GOLD SPONSOR

URPS is a dynamic and diverse firm of town planners and allied professionals. 

Our work in three key areas helps deliver healthy, connected and prosperous cities and regions: 

1. Development - Insightful advice and planning support for development of diverse scale and complexity. 
2. Engagement - Building positive and productive relationships with stakeholders and the community. 
3. Policy - Covering development guidelines, social planning, climate change adaptation, natural resource management and organisational development.   

Gold Sponsor Spotlight

URPS is delighted to be a gold sponsor of the 2023 Planning Institute of Australia National Congress to be held in Adelaide over three days in May. 

 PIA recently sat down with URPS Managing Director, Matthew King, to talk about Adelaide and URPS:

Q. What’s been happening in the Planning sphere in South Australia since the Congress was last here in 2012?

A. Nothing short of transformation. The planning system has been completely overhauled under new legislation. 

State Planning Policies represent the highest level of policy in our new planning system. They define South Australia’s planning priorities, goals and interests as a framework for other state-wide planning tools such as Regional Plans and the Planning & Design Code. 

We have Australia’s first integrated and comprehensive ePlanning platform and online system. PlanSA includes the online Planning & Design Code (the Code) and associated ePlanning platform for South Australia, replacing 72 hard copy council development plans and the manual processing of development applications. All development applications are lodged, assessed and tracked online.

Accredited Assessment Managers, Council Assessment Panels and the State Commission Assessment Panel have the primary responsibility for development assessment. Private Certifiers can also determine straight-forward development applications. This means that there is more assessment of development applications by independent professionals than ever before. 

The Community Engagement Charter has seen increased requirements for tailored community engagement during policy creation. Public notification during development assessment has been expanded. At the same time, there are more limited third-party appeal rights relating to development applications. 

The Government Architect and Office of Design & Architecture undertake Design Review of large-scale development, primarily in the CBD. This provides a rigorous examination of the design detail of development proposals beyond the guidelines contained in the Code. 

I could go on. South Australian planners can’t be accused of resting on their laurels.

Q. What does the host city, Adelaide, offer PIA Congress attendees?

A.  Adelaide has:

• The No.1 restaurant in Australia for 2023 - Restaurant Botanic - plus 10 of the top 80 restaurants in Australia (according to Gourmet Traveller).
• A great mix of small bars and larger venues throughout the CBD.
• Simply the best ground for watching sport in Australia, the Adelaide Oval, in the heart of the city.
• The Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills regions making the best wine in Australia within an hour of the CBD.
• Great hiking and cycling with terrific views over the city from several, easy-to-access, lookouts in the Adelaide Hills.

Q. Tell us about what URPS been doing lately?

A. Growing. Our team of development, engagement and policy specialists has never been bigger or busier. 

Like New York, the development sector never sleeps. We have been helping proponents get planning approvals for everything from architecturally designed homes and volume-builder housing, to high-tech agriculture/industry/recycling facilities, to multi-storey buildings, to tourism ventures, to schools and universities, and more. We have also been supporting numerous Councils with their development assessment work and adapting to the new ePlanning system everywhere from Ceduna to the inner areas of Adelaide. 

Our engagement team has been consulting with people on issues as diverse as the University of Tasmania campus relocation into the Hobart CBD, a safety review of the South-Eastern Freeway, the new Adelaide Aquatic Centre in the Park Lands, business planning for the SA Public Transport Authority, the Adelaide Crows AFL team training facilities at Thebarton Oval and meet the candidates for the upcoming Local Government elections. 

A key part of the new planning system is proponent-lead rezonings. We have been helping owners prepare the necessary documents to support their rezoning objectives for more residential, commercial and industrial land throughout South Australia. 

Paul Beatty is smashing it as the lead of our Melbourne office and we are ambitious for more growth in Victoria. 

We are also very excited about our office move into the Adelaide CBD the first part of next year.
Hopefully, the Congress will coincide with our office house-warming for a great week of celebration.