Land & CommunitiesChris ThomsonTue 21 Jul 26
SA Assesses Legal Options After Wel.Co Cancels East Gawler Contracts
The South Australian government says it is considering legal options over Wel.Co’s cancellation of 101 contracts with home-buyers and builders at its Springwood housing estate north of Adelaide.
Wel.Co, founded and led by Essendon AFL club president Andrew Welsh, said it recognised the cancellation of the deal at East Gawler would disappoint buyers and that the company was communicating with them about next steps.
“Springwood remains an important long-term community project and other stages continue to progress as planned, alongside Wel.co’s national portfolio,” the company said.
“Wel.Co is continuing discussions with the Town of Gawler regarding planning matters associated with Stages 8 and 9 at Springwood.”
All up, buyers of 75 retail lots have been affected, along with builders who had entered contracts for 26 lots.
Wel.Co said “revised planning and infrastructure requirements associated with the Concordia growth area” had “affected portions of the project masterplan and require significant redesign and infrastructure coordination”.
A spokesperson for the state said the government was considering law changes that could prevent such occurrences in future and was reviewing the contracts and looking at available legal options.
In a statement, the Town of Gawler said it had been contacted by “angry and upset residents” over the cancellation of stages 8 and 9.
Gawler mayor Nathan Shanks said the situation would be “deeply disappointing for the many individuals and families who believed they were taking the next step towards building their future at Gawler”.
“While [the] council acknowledges that development projects can face challenges and changing infrastructure requirements, we are extremely concerned by the outcome for affected purchasers,” he said.
“These are people who entered into contracts in good faith and will now face significant uncertainty as a result of this decision.”
The town said that at no point during its or the SA government’s engagement with Wel.Co about road design and infrastructure planning did the company indicate that proposed changes could see buyers’ contracts cancelled.
Wel.Co said it would be inappropriate to comment further while discussions with the town were under way.
