Green light: City of Melbourne councillors approve greenhouse pavilion at Queen Victoria Market

PLANS for a $5 million urban greenhouse that will house traders during a controversial refurbishment of Queen Victoria Market have taken a step forward.

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A TEMPORARY pavilion to be built at Queen Victoria Market will be used to try out new trading formats for the market’s $250 million redevelopment.

Melbourne City councillors last night approved a permit for the $5 million “urban greenhouse” that will house traders dislocated by the market’s proposed refurbishment.

Market CEO Malcolm McCullough said a group of traders had been helping to design the pavilion that will run along Queen St for about five years during market redevelopment works.

“This iconic proposal, with its elevated greenhouse, will become a destination in itself,” he told last night’s meeting.

An artist’s image of the urban greenhouse. Picture: Supplied

“It will provide us with a flexible space to try out new trading formats and fit outs.”

Market trader Joe Vitale told the meeting that the structure would lure customers and invigorate the market.

“I’m not saying the pavilion will be an icon like the Sydney Opera House or the MCG ... but it’s going to be an attraction,” he said.

Trader Nancy Policheni also backed the pavilion and the overall precinct redevelopment.

But Miriam Faine, from the Friends of Queen Victoria Market group, said the pavilion was an “expensive folly” and she described the redevelopment plan as a “vanity project” and “land grab”.

Some traders oppose plans for the Queen Victoria Market’s proposed redevelopment. Picture: David Crosling

Fellow protest group member and former market trader Mary McDonald feared the redevelopment would ruin the “vibrant atmosphere”and questioned the council’s plan to redevelop the nearby Munro site with a tower to help defray costs.

“Leave the market alone, go somewhere else to build your tower,” she said.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle denied accusations that the redevelopment planning process had been rushed, or that it was a land grab, since the council had actually paid $75 million for the Munro site.

Mr Doyle said the council was seeking national heritage protection for the icon because it wanted to preserve its character as one of the world’s best open air markets.

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