DATE:
2002
LOCATION:
Melbourne City, VIC
CLIENT:
GPT
Melbourne Central is a major shopping centre and transport hub located in one of the busiest parts of the Melbourne CBD. In 2002, with half the total retail space empty due to the loss of an anchor tenant, shopping centre owner GPT announced a $195 million plan to renovate the centre. GPT engaged Village Well to develop a Placemaking Masterplan for Melbourne Central.
The Placemaking Masterplan repositioned Melbourne Central as an exciting new retail and community destination. Key strategies in the Placemaking Masterplan which were implemented included green building design, a more flexible Centre management approach and opening The Centre to the streets through the creation of laneways and public resting places. Village Well also recommended innovative place activation and governance to encourage greater participation by the community and other groups, promoting greater use of the centre.
The Masterplan was developed in line with GPT’s vision for the centre as a sustainable lifestyle hub as well as to capture the attention of target audiences. It continues to inform the innovative precinct development, leasing, design and management of the centre that has helped place Melbourne Central as a vibrant shopping precinct and one of the key retail experience destinations of Melbourne city.
