11 June 2010

SA leading the student market

We thought we would check in with our friends that market our education products internationally, and it looks like our state is doing pretty well in terms of growth rates when compared to the rest of the country.
South Australia's current market share (ytd March 2010) is 5.9%, and the same time last year it was 5.5%. This is a 0.4% increase in commencements compared with 0.3% nationally. Indian students have increased 11.5 % in SA, with a decrease by 1.9% nationally.
Now if only we can get the Crows and Power to perform as well against the other national sides!

06 June 2010

Altitude

We listed some of the Altitude apartments for rental just had our first look inside the building on the old Balfours site in the North West precinct of the city. A few years ago Buchan Lee sold a portion of the area which housed all of the company's distinctive blue vans in between deliveries of their yummy pies, pasties and famous frog cakes. Our friends at Urban Edge acquired it and developed part of the site with townhouses and divided land into blocks for buyers to build their own townhouses.
Another developer has recently completed the 18 storey Altitude building, which is the first in a series of towers planned for the site. The inspiration was the towers of San Gimignano in Italy - a "pin-wheel" design was used with the lifts ascending through the centre of the tower and apartments radiating from the central point maximising the views for all apartments. The glass bottomed swimming pool on the sixth floor protrudes from the structure over the courtyard below, which should make for exciting swimming! It was not quite ready when we visited, but we will bring you photos as soon as we have access.

05 June 2010

Inside the Torrens Building

A contact of ours recently invited us to look through the rejuvenated interiors of the stately Torrens Building on Victoria Square. Built in 1879 as a Government building and named after Sir Robert Torrens (South Australia's third premier and pioneer of the world renowned Torrens Title system for transferring land), its beautifully antique exterior appearance matches its historical background. The Australian Heritage Database describes it as "the best remaining example in Adelaide of Italian Renaissance or Neo Classical style with a Palladian composition".
However, the ultra-modern fitouts within tell a completely different story. The building originally housed many State Government departments (including the Land Titles office where Peter used to work!), and was later used by community service groups after a 1999 refurbishment. As we blogged earlier, the major residents now are 3 prominent international universities - Carnegie Mellon, Cranfield University, and University College London (UCL).
The most recent upgrade was done for the UCL School of Energy and Resources campus. It is appropriately sponsored by Santos and boasts stylish furniture, contemporary fittings as well as the latest technology - computers, projectors and audio equipment allowing collaboration and combined lectures with other campuses in Great Britain. UCL is ranked in the top 5 universities in the world and has a global reputation for teaching and research with 20 nobel prize winners among former students and academics.