Alceon Group and LEGO Australia and New Zealand have announced the first AG LEGO Certified Store will open in South Australia just in time for Christmas.

Located at Westfield Marion in prime retail positioning on Level 2, the 197 square metre AG LEGO Certified Store will be a multi-sensory retail experience set to inspire local brick fans of all ages.

“LEGO Certified Stores are renowned globally for creativity and imagination, as one of the world’s most loved brands meets a custom built retail concept,” Executive Director of Alceon Group, Richard Facioni, said in a statement following the announcement.

“We look forward to bringing this leading, experiential retail concept to South Australia and showcasing the creative potential of the world famous LEGO brick.”

Other iconic LEGO Certified Stores are located in New York, London, Shanghai, Denmark, Dubai, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland.

Scentre Group Director of Leasing & Retail Solutions, John Papagiannis, said they are looking forward to the opening.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming the first LEGO Certified Store in South Australia to Westfield Marion. We know this will come as exciting news to our customers; further reinforcing our commitment to delivering a retail experience that meets the interests and needs of our community,” Mr Papagiannis said.

“The new store at Westfield Marion marks the fourth LEGO Certified store within the Australian Westfield Living Centre portfolio, following successful openings at Westfield Doncaster, Westfield Bondi Junction and Westfield Chermside.”

The new AG LEGO Certified Store will incorporate signature LEGO retail features including a Pick A Brick Wall, a Build-a-Minifigure playstation and a ‘digital box’ where almost any LEGO boxed set can be scanned and come to life.

Additional custom features include a large brick wall-mounted mosaic and an over-size 3D model inspired by South Australian icons.

The Grand Opening date of the Westfield Marion store will be announced over the coming weeks.

Source: Glam Adelaide.

On Friday October 23rd, the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM), Bill Papastergiadis and the President of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA), Bill Gonis, along with other multicultural leaders from across Australia, participated in a virtual meeting with the Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alan Tudge and Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, Jason Wood.

Opening the round table discussion, Minister Tudge, referred to three policy changes in his portfolio which are directly relevant, to multicultural leaders and their communities.

Specifically, Mr Tudge mentioned that partner visas available have almost doubled for this financial year. He also touched on changes in the English language classes for migrants and the migration program, which will be “completely diminished this year and next” before it ramps back up to close to normal in year three or four.

“I know, is tough for some of your community members who either may not be able to travel to see their loved ones or their loved ones may not be able to come here. We acknowledge that, we’re working on that, there’s further developments almost every day,” Minister Tudge said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, thanked all the community leaders for their leadership.

“I’m incredibly proud of the way Australia’s multicultural communities have come together in a focused and practical way to help get our country through this pandemic,” Morrison said.

The Prime Minister said that Australia has done better than most countries and expressed his confidence that a vaccine will be fully produced and passed throughout Australia by October 2021.

“It is very important that the Prime Minister continues his meetings with representatives of various communities. He assured us that this meeting was one of a series of similar meetings he will have in the future,” said GCM President, Bill Papastergiadis.

The application for the redevelopment of Kogarah Bay’s historic Sunnyside mansion has been refused by the Land and Environment Court.

According to The Leader, Truland Development Pty Ltd was seeking approval for demolition of existing structures, conversion of the heritage building known as Sunnyside into a dwelling and communal facilities, and construction of a new seven-storey residential flat building with 50 apartments and two levels of basement parking at 186-188 and 190 Princes Highway and 2, 4 and 6 Lacey Street, Kogarah Bay.

The building is regarded by some as the oldest property in St George and Sutherland Shire.

In a submission to the court, Georges River Councillor Nick Katris, who is an architect, called on the application to be rejected due to it’s excess height and bulk, which would impact adjacent neighbours at the rear of the proposed development

Cr Katris also objected on the grounds of the impact on a heritage item, the insufficient setback of the proposed development from a heritage item and excessive height and non-compliance with the maxim height limit.

The Land and Environment Court’s Commissioner Dickson refused the development application finding the proposal would result in an unacceptable effect on the heritage item, its setting and its significance particularly having regard to the proximity of the new building to the heritage building.

The Leader writes that Commissioner Dickson accepted the agreed position of the heritage experts that the proposed development would result in the positive outcomes with the enhancement of the heritage significance of Sunnyside including works proposed to be undertaken in the Schedule of Conservation Works.

“However, on balance I find that the heritage impact to the item from the proposed development is of such detriment that it outweighs the positive benefits arising,” the Commissioner said.

Cr Katis hailed the court’s decision to refuse the appeal.

“This has been a long time coming but it’s a great success for the community,” Cr Katris said.