The proposal will see the old Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) site divided into four quarters, with the residential precinct to include a state-of-the-art aged care facility with 60 beds.

In all, over 1,000 apartments are planned for the site in buildings up to 17 storeys high.

The State Government has already appointed developers, a partnership between SA property group Commercial & General and building and property company John Holland, and hopes to begin work on the $1B project as soon as the old hospital is vacated in 2017.

The full development expected to take 15 years to complete.