Greens MLC Robert Simms will introduce new heritage protection legislation when parliament returns next month, in a bid to prevent state heritage buildings falling “victim to demolition by neglect”.

He highlighted the vacant 109-year-old Gawler Chambers on North Terrace and the 1878-built Edmund Wright House on King William St as two longstanding vacant heritage sites ripe for intervention, and claimed North Terrace is “currently resembling a ghost town”.

“If you walk down North Terrace, there’s a whole heap of beautiful old buildings that are falling into disrepair, really decaying and aren’t being brought up to scratch, and also aren’t necessarily being utilised,” Simms told InDaily.

The state heritage listed Gawler Chambers on North Terrace, reportedly vacant since 2004. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Edmund Wright House at 59 King William St is still looking for a commercial tenant. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Under the proposed reforms, which would likely amend the Heritage Places Act 1993, the state government could serve a notice to a property owner asking them to undertake repair and maintenance work on their state heritage site.

If the works are not undertaken in a specified timeframe, the government would have the power to step in and do the maintenance work and then charge the property owner for costs incurred.

Alternatively, the property owner could reach an agreement to open the building for a public use in exchange for the government undertaking the repairs.

Currently, a $50,000 penalty exists for a property owner who “fails to take reasonable care of a state heritage place” or “fails to comply with any prescribed requirements” regarding protection and repair.

But Simms argued the current laws are “clearly not working”.

“I think if people purchase a heritage building, then they need to understand that there are certain obligations that come with that,” he said.

“These are iconic building, they’re part of our city landscape and part of the story of our state.

“So, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say, ‘okay, you need to make the necessary changes, and if you don’t, well the government will step in, make the changes, and send the owners the bill’.

“But I’m also allowing some flexibility there that if the property owner says: ‘look, we don’t want to pay for that’, they’re able to work with the government to make the space available for public use.”

Simms said there were “lots of civic organisations looking for space” and suggested vacant heritage buildings could also help address homelessness.

“We’re in the midst of a homelessness crisis yet we have a prime real estate sitting there vacant – surely that could be potentially utilised,” he said.

“It would give the government the power to negotiate with property owners for a bit of a trade-off to say, ‘well look, we will cover the costs of the upgrade if you let us use the interior’.”

Built in 1913-14, the state heritage listed Gawler Chambers is reported to have been vacant since 2004 and is visibly deteriorating.

The State Commission Assessment Panel in October last year declined the Adelaide Development Company’s (ADC) eighth request for a time extension on a bid for a 15-storey office tower behind the chambers.

Meanwhile, Edmund Wright House, the former home of the Bank of South Australia, has been looking for a commercial tenant to move in since 2015.

Elsewhere, the vacant state heritage listed Romilly House on the corner of Hackney Road and North Terrace has been a target for vandals and graffiti. It has reportedly been vacant since 2017.

The state heritage Romilly House, also known as Hackney Lodge, has been a target for graffiti and vandals. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

In the western CBD, the grand Newmarket Hotel on the corner of North and West Terrace has also been lying dormant for some years.

Plans to build two 32-storey towers behind the heritage-listed former pub were approved in August 2021.

Plans to revitalise the Newmarket Hotel are yet to materialise despite development approval being granted in 2021 for two 32-storey towers behind the state heritage building. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Planning Minister Nick Champion said the state government would review Simms’ reform proposal.

“The Government welcomes any suggestion to ensure the heritage and character of State Heritage listed buildings,” he said in a statement.

“Heritage listed buildings tell the story of our State since settlement, with some of the buildings on the register dating back to 1849. Their classification on the State Heritage Register indicates their importance to our State and significance.

“The Heritage Place Act 1993 – under the responsibility of the Deputy Premier, the Hon Dr Susan Close MP – has existing powers within it to penalise the destruction or reduction of a building deemed to be a place of significant State Heritage.

“The Government will review Mr Simms’ legislation to see how it may preserve and maintain heritage listed buildings in and around the city – and help ensure they do not fall, or remain, in states of disrepair.”

In 2015, former Labor Planning Minister John Rau identified heritage places falling into disrepair along North Terrace as a “real problem” and contemplated introducing similar penalties to encourage development along the boulevard.

According to the Property Council’s January 2023 office market report, office vacancy rates in the Adelaide CBD rose from 14.2 per cent to 16.1 per cent. The increase was attributed to additional supply coming onto the market.

SA Property Council executive director Bruce Djite argued Simms’ proposal was “an overreach” but a policy that encouraged private sector tenancies in heritage property “could be a way forward”.

“While many of Adelaide’s heritage buildings are privately owned, of course, heritage is a public good and therefore should at least in part be publicly funded,” Djite said in a statement.

“The Property Council supports building owners investing in and upgrading their stock, and where heritage building owners are able to do more then of course, they should.

“However, a Bill proposing that Government can force its way onto a private property, undertake work and then charge an owner for the privilege is an overreach and quite frankly, not a constructive policy.”

“Mr Simms may wish to ask why these buildings are vacant or undermaintained?”

Djite said commercial tenants were more attracted to “newer and refurbished stock” rather than older buildings, but highlighted Lot Fourteen as an example where an underutilised site can be revitalised.

“As evidenced in our latest Office Market Report, Adelaide is experiencing a flight to quality with record supply attracting tenants to newer and refurbished stock with increased vacancy in lower grades,” he said.

“If Government were to create a scheme that incentivises private sector tenancy in growth industries within heritage stock that could be a way forward.”