About

A benchmark example of adaptive reuse, demonstrating how contemporary development can successfully integrate with heritage conservation.

Adelaide Marriott Hotel

Location

Adelaide

Status

Completed 2024

RCP provided project management services for the $200 million Adelaide Marriott Hotel, South Australia’s first Marriott-branded hotel and a landmark adaptive-reuse development within the Adelaide CBD. The project comprised the restoration and conversion of the 1872 General Post Office (GPO) Commonwealth Heritage building alongside the construction of a new 15-storey, five-star hotel tower cantilevered above the historic structure.

Completed in July 2024 and officially opened in August 2024, the development delivered 285 guest rooms, including a presidential suite, club lounge, restaurant and bar, swimming pool, fitness centre, function spaces, extensive back-of-house facilities, a split-level basement, plant decks, porte cochere and public realm landscaping.

The project was conceived to introduce an internationally recognised luxury hotel brand to South Australia while preserving and revitalising one of Adelaide’s most significant heritage assets. The brief required careful integration of the GPO building into a contemporary high-rise hotel, balancing stringent Commonwealth and State heritage requirements with Marriott International’s global operational standards. Extensive remediation, services replacement and seismic strengthening works were required to adapt the heritage structure for modern hospitality use, ensuring long-term commercial viability and civic value.

The constrained CBD site and heritage context presented substantial technical and logistical challenges. Works involved demolition of an adjacent office building, deep basement excavation and construction within close proximity to the fragile GPO fabric.

Significant latent conditions were discovered, including undocumented structural deficiencies and heritage basement tunnels, which necessitated extensive seismic and structural upgrades within completed and occupied areas.

RCP coordinated closely with heritage authorities, engineers, conservation specialists, the hotel operator and construction teams to manage approvals, vibration and crack monitoring, and complex staging processes to protect the heritage building throughout construction.

Rigorous quality assurance processes were implemented, including off-site façade visual mock-ups, a full prototype hotel room approved by Marriott International, and progressive defect management to streamline commissioning and handover.

The project was delivered in line with international operator standards, resulting in a high-quality, five-star hotel that launched as a flagship Marriott property and immediately strengthened Adelaide’s accommodation capacity.

Images courtesy of Marriott.