RAA Tower (formerly Westpac House, Santos House and State Bank Building, and commonly known as The RAA Building) is an office building in the

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. It is a 31-storey office tower, reaching at its roof, with each level approximately in height. From 1988 until 2019, it was the tallest building in Adelaide. It is set back from

Currie Street Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

King William Street, and is connected to two adjacent office buildings on Currie Street. It has four street frontages, and various pedestrian thoroughfares. The building was originally known as the

State Bank A state bank is generally a financial institution that is chartered by a federated state, as opposed to one regulated at the federal or national level. State banks differ from a reserve bank in that it does not necessarily control monetary polic ...

building, before the 1991 State Bank Collapse, when it was purchased by Santos and renamed the Santos Building 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, resulting in its renaming to "RAA Tower". RAA signage is scheduled for installation by mid-2023.

History

Opened in 1988 as the

building, it became Santos House after the collapse of the

in the early 1990s. Its major tenants have included Santos,

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

HWL Ebsworth HWL Ebsworth is a commercial law firm that operates throughout Australia. It is the largest partnership among Australian law firms, with 269 partners as of 2020. HWL Ebsworth operates offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobar ...

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the institute) was the professional accounting body representing Chartered Accountants in Australia before it merged with the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants to become Charte ...

and the Australian Securities Exchange. In 2007, Santos moved its headquarters into a new building on Flinders Street, and

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, ...

acquired the naming rights to the building. In the lead up to (and during) major holidays, the windows are selectively lit up in formation. These include a white cross for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

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. It sold 50 per cent to Inheritance Capital Asset Management in 2016. Being the tallest building in Adelaide, it was chosen as the venue for the stair race events at the 2007

World Police and Fire Games The World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) is a biennial athletic event, open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world. The WPFG Federation is an arm of the California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF), ...

. 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 The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States ...

database, 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. Removal of the signage began on the western-facing side of the building. RAA signage is expected to be installed after naming rights where purchased.

References

{{Adelaide landmarks Buildings and structures in Adelaide Skyscrapers in Adelaide Westpac Skyscraper office buildings in Australia Office buildings completed in 1988 Bank buildings in Australia 1998 establishments in Australia

History

See also

References