Melbourne’s old industrial land set to become major urban and commercial hubs

UNIQUE among Australian capital cities, Melbourne has a massive supply of industrial land near its CBD that has been earmarked for new housing and commercial development.

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UNIQUE among Australian capital cities, Melbourne has a massive supply of industrial land near its CBD that has been earmarked for new housing and commercial development.

We all know about Docklands, but fewer Melburnians are aware of proposed inner city urban renewal precincts such as Fishermans Bend, E-Gate and Arden.

It is envisaged that one day these three precincts stretching from Port Melbourne to North Melbourne will be seamlessly linked via Docklands, and provide homes for more than 100,000 people and tens of thousands of jobs.

For governments, they are one solution to deal with the housing of rapid population growth in areas that are already well-serviced by public transport, shops and community infrastructure.

While Melbourne has plenty of developable land on the urban fringe, the cost to put in infrastructure such as public transport, roads and hospitals is high, and residents may need to travel vast distances for work.

Fishermans Bend, which is in the early stages of development, will eventually comprise five precincts across 485ha, including a jobs hub that currently includes the GMH site and Boeing.

Straddling parts of South Melbourne and Port Melbourne, the four other precincts — Lorimer, Montague, Wirraway and Sandridge — will offer a mix of low and high density housing, shops, offices, vertical schools, parks and bicycle and walking paths.

With Melbourne heading for a population of eight million by 2051, Fishermans Bend is due to ultimately house 80,000 people and host 60,000 jobs.

Improved public transport links will be needed for the emerging new suburb, including a tram link across the Yarra River from Docklands and possibly a metro train station well into the future.

Across Footscray Rd from Docklands is E-Gate, currently a 20ha railway yard and industrial site that the State Government wants to turn into a mini-suburb with 10,000 residents.

While Major Projects Victoria called for expressions of interest in late 2014, progress has been slow, partly due to final resolution of exit ramps from the planned Western Distributor.

Adjoining E-Gate across Dynon Rd is Arden, a 56ha industrial site that the Government plans to turn into a new suburb hosting 15,000 residents and 34,000 jobs.

It will have an underground station under the Metro Rail project providing easy access to the Parkville university and medical precinct, and the CBD.

In addition to these large urban renewal areas, the Government is identifying dozens of other smaller so-called brownfield sites across Melbourne that are ripe for housing and other development.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne said a current project was the Markham estate in Burwood, which will see the construction of new public housing to be funded through the sale of private units on the site.

“Here are strategic state Government parcels of land, we can do stuff with them in partnership with the private sector and demonstrate that we have nothing to fear in this,” he said.

Charged with converting many old industrial sites is the Victorian Planning Authority.

VPA CEO Peter Seamer said the process was vital to deal with population growth.

“The VPA is helping unlock brownfield sites to provide a mix of housing options to suit all incomes and lifestyles in the inner, middle and outer suburbs of Melbourne,” he said.

RMIT University planning expert Professor Michael Buxton and his team have also identified

hundreds of small-to medium-sized lots that could be developed for affordable housing.

These include industrial sites, carparks and vacant council property across inner ring and established suburbs.