Queen Victoria Market under-shed plan parked

Parking has been endorsed as part of a revised plan for a $250 million redevelopment of Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Markets, but a plan to build under heritage sheds appears doomed.

Queen Victoria Market would retain hundreds of parking bays and develop “creative spaces” to lure customers under revised options for the icon’s $250 million redevelopment.

But an original key proposal to put parking and trader facilities below heritage sheds seems doomed.

A City of Melbourne management report being considered by councillors has accepted 11 recommendations by a 40-member “people’s panel” that looked at options for the stalled project.

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The report has called for immediate action to review storage and amenities infrastructure for traders, and to restore the market’s heritage fabric while preserving elements of cultural and heritage significance.

Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood is pushing for development under the heritage sheds at Queen Victoria Market. Picture: AAP

Other priorities include weatherproofing the sheds, upgrading the existing food court and developing creative spaces throughout the market to “attract and retain families and better engage customers”.

Among approved recommendations that need further management analysis was the proposal to keep 500 spaces in the existing carpark, with the remaining land to be turned into open space.

Under the original project plan, all of the carpark was to become a green plaza.

The report also supported plans to create 500 carparks at the nearby Munro site, and to allow for spaces for vans and buses at the market.

It backed in principle the panel’s recommendation to develop G Shed, near the Meat Hall, for various infrastructure upgrades, including recycling stations at ground level or underground.

An original key proposal to put parking and trader facilities below heritage sheds at Queen Victoria Market seems doomed. Picture: Mark Stewart

The panel, which held six workshops in October and November, was a controversial initiative as some councillors, including Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood, had opposed it as causing more delays for a project that had already cost $18 million over several years.

Cr Wood had argued that the council should try to save the plan to put trader facilities and carparking under restored heritage sheds by negotiating a compromise with Heritage Victoria.

But the management report, by market renewal program director Joanne Wandel, said the panel had reinforced many parts of the market master plan.

“Including the restoration of the heritage sheds, weather protection, necessary upgrades to the food court, the need for more public spaces around the market, the Munro development, Queens Corner Building and the Southern Development Site,” she said.

The Future Melbourne Committee will consider the report on Monday.

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@JMasanauskas