News: أغسطس 2015

الاثنين، 31 أغسطس 2015

Key Newcastle site up for grabs again

It’s been a blot on Newcastle’s landscape for decades but now the Hunter Development Corporation (HDC) is putting Newcastle’s 2085m2 Empire Hotel site up for sale and calling for developers to submit their proposals.

The prominent site at the corner of Steele and Hunter Streets, where the Empire Hotel stood until it was ripped apart by a fire in 2003 and demolished in 2011, has been vacant for decades and it has remained a hot topic of Novocastrian real estate conversation ever since.

Previously occupied by drug addicts and squatters, it’s a critical site for Newcastle City Council because it’s in walking distance of Newcastle Harbour, Marketown Shopping Centre, the university, light rail, the courthouse and the Honeysuckle precinct.

Many plans have been slated for the area in the past, including one for a government call centre and a 15-storey commercial and serviced apartment building.
The most recent proposal by consortium Newcastle First was to build a 14-storey apartment building with at least 25 units for affordable housing units and housing for people with disabilities but the deal was left in tatters in July this year after an agreement could not be reached on the final contract terms.

Under the previous proposal the HDC, which bought the land from a private owner in 2010, had agreed to contribute the land value (around $2.8 million) in exchange for 17 affordable housing units.

In addition, the City of Newcastle committed $2.9 million in cash from the Building Better Cities Housing Management and Development Committee in exchange for eight affordable housing units.

But these funding arrangements will not be in place this time around with the HDC intending to sell the site’s freehold.

When negotiations broke down earlier this year HDC General Manager Bob Hawes said: “As landowner, HDC has made every effort to structure a mutually acceptable contract for the delivery of a residential development on the site incorporating a number of affordable housing units.

“Although these negotiations were always going to be complex, they have reached an impasse and it is clear they will not progress any further.”

Although the site is zoned B3 Commercial Core and the floor space ratio is more profitable for commercial uses, it could potentially be used for apartments. HDC is known to back an element of affordable housing in any new proposal.

An HDC spokesman said: “HDC will not be mandating the inclusion of affordable housing and so does not have a target for this site. However, HDC is very keen to deliver more affordable housing in the city centre, in addition to the 170 units already delivered over the life of the Honeysuckle urban renewal project.”

Mr Hawes said of the Empire Hotel site: “HDC is determined to see a new lease of life in this site as soon as possible. It has great potential to be a big part of the wider revitalisation of the city centre, particularly in the West End.”

Interested developers have six weeks to submit their proposals.

The Newcastle First consortium comprised: Newcastle building company Compton Projects, – affordable housing advice IPA Partners and Lexington Consulting and Principal Assets Pty Ltd, a capital partner. Consortium members are not banned from submitting new proposals for the site.

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CSIRO swallows NICTA

It was flagged earlier this year, and now it has happened. NICTA, National Information and Communications Technology Australia, will be merged with CSIRO’s Digital Productivity flagship.

A joint announcement by Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane and Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull said that the two organisations will merge to form a new CSIRO entity called Data61, which they said will be one of the largest digital innovation teams in the world.

NICTA was announced with much fanfare by the Howard government in 2002 as a peak ICT research body to be funded by government. At its height it employed over 700 people, but the Abbott government announced in its first budget that NICTA’s finding would cease next year, and it would need to look to the private sector to finance its operations.

That budget also saw funding for CSIRO cut, by $115 over four years, leading to a 20 per cent reduction in staff.

Despite the budget cuts the two ministers are painting the demise of NICTA as a positive. “CSIRO and NICTA are two world-class research organisations with some of the world’s leading scientists,” said Mr Macfarlane. “Both have an impressive track record in digital innovation and have demonstrated their ability to take home-grown technologies to market.

“Together they will be a force to be reckoned with, creating an internationally-recognised digital research powerhouse that will benefit Australian industry as it reaches into new global markets and seizes new opportunities for jobs and growth.”

Mr Turnbull said a single organisation will have more focus. “It will deliver strong economic returns and ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of digital innovation. The new combined entity will continue to train Australia’s future digital technology leaders through the enhanced PhD program, with more than 300 technology PhDs enrolled at partner universities.”

That’s not what they were saying 13 years ago when NICTA was launched, by the Minister for Communications Senator Richard Alston and the Minister for Science Brendan Nelson. “NICTA will be a world class ICT research organisation with the scale to be globally involved and to have international impact,” they said.

Data61 will be headed by Australian expatriate entrepreneur Adrian Turner. “So much of our understanding and interaction with the world is underpinned by digital technology and data. It is a fast moving and big growth area for Australia and Australian industry, and Data61 will be well-positioned to play a leading role in defining the new economic structures and opportunities that are emerging globally.”

For the past 18 years, Adrian Turner has been based in Silicon Valley, firstly working for global tech giant Phillips then building his own companies. He was formerly co-founder of the Borondi Group, a company that applies emerging technologies in traditionally conservative industries such as agriculture, mining and transportation.

Before that he co-founded smart phone and security company Mocana, where he raised more than $40 million dollars from institutional and corporate investors. He also authored the book BlueSky Mining – Building Australia’s Next Billion Dollar Industries and was chairman of Advance, a networking group for Australian expatriates.

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