Collaboration and Purpose – Jensen PLUS 2025 Wrap-Up

We are very grateful that this year brought a broad and engaging mix of planning, design and engagement projects to our team.

Some highlights:

• City Building Adaptive Reuse – Finalised planning approvals early in the year for the transformation of 75–79 King William Street into a 12-storey boutique hotel, reinforcing the value of breathing new life into existing buildings.
• Cape Jervis + Penneshaw Harbour Master Plans – Released mid-year, and shaping a new direction for movement, access and Country-informed design at two gateways to Kangaroo Island.
• Henley Beach Road Vision – A long-term strategy developed to improve character, legibility and public-realm experience along this important corridor and main street of the West.
• Gawler Town Centre Structure Plan – Work commenced recently on a significant strategic plan, guiding the evolution of one of the state’s most important regional centres.

Residential Urban Design – We enjoyed returning to several residential urban design and master planning projects, reconnecting with our roots in creating practical, implementable plans to deliver much-needed housing and mixed-use outcomes.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of working in planning and design is the range of interesting places our work takes us - each offering lessons about movement, character, culture and community.  This year’s behind the scenes insights included:

• Port Adelaide Cruise Terminal – Understanding how thousands of passengers disembark from vessels sometimes more than 250 metres long.
• Leigh Creek + the Outback – Multiple trips north, including a well-attended co-design workshop last month, gave us the opportunity to engage deeply with community, and the distinctive landscapes of the northern Flinders region.
• Rural Tasmania – Our co-design workshops in Bagdad and Mangalore again highlighted how regional communities shape planning when given the space, time and tools to collaborate.
• Alberton Railway Station - Closer to home, exploring the historic Alberton Station building offered a different kind of insight - an opportunity to consider heritage, adaptive reuse, local character and future mobility together.

These visits remind us that planning is most effective when grounded in an understanding of real places and real people.

A particular highlight this year was the opening of the Moorundi Health Service’s new health centre in Murray Bridge.

We were proud to contribute to this project - a place designed with and for community, emphasising cultural connection, health, wellbeing and Country-informed design.

As we shared in our earlier article, the new centre reflects a deep collaboration and is an example of design supporting long-term social outcomes. Seeing it open and in use has been a memorable moment for our team.

2025 was also a productive year for industry involvement:

• Mainstreet SA Events – We attended and supported several gatherings, contributing to conversations about main street activation and public-realm quality.
• UDIA Awards Judging – Michael participated as a judge in the 2025 awards, helping recognise excellence in South Australian development.
• Planning Awards – This year’s PIA awards night offered a welcome opportunity to celebrate strong planning outcomes and reconnect with colleagues.

Sponsorships – Jensen PLUS continued its support for selected sector events and initiatives, reinforcing our commitment to a collaborative and forward-looking industry.

A standout workplace development this year has been the rapid adoption of AI tools across planning and design. Like many practices, we’ve been exploring how AI can complement our work for tasks like researching, reading or summarising long Request for Information letters (!), analysing information, writing, and visualising. (And yes, ChatGPT helped prepare this wrap-up).

Results on image generation and visualisation has been patchy so far, but on the research and writing side AI is proving to be a strong support for our professional staff. As long as you know what you’re looking for, using AI as an ‘’assistant’’ to undertake well-considered tasks is delivering good results. And it can be an assistant that is very fast and inexpensive to use.

So, does AI really threaten the jobs of professional staff? Probably it does, especially for less experienced or less skilful planners or designers? And yes that could be a big problem in the medium term, as it’s hard to get the experience and skills developed to a senior level without the experience of the simpler work that AI can increasingly do.

Used thoughtfully, AI should give us more time to focus on the human side of planning and design: collaboration, engagement and decision-making. Or maybe it’ll just increase the work output and drive down costs?  We are not just watching but living in this space right now…

2025 marks ten years since Michael became owner of Jensen PLUS. Over the decade, the practice has grown in scope and reach while staying true to its purpose in planning and design that delivers social, environmental and community value.

A lighter look at the year also tells the story of our people:

• Nina travelled with her family to Bulgaria and Greece, reconnecting with places, culture and food she loves.
• Chao spent much of the year supporting his daughter’s tennis - including interstate competitions and early-morning training sessions.
• Michael managed to run a few personal-best times on weekends between workshops, site visits and events.
• Pat enjoyed a year of settling back in Adelaide and working in regional areas around SA.
• Vicki enjoyed reading some good books.

To all our clients, collaborators, community friends and industry colleagues: thank you for your trust and partnership throughout 2025. We look forward to working with you again in 2026.