Regal Theatre Precinct Master Plan

** UPDATE **

Stage one of community engagement took place in October 2020, seeking your ideas for the Theatre building and surrounding precinct, with a focus on what you would like to use the site for and what activities and features you would like to see. Council received 1,334 valid community responses. In addition to this, two community forums were subsequently held on 15 March 2021 with 60 attendees.

Council is currently in the process of consulting with performers, industry partners and bodies, and key hirers to determine current and future needs/wants. Following this, Council will assess the feasibility of options for the future of the Regal Theatre and the draft master plan is expected to be ready for community consultation early in 2022.

BACKGROUND:

Council seeks to partner with the community to create a master plan to provide holistic direction for the future of the Regal Theatre precinct. The master plan will protect the heritage of the theatre and will also be strategic, evidenced-based, consider community feedback, current and future demographics, emerging trends and community needs

A master plan will ensure that future maintenance and development options of the theatre building and adjacent allotments are not ad-hoc, but rather sensitive, planned, purposeful and complementary.

The precinct

The theatre building and adjacent sites are owned by the City of Burnside.

The precinct includes:

- an L-shaped allotment extending between Uxbridge Street and May Terrace, with its primary frontage to Kensington Road, that incorporates the theatre building, the Hula Hoop bar and café, and a garden.

- an allotment at 35 May Terrace containing the theatre’s rear car park, and

- 39 May Terrace containing a cottage that is currently used for storage.

Council seeks your opinion on the future of this precinct. Council will continue to conserve the theatre, but what about the future use of the surrounding land?

About the theatre

The Regal Theatre, located at 269-275 Kensington Road, turns 95 years old in 2020 and remains one of the oldest continuously running purpose-built cinemas in Adelaide.

The theatre was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register in 1982 and is an example of an art deco styled cinema; and a representation of the expansion of cinemas as a form of public entertainment from the 1920s through to the interwar period.

Places on the State Heritage Register are protected under the Heritage Places Act 1993 and are subject to the development controls for State Places within the Development Act 1993.

Extensive renovations have been undertaken on the theatre since Council took over operational responsibility for the management of the facility in 2017. These renovations have included upgraded lighting, new carpet, 500 new seats and repainting. All of these renovations have been undertaken in line with the Regal Theatre’s Conservation Management Plan that guides the conservation and ongoing maintenance of the building.

The Conservation Management Plan and a short history of the theatre are included in the document library above.

Above: View of the garden and the cottage at 39 May Terrace taken from the corner of Kensington Road and May Terrace.