New Adelaide high school to open in 2019

A new inner-city high school to cater for 1000 students will open in Adelaide in 2019.

The South Australian government will pay the University South Australia $30 million for its Reid Building on Frome Road and spend $85 million to redevelop the site.

The new school will have a focus on health and sciences and is likely to be named after a prominent South Australian.

The decision on the school's location follows a 2014 state election promise by Labor to build a new city school on the site of the current Royal Adelaide Hospital, which is due to close in 2016.

Premier Jay Weatherill says the new location is better and allows the government to consider other options for the hospital precinct.

"This new city high school will be a world-class facility and is likely to be in high demand from parents living in the city and inner suburbs," Mr Weatherill said.

The Property Council has welcomed the shift in location and says talk must now turn to identifying and attracting a future use for the 215,000 square metre hospital site.

"It's time to think big with the potential for this site and look at ways of encompassing a mixed-use development comprising residential, retail, tourism and possibly even retirement living," Property Council executive director Daniel Gannon said.

The Liberal opposition says the decision to use an old university building rather than build a new school amounts to a broken election promise.

"Parents were promised a brand new high school costing $85 million. It is outrageous that a second-hand school is costing South Australians $115 million," education spokesman David Pisoni said.