RAA Tower

RAA Tower (formerly Westpac House, Santos House, BankSA Building, and State Bank Building) is an office building located at 91 King William Street, Adelaide. It is a 31-storey office tower, reaching 132 metres (433 ft) at its roof, with each level approximately 4.2 metres (14 ft) in height. From 1988 until 2019, it was the tallest building in Adelaide.

RAA Tower
RAA Tower in 2008
Former names
  • State Bank Building
  • BankSA Building
  • Santos House
  • Westpac House
EtymologyRAA
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeCommercial
LocationAdelaide, South Australia
Address91 King William St
Coordinates34°55′29″S 138°35′54″E
Current tenants
Completed1988
Owner
  • Abacus Property Group (50%);
  • Inheritance Capital Asset Management (50%)[1]
Height132 m (433 ft)
Technical details
Floor count31
Floor area3,170 square metres (34,100 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architecture firmRod Roach Architecture & Woods Bagot
DeveloperState Bank of South Australia
Main contractorBaulderstone Hornibrook
Website
91 King William St

It is set back from Currie Street near the intersection with King William Street, and is connected to two adjacent office buildings on Currie Street. It has four street frontages, and several pedestrian thoroughfares. The building was originally known as the State Bank building, and after the 1991 State Bank Collapse it was renamed to reflect the bank's new name, BankSA. It was purchased by Santos and renamed in February 1997. From 2007 to 2022, it was known as Westpac House. In December 2022, RAA purchased naming rights to the tower and Westpac’s signage was removed, with the change to its current name.

History

Opened in 1988 as the State Bank building, it bore BankSA's sturt desert pea logo after the collapse and sale of the bank in 1991.

In 1997 the naming rights were purchased by Santos and the logo was changed accordingly.

Other major tenants have included PricewaterhouseCoopers, HWL Ebsworth, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the Australian Securities Exchange.

In 2007, Santos moved its headquarters into a new building on Flinders Street, and BankSA's new owners, Westpac, re-acquired the naming rights to the building.[2]

In the lead up to (and during) major holidays, the windows have been selectively lit up in formation. These include a white cross for Easter and Anzac Day, and a tree (in fluorescent green) for Christmas.

Abacus Property Group acquired a half interest in Santos House in October 2004 and the remaining 50 per cent in 2015.[3] It sold 50 per cent to Inheritance Capital Asset Management in 2016.[1]

At the time (and for 31 years) the tallest building in Adelaide, it was the venue for the stair race events at the 2007 World Police and Fire Games.

Between 11 and 15 May 2007, the 'Santos' sign on the building was removed and a single red 'W', the Westpac logo, had replaced it by 21 June.

In October 2019, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat database,[4] Westpac House was the 167th tallest building in Australia.

On 9 December 2022, removal of the red ‘W’ Westpac logo from the building’s fascia commenced, due to Westpac no longer being headquartered there.[5] Removal of the signage began on the western-facing side of the building.

RAA signage is expected to be installed in 2023 as the State's largest membership organisation secured two floors and naming rights of the iconic Adelaide building in late 2022.[6]

See also

References
  1. Lenaghan, Nick (31 October 2016). "Boutique investor joins Abacus in Adelaide's tallest tower". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  2. "Westpac House". Emporis.com. Emporis. n.d. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  3. "Westpac House". Abacus Property Group. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  4. "Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat database". Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  5. Tauriello, Giuseppe (26 September 2022). "Westpac departs landmark tower, naming rights up for grabs". The Advertiser. Retrieved 14 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "RAA purchases naming rights of iconic westpac building". Retrieved 22 December 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.