Three towers approved for Queen Victoria Market’s Southern Site

Jon Fleetwood & Sean Car

Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny has approved permits for long-awaited plans to redevelop Queen Victoria Market’s (QVM) “Southern Site” into three separate towers.

The Minister's approval on August 20 comes after City of Melbourne councillors unanimously endorsed developer Lendlease’s proposal to construct Towers 1 and 2, and student accommodation provider Scape Australia’s Tower 3, which were considered as two separate permit applications at the August 6 Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) meeting.

“This project is delivering hundreds of new homes in the heart of Melbourne, giving more Victorians the opportunity to live close to jobs, transport, and services – all while protecting the heritage and charm that makes Queen Victoria Market such a beloved part of Melbourne," Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny said.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece and Minister for Planning announce the approval for the Southern Site at QVM on August 20. Photo: Lea Carre.

In March, Minister Kilkenny signed off on a final development plan for the 3.2-hectare precinct to be known as “Gurrowa Place”, which is bordered by Franklin, Queen and Peel streets.

The planning permit applications, which went before the council on August 6, mark the next stage in the vision to revitalise the QVM precinct’s southern boundary, with the three towers to comprise new apartments, student accommodation, offices and retail, along with new publicly-accessible laneways.

However, while Heritage Victoria gave its approval of the $1.7 billion plans in late 2023, the project has since been referred to the Commonwealth Government for a federal heritage review, which remains ongoing.

QVM is a National Heritage place and is protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. Protections under national environment law are a separate consideration to any obligations or approvals under state legislation.

But Friends of Queen Victoria Market president Mary-Lou Howie made the argument to councillors at the August 6 meeting that the City of Melbourne shouldn’t progress the plans while the review was under way.

Following a question from the council’s chair of planning Cr Rohan Leppert as to whether the council had procedural grounds to be considering the permit applications in light of the federal heritage review, council officer Marjorie Kennedy confirmed that the matter involved a “separately legislated process” that could be considered “concurrently or sequentially”.

Under the plans, “Tower 1”, designed by 3XN Architects, comprises 42,851sqm of commercial office space across 29 levels, while “Tower 2” by NH Architects includes 569 apartments, of which 81 will be affordable homes across 47 storeys.

The 53-storey Kerstin Thompson Architects-designed “Tower 3”, which will sit at the corner of Franklin and Queen streets, proposes 1100 student residences managed by Scape and 229sqm of retail space at the ground floor.

The project also includes a 1.8-hectare public park to be known as Market Square, and the restoration of the existing heritage Franklin St Stores into a new retail village to complement the QVM offering.

A total of 387 parking spaces, including 200 for QVM customers, 20 for traders’ vans, 87 for residents, and 80 for workers, will be included across Towers 1 and 2 to further offset the loss of parking due to the creation of Market Square.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece said that the development would make positive contributions both to Melbourne and the QVM precinct, describing the architecture of the three towers as “extraordinary” and “stunning”.

NH Architecture director Nick Bourns said all three tower designs had sought to provide “an important piece within the connective tissue of Melbourne” and would bring the city to “the edge of the market.”

“[The towers] look at trying to extend the grain of the city to that edge and really activate and make sure that southern edge becomes a part of the vibrant city we all love,” Mr Bourns said.

The Lord Mayor said that a major challenge for the redevelopment had been respecting the precinct’s heritage to allow for “new and old” to come together. “[It’s] probably one of the biggest examples we've seen of major new projects interfacing in a complex heritage environment,” Cr Reece said.

But Kerstin Thompson, the architect behind Tower 3, said she saw the project as a wonderful example of how the mixture of new and old made cities much more vibrant by bringing heritage to life.

“There's no such thing as good heritage when it's dead heritage,” Ms Thompson said. “This is going to bring a whole lot of activation … and add to that [heritage] with the new buildings.”

The project still awaits the outcome of the federal heritage review, which is a requirement for any National Heritage place that is protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.

As reported in June by CBD News, a spokesperson from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said, “Any action that is likely to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance, such as National Heritage places, must be assessed and approved under national environment law before it can proceed.”

Despite Heritage Victoria’s approval and endorsement by the City of Melbourne, which is a 100 per cent shareholder of QVM Pty Ltd, many traders and residents remain opposed to the council’s market renewal program.

At the time of publishing, more than 3000 people had signed a petition to “Save Queen Victoria Market”, calling on the council to ensure its renewal protected the market’s “viability as Melbourne’s traditional, fresh food and general merchandise market”.

Mary-Lou Howie said that current plans for the Southern Site would constrain and downgrade the market’s traditional historic function as a low-cost public market, and adversely impact traders. •