LIFESTYLE SA MOVES INTO BRAND NEW HOME

South Australia’s leading retirement village provider Lifestyle SA has moved into new corporate headquarters at Unley.

The company has relocated from North Terrace to 91 King William Road where it has built a new two-storey base incorporating sales and administration offices and a village display centre for the public.

The purpose-built headquarters will also serve as a technology hub connecting to Lifestyle SA’s network of villages across Adelaide, including all telecommunications and broadband internet services for residents.

Lifestyle SA Development Director Stephen Norris says the move signals an exciting new phase for the company.

“We’ve enjoyed tremendous market acceptance of our innovative Lifestyle Village concept to the point where we now manage nine resort-style villages across Adelaide and have another three in the pipeline,” he said.

“Our new Unley headquarters will serve as a sales centre for potential buyers and will also enable us to provide a superior service to existing residents in all of our villages.”

Established in 2000 as a subsidiary of the Pickard Norris Joint Venture, Lifestyle SA provides modern retiree housing for over-55s comprising fully appointed homes, extensive recreational facilities and high levels of security within a social environment.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Stephen Norris on 0419 021 685

ISSUED BY HUGHES PUBLIC RELATIONS:
Kieran Hall on 0422 147 151 or kieran@hughespr.com.au

CONSTRUCTION ON COURSE AT THE DUNES

Civil works and key infrastructure for the first two stages of The Dunes Port Hughes residential and resort project on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula are now complete.

Extensive earthworks carried out over winter have seen significant progress made on-site, including the establishment of roads within the development and creation of lakes for ongoing stormwater collection.

Construction has also progressed on the Greg Norman-designed championship golf course – the centrepiece of the $750 million Dunes project – with the shaping of several holes already completed.

The Dunes Port Hughes Project Manager Phill Hudson said land allotments also continue to be developed, while construction of the project’s main boulevard has now commenced.

“The project has come along in leaps and bounds in recent months,” said Mr Hudson.

“We’ve taken advantage of the winter period to fast-track key infrastructure including roads and shaping of the golf course, and have also installed components of our grey-water management system to make irrigation of the course self-sustaining in the long term.”

Mr Hudson said the construction schedule was deliberately stepped up in recent months because earthworks associated with the golf course can only be undertaken during winter to minimise the dust impact on adjacent communities.

“Shaping of the first three fairways has now been completed and we will recommence work to complete the first nine holes of the 18-hole championship course with the first rains of 2010,” he said.

Located 170km north of Adelaide overlooking Spencer Gulf, The Dunes Port Hughes is South Australia’s largest planned residential and resort development. When complete the 15-year project will feature more than 2,000 residential dwellings, world-class leisure facilities and a retail precinct.

Mr Hudson said the development is entering an exciting new phase and is looking forward to strengthening sales activity in line with the State’s defiance of the global economic downturn and the underlying demand for housing in the region from a growing permanent and visitor population.

“Port Hughes – and Yorke Peninsula coastal towns more generally – have been recognised nationally as property hotspots and we have already enjoyed strong sales worth more than $16 million despite the global economic downturn,” he said.

“The Dunes has attracted a broad range of purchasers from the Yorke Peninsula, Adelaide and mining and farming communities across SA, as well as from interstate and overseas.

“Now that we are well advanced on the provision of infrastructure including roads and shaping of the golf course, potential purchasers will see increasing evidence of the vision we have for this tremendous project.”

The Dunes Port Hughes is being developed by The Dunes Port Hughes Pty Ltd headed by Irish millionaire Peter Butterly, whose long-term vision for the region has already seen the successful development of three smaller residential projects including nearby Patrick’s Cove and Patrick’s View estates.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact The Dunes Port Hughes
Phill Hudson, Project Manager, on (08) 8212 7122

ISSUED BY HUGHES PUBLIC RELATIONS: Please contact
Kieran Hall on (08) 8412 4100 or kieran@hughespr.com.au

New report shows major renewable benefits for low cost geothermal power in South Australia

Adelaide geothermal company Petratherm has welcomed a new independent report showing early investment in building transmission lines for geothermal projects will deliver huge savings for Australian electricity consumers.

Petratherm Managing Director Terry Kallis said the report by leading energy economics firm McLennan Magasanik Associates (MMA) clearly shows geothermal has the potential to be the cheapest form of renewable energy.

MMA, the company that advised the Federal Government on the design of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and Renewable Energy Target, was commissioned by the Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA) to produce the report.

The report studied the cost benefit of connecting an electricity transmission line from Innamincka in northern SA via Olympic Dam near Moomba to Davenport near Port Augusta – taking in the geothermal energy projects of Geodynamics in the Cooper Basin and Petratherm in the northern Flinders Ranges.

It showed investing $171 million in transmission would create savings of $860 million for South Australian customers and $2,800 million for customers of the National Electricity Market (NEM) from 2011 to 2030.

“This report shows early investment in transmission will allow low-cost geothermal energy to push electricity prices down along with the cost of renewable energy certificates,” Mr Kallis said.

“The potential for cheap, base load power coming from the northern part of South Australia is very large. The Australian Energy Market Commission has been provided with a copy of the report as part of its consideration into how to facilitate large-scale renewable energy into the NEM.

“The MMA study demonstrates that the lowest cost solution, in SA, for getting renewable energy into the market is from geothermal power. The report also indicates that transmission line investment can be deemed to be regulated assets.”

The MMA report can be found on the Petratherm website - www.petratherm.com.au/. The AGEA Media Release can be found on the AGEA website - www.agea.org.au/