched by October.[16] Grants, education, workspaces and other forms of support are designed to attract entrepreneurs to the site.[17]

In July 2019, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agreed to collaborate on the development of a "Living Lab", enabling collaboration among the public, private and research sectors to determine the best ways for South Australia to plan both economic and sustainable population growth.[18]

The Australian Space Agency offices were officially opened on 19 February 2020[19] in the McEwin Building.[2] The ASA is planning to "triple the size of the Australian space industry and create 20,000 new jobs by 2030".[19]

Also in February, Marshall (Premier and Minister of the Arts and Aboriginal Affairs) announced that the A$235 million Aboriginal Cultural Centre would open by 2023, after long consultation with Indigenous communities, especially the local Kaurna people, resulting in improvements on the original plan.[20] The South Australian Museum’s collection of over 30,000 cultural artefacts, currently in storage, would form the centrepiece of the collection on public display, and it would also include artefacts and other forms of art sourced from not only within SA (including from Tandanya and the Art Gallery of South Australia), but also from around Australia, making it the most "comprehensive collection of Australian Aboriginal cultural material in the world".[21] The project was to be funded by the state government to the tune of A$150 million, and federal government by A$85 million. The word “national” had been dropped from the title of the new institution, from its title owing to competition with the Northern Territory, with both jurisdictions claiming their institutions would be firsts for Australia.[20]

The Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C) was established in the Eleanor Harrald Building in July.[2]

In September 2020, Ireland-based professional services company Accenture announced that they would be establishing in hub in Adelaide, with premises at Lot Fourteen.[22][23][24]

In November 2020, an extra A$50 million was allocated to the Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC) in the 2020-2021 state budget, bringing the total amount to A$200 million for construction of the building. It is intended to use virtual reality and other digital technologies, and to create spaces for performances which would cater for "immersive interactive story-telling". Construction is scheduled to commence in 2021, with completion in 2024.[21]

A$60 million of the Adelaide City Deal is earmarked for developing the International Centre for Food, Hospitality and Tourism Studies, with construction starting in 2021. A new 16-storey building will house the Entrepreneurial and Innovation and Centre, scheduled for completion at the end of 2023.The Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AML) is located on the corner of North Terrace and Frome Road, an artificial intelligence research institute created collaboratively by the state government and the University of Adelaide.[2]

The Stone & Chalk startup hub, housed in the old Allied Health Building, provides office space to 45 technology-focused enterprises, and also the MIT's bigdata Living Lab.[2]

In January, the Adelaide office of architectural firm Woods Bagot was commissioned to create the preliminary designs for the AACC.[25]

During an outbreak of COVID-19 in Adelaide in July 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, SA Health opened a temporary COVID-19 testing centre on the site.[26][27]

In December 2021, construction began on the Aboriginal Arts and Cultures Centre, which was assigned the name Tarrkarri, meaning "the future" in the Kaurna language. Kaurna ambassador for the centre, David Rathman, said that the A$200,000,000 build would provide jobs for local Aboriginal people, and that Aboriginal people would be consulted at all stages of the design and construction process.[28]

Lot Fourteen in January 2023

In September 2022, it was announced that Airbus Defence and Space would be setting up a research facility at Lot Fourteen in October, responsible for developing new satellites for the Australian Defence Force. The company will work on the Defence Department's "Resilient Multi-mission Space STaR Shot" (RMS) program, which includes the development and launching of at least four satellites over the following eight years.[29]