Projects taking the city into the future

North Melbourne, Southbank and Dandenong are spearheading Melbourne’s renewal.

North Melbourne

Inner-urban North Melbourne is the site of one of Melbourne’s original urban renewal projects.

The 19th-century home of tanneries, horse stables and factories, and the workers who toiled there, was the focus of slum reclamation efforts in the 1930s and thoroughly gentrified as Melbourne moved into the 20th century.

Errol Street, its broad high street shopping thoroughfare, is full of grand examples of Victorian architecture, while the suburb’s traditional corner pubs are a much-loved feature.

Now the Arden urban renewal project promises to take a section of the ’burb abutting the CBD into the current era.

At its centre will be the underground Arden train station, one of five being built as part of the Metro Tunnel, which is expected to open in 2025.

Taking over 44 hectares of industrial land, while also forcing the relocation of the Lost Dogs Home, the new precinct of Arden is all about mixed use.

It promises to provide 12 hectares of open space – including a one-hectare park – community facilities, and apartment towers up to 40 storeys tall alongside CityLink and the rail corridor, dropping to 15 storeys next to existing residential areas.

A new primary school has also been earmarked as the area prepares to accommodate about 15,000 residents in the next three decades, while a biotech and medical research facility is proposed for the central area near the station.

“What you can see of the station at ground level is already looking great and the renders of the underground area are amazing,” says Charles Bongiovanni of Alexkarbon Real Estate.

“It’s getting a lot of people excited about what’s to come next in the area that has been very traditionally blue collar. People are already buying in central North Melbourne based on the projections for Arden, and the extra open space will be welcomed with open arms.”

Southbank

You don’t have to be a Baby Boomer to remember when the southern bank of the Yarra River was an industrial wasteland facing the commuters at Flinders Street Station. The opening of the Southbank development and its riverfront promenade in 1990 was a game-changer for the city, bringing life and entertainment to the “wrong” side of the river.

It’s Melbourne’s big hitter in terms of arts infrastructure, home to the spire- topped Arts Centre and Hamer Hall and the equally iconic National Gallery of Victoria, along with the Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Ian Potter Southbank Centre and –ahem – Crown casino.

It’s long been a great place to visit, but when it comes to liveability, it took some years for a critical mass of projects and infrastructure to legitimise the Southbank precinct.

Defying some controversial planning decisions of the past, the densely populated area continues to evolve. A number of new renewal projects with their eye on green space and community feel will further help realise the potential of a suburb that’s as close as it gets to the CBD without actually living there.

On a prominent Kavanagh Street site near City Road, the Boyd Village development will transform the former J.H. Boyd Girls School site into a

“vertical village”, including much needed affordable units and a park.

A number of greening projects for the formerly grey ’burb include the Dodds Street Linear Park, which will see 1300 square metres of native grassland planted among pathways, gathering spaces and public artwork.

For apartment owner Matt Foster, the only way for Southbank is up: “The green space is really improving. It makes it feel less like a concrete jungle and more like a place you really want to hang out in.”

Aiming for Melburnians’ dog-loving jugular, a new off-leash park has also been established under the overpass for Kings Way.

Dandenong

Not all urban redevelopment is centred on the inner city.

Dandenong, 35 kilometres away, is already the largest suburban hub in the south-east, with a population expected to grow significantly in the next decade.

And a rejuvenation project proposed in 2006 by then-Labor premier Steve Bracks to establish Dandenong as a satellite city to Melbourne is only just becoming reality.

Featuring apartment towers, retail centres and office complexes in the heart of the proudly multicultural suburb, the multibillion-dollar Revitalising Central

Dandenong project is set to begin this year with promises to modernise one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing areas.

Hocking Stuart Dandenong principal Jack Miltos says the project will give a much-needed boost to the heart of Dandenong.

“The central part of the suburb around the train station looks dated,” he says. “Plenty of people come here to work but then go and spend their money elsewhere. The shopping needs a revup to compete with Narre Warren or Fountain Gate.”

Spearheaded by developers Capital Alliance, the master plan for the twohectare site by architecture firm DKO includes the provision of a minimum of 500 dwellings and is beginning with a new Little India.

“On the plus side, Dandenong has already got a fantastic fresh food market, lots of multicultural places to eat, a train station, great public transport links and a hospital,” Miltos says. “Smart development will keep in mind that it’s a price-sensitive area. People create their beginnings here.”