Last month we held an exclusive event for property and industry stakeholders to share some insights and updates on key developments that will shape the future of Fishermans Bend in the next 3 to 5 years.
Fishermans Bend is a complex and large urban renewal project (the largest in Australia and one of the biggest worldwide) with a balance of activities occurring on the ground – from evolving industry activity, place activation and property development – to larger and longer range planning and infrastructure projects in the pipeline.
Hosted in partnership with FB IDEAs, the event was an opportunity to bring key stakeholders together and hear about some of the developments underway. The event took place at CBCo Brewery on Bertie Street in the heart of the Sandridge Precinct of Fishermans Bend. It was great to see so many people invested and passionate about the future of the area.
The audience heard presentations from representatives from the State Government who are leading the delivery of Fishermans Bend and the University of Melbourne. Guy Naselli, President of the Fishermans Bend Business Forum joined the panel for a lively discussion and lots of great questions from the audience, with moderation by Bec McHenry from FB IDEAs.
As a recap of the event, we have written up a summary of the information shared by our speakers and responses to the key themes and questions raised on the night.
If you would like to share any feedback, please send your comments/questions via the Contact Us page.
Likewise, if you would like to find out more and get in touch with any of our speakers or panellists please reach out to them directly:
Fishermans Bend Business Forum: Guy Naselli, President: contact@fishermansbend.org.au
FB IDEAs: Bec McHenry, Property Partnerships: bec@fbideas.org
Victorian Government Department of Transport & Planning:
Precinct Delivery Team (responsible for delivery of the Fishermans Bend Innovation Precinct): FBIP@transport.vic.gov.au
Fishermans Bend Precinct Team (responsible for all other parts of the project): fishermansbend@transport.vic.gov.au
University of Melbourne: Emile Brys, Fishermans Bend Partnerships: emile.brys@unimelb.edu.au
An update from the Fishermans Bend Taskforce
We kicked things off with a presentation by Aidan O’Neill, who is a Senior Manager in the Precincts Division at the Department of Transport and Planning, specialising on Fishermans Bend. Aidan forms part of a team who are responsible for the planning, coordination and facilitation for the entire Fishermans Bend project, including its four urban renewal precincts (Montague, Lorimer, Sandridge and Wirraway) and the National Employment and Innovation Precinct .
Key messages from Aidan’s presentation were:
Development and growth is happening now in Fishermans Bend with a $7 billion pipeline of development sites across over 60 live sites.
This includes approximately 15,000 new dwellings (2,500 rental and 600 affordable) that will double the amount of people employed in the area (10,000 permanent and 18,000 construction workers to add to the existing 28,156 workers captured in the 2021 Census). Based on this activity the Fishermans Bend population is projected to increase from 1,902 residents and 28,156 workers in the 2021 census to approximately 16,000 residents and around 36,000 workers by 2030 (noting that some of the jobs are transient as they relate to construction and the full development pipeline will not be realised until after 2030).
Activation, facilitation and attraction activities are continuing to cultivate the future pipeline including support for FB IDEAs and our work in the area as well as the Seed Toolkit which was released in late 2023.
The Toolkit presents an incremental ‘ground-up’ approach to place-based economic development and outlines a diverse set of levers which can be deployed by Government and precinct partners alike, to help define the place’s identity, generate activity, and seed economic opportunities.
Work is underway and continuing to get the policy settings right to enable growth to scale up in a sustainable manner.
This includes the Development Contributions Plan and Open Space Uplift which was released for public consultation in late 2023, with public hearings to consider submissions in November 2024. You can find out more about this initiative here: https://engage.vic.gov.au/fishermans-bend-urban-renewal-area-development-contributions-plan. The Montague Implementation Plan was also released in late 2023 to guide the transformation of the part of Fishermans Bend that is changing rapidly through property development. You can find out more about this initiative here: Engage Vic website. Implementation Plans for the remaining precincts will be progressed once the current program of work is completed in 2025.
Essential supporting infrastructure to service growth continues to be rolled out with key developments such as the University of Melbourne’s campus, the new Fishermans Bend Primary School and school safety upgrades in development.
That of course builds on key infrastructure that has been delivered since 2018 such as South Melbourne Primary School, Kirrip Park, City Road Light Rail Station and associated streetscape upgrades, Port Melbourne Secondary College, Gateway to GMH project with City of Melbourne and 1,500 new bus services.
Planning for catalytic infrastructure is well underway and includes the recent endorsement by the Victorian Government of a preferred route for the future rail tunnel through Fishermans Bend and Docklands.
This route includes provision for new underground train stations located within Fishermans Bend at the Sandridge and Innovation Precincts, as well as a new station underneath Bourke Street in Docklands with a connection to Southern Cross Station. This confirmation provides certainty to landowners, businesses, and property developers about the future direction of transport planning in the area, which will be complimented by surface transport planning for public transport upgrades, freight links and cycling connections which will be confirmed through precinct planning.
Fishermans Bend Innovation Precinct - Vision and Next Steps
The next speaker was Lulu Gao, a Senior Project Manager with the Precincts Delivery team at the Department of Transport and Planning. The Precincts Delivery team are responsible for overseeing the strategy and delivery of the Fishermans Bend Innovation Precinct. This of course will be a key catalyst for innovation within the Fishermans Bend Employment Precinct.
Lulu recapped on the Victoria Government vision for the Fishermans Bend Innovation Precinct (FBIP) to be an internationally renowned centre for innovation in advanced manufacturing, engineering and design. She highlighted that the sectors they were primarily focusing on were defence, aerospace, transport and clean energy. Lulu then talked a little about the key objectives they are focused on to ensure this vision comes to life:
A healthy ecosystem
A critical mass of leading industries and research institutions
High quality place that attracts and promotes collaboration
An area with a strong public face
A highly accessible and attractive precinct
The site is currently undergoing Stage 1 works which includes remediation and the installation of crucial infrastructure and services to create an investment-ready precinct.
Stage 1 will also provide key development infrastructure for the Precinct such as the establishment of an east west connection through the site by linking Salmon Street and Todd Road, creating public realm and open space, and unlocking development ready lots for related industry investment.
FBIP is at a significant inflection point, pivoting from site works to investment attraction activities. The Precinct Delivery team are focusing on working with industry and academia to enhance the Precinct’s existing value proposition and to deliver on the needs of industry and academia. The Precinct Delivery team are keen to talk to industry to carefully curate a vision aligned tennant mix to promote collaboration between research, innovation and industry. In particular they are keen to talk to organisations with tenancy interests in the FBIP, developers and investors to catalyse investment and attract institutions with globally recognised talent for investment in advanced manufacturing, engineering and design into the precinct.
University of Melbourne's Fishermans Bend Campus is taking shape
Heather St John, Executive Director of Innovation and Enterprise, and Emile Brys, Partnerships Development Manager, from the University of Melbourne then joined us to give an update on the direction of the University’s Fishermans Bend campus.
As Australia’s #1 University, it is exciting to see the plans for the new Engineering and Design campus taking shape. The new campus will be purpose-design and integrated into the future Innovation Precinct to encourage and enhance collaboration and drive innovation. It will be located to the north of the new east west connection starting from Salmon Street and will be adjacent to the back of the DSTG (Defence, Science and Technology Group) site.
The University are putting significant investment into advanced facilities that will foster industry partnerships and research, driving innovation and as a magnet for talent, skills development and investment. It was exciting to hear about the globally unique research infrastructure in areas such as fluid dynamics (aero and hydro), power and propulsion (energy test cells), and large-scale prototyping and materials testing. In particular, the new campus will include:
X-Tunnel (wind tunnel)
Wind, wave & current ocean facility
Deep Manoeuvring and Directional Wave Basin
Power, propulsion & energy lab
The team also outlined the opportunities for industry to co-locate on the campus, with approximately 5,500m2 of floorspace across 3 levels available for industry partners. Designed for industry, the spaces include 3.8 m floor to underside services clearance, industrial lift loading bays and 10KPA floor loading. As well as the benefits of being immersed in a like minded community of experimentation and diverse thought that creates the inspiration and environment to innovate, they also highlighted the benefits of engaging with a highly-skilled and passionate workforce of the future.
There are opportunities for co-investment in facilities and/or co-development of research infrastructure, as well as grant funding – so if you are interested in opportunities to collaborate or co-locate with the University of Melbourne, we encourage you to reach out to the team.
A lively panel discussion and audience Q+A
After the presentations, Guy Naselli from the Fishermans Bend Business Forum joined a panel discussion facilitated by Bec McHenry, who is leading property partnerships for FB IDEAs. It was a lively discussion, and our speakers were definitely put under the spotlight!
Here is a recap of some of the key questions and themes that emerged on the night.
Planning and key developments
What lessons are we learning from Docklands development (the good and the bad) to ensure the success of Fisherman’s Bend?
Urban renewal is challenging, and panellists acknowledged this while highlighting key opportunities to learn critical lessons from Docklands to ensure that Fishermans Bend could achieve its true potential.
Aidan O’Neil from DTP lead the response by acknowledging that Docklands had been successful in terms of employment generation, the quality of the public realm and its connection to the public transport network. However, a key learning from Docklands was that in hindsight more effort could have been made to retain and integrate more of the area’s original gritty industrial character into newer, contemporary development, noting the success of these approaches more recently locally (e.g. Collingwood and Cremorne) and overseas (e.g. Hafen City in Hamburg, Kings Cross in London and the Brooklyn Navy Yards in New York). Aidan noted that significant importance had been placed on this in the Montague Precinct Implementation Plan, which you can read more about here: https://engage.vic.gov.au/project/montague-precinct-implementation-plan/page/key-move-2-deliver-destination-laneways-and-integrate-existing-character
Why are the Implementation Plans being rolled out so long after developers are present?
Fishermans Bend is not a precinct being delivered from scratch on the outskirts of Melbourne. Found only 2km from the CBD, it is an existing urban fabric which presents both challenges and opportunities for delivery. In addition to this, there is substantially less government owned land in the area, which is a common trigger for urban renewal initiatives of this scale. With this in mind, Aidan O’Neill noted that the preparation of the Implementation Plan for Montague has been developed in an iterative way, building on what’s there today and what developers have in the pipeline. Monague has been prioritised first because it is where the most intense change is occurring. This more deliberative approach was made possible by the Fishermans Bend Framework providing such a sound base from which development, investment and activity could occur in the meantime.
A large amount of work has been undertaken on an Implementation Plan for the National Employment and Innovation Cluster to coincide with investment from the State Government and University of Melbourne at its centre. This is likely to be the next to be released, so that it can be finalised in time for the opening of the University, noting that this is likely to spur on investment and change around it. Implementation Plans for the other precincts will be progressed after the current program of transport planning is completed.
While different to what was proposed before the COVID-19 pandemic, this more staged approach has allowed the Government to pursue a more balanced approach including focus on development facilitation (see earlier commentary about the pipeline), economic development (Seed Toolkit), investment attraction and place activation (FB IDEAs), infrastructure funding (Development Contributions Plan) and climate change adaptation (Water Sensitive City Strategy).
Aidan concluded by encouraging all attendees and those invested in Implementation Plans to get in touch as the ability to discuss options and ideas was always available. This was reinforced by all panellists in their responses.
What’s the timeline for the University of Melbourne campus to be occupied and working?
With site remediation works completed and active market engagement underway, there is lots of exciting momentum for the University on their site. When asked to speak to the specific timing of occupation and activity on site, Emile Brys, Partnerships Development Manager at the University, said he hoped that the campus would be at that stage by 2027 – but that it was all subject to market conditions and development progress.
As well as consulting with companies about what they want in a Precinct, what is being done to build a net zero site?
All panellists had optimistic and interesting things to share on their approach to ensuring their projects within Fishermans Bend adopted best-practice sustainability principles, including the pursuit of net zero sites. Some highlights from the responses included:
Aidan O’Neill, on behalf of DTP, confirmed Fishermans Bend was on track to be Australia’s largest Green Star Community, as committed to in the Fishermans Bend Framework. This includes the requirement for most new buildings to be constructed to a 5-Star standard under the Green Building Council of Australia’s ‘Buildings’ tool, which is calibrated to achieve net zero. Other sustainability initiatives are outlined in the Water Sensitive City Strategy.
Heather St John, Executive Director of Innovation and Enterprise, confirmed on behalf of the University of Melbourne that the Fishermans Bend campus is targeting a 6 star green star rating and expects to be at the forefront of sustainability research, further enabled by much of the world leading research infrastructure being developed at the campus.
Lulu Gao,with the Precincts Delivery team at DTP highlighted that one the benefit of co-locating in an innovation ecosystem is the potential for shared use infrastructure and equipment.
What’s the timing and location for the new Primary School?
Fishermans Bend Primary School is due to open in 2026 with places for up to 650 students, with further details to be announced soon. For more information and updates head to: https://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/fishermans-bend-primary-school-interim-name
Property & Business
Lemon Baxter noted that biggest question they are getting asked by their clients is about the increase in outgoings, largely due to the circa 20% increase in land tax across the precinct, and solutions for how this can be addressed. Importantly, according to Lemon Baxter it is not just owners that are struggling with this, but tenants who have seen a 20% increase in their gross rental as a result. How can we support landowners and tenants with this challenge moving forward? Are there any possible solutions being investigated that you could share with us?
Land tax is regulated by the State Revenue Office and is separate to the planning for Fishermans Bend. More information about how land tax is set and what options exist for hardship related exemptions can be found here: https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/land-tax
With all development applications currently on hold and the state government not allowing any new applications to be submitted while the New Planning Controls are being settled. Realistically, how long will this process take for the new Planning Controls to be approved and how long after that will the State Government to be in a position to start allowing development applications again?
While most planning permit applications cannot be issued by the normal process until the Development Contribution Plan is in place next year, the Government has still been facilitating development via the interim approach it established when the Fishermans Bend Framework was implemented.
To date, 22 major developments have been approved via this method, while a series of others have been approved by the standard process where allowed under the interim arrangements. Of the 22 major developments approved since the Framework, several have been built or are under construction now including the Fishermans Bend Woolworths, The Canopy and CDL. The Masterplan for the new University Campus was also approved under these arrangements.
What will the new development contribution be for each dwelling?
A single, State administered DCP levy is proposed to be capped at $34,635 per dwelling and ($286 per square metre of non-residential gross floorspace). This comprises:
$24,968 per dwelling ($206 per m2 GFA) for essential infrastructure
$6,667 per dwelling ($55 per m2 GFA) for public open space, (replacing the current 8% public open space contribution)
$3,000 per dwelling ($25 per m2 GFA) for major drainage and flood mitigation infrastructure (replacing any separate charge by Melbourne Water).
An ‘interim’ development contributions regime has been in operation in Fishermans Bend for some time: $20,210 per dwelling, $230 per square metre of commercial floor space, and $190 per square metre of Retail floor space in March 2023 values. Development is also required to make a public open space contribution of 8% of value of the land at the time of subdivision, in accordance with Clause 53.01 of the Melbourne and Port Phillip Planning Schemes. The DCP intends for developments approved under the interim regime to be able to be developed under the interim contributions arrangement unless they lapse, or a new planning approval is required.
The interim rate was increased to $27,968 per dwelling and $231 per square metres of non-residential development for proposals lodged after the Draft Development Contributions Plan was released for consultation in December 2023 should they be approved prior to the finalisation of the plan next year. The increased rate includes funding to be directed towards major drainage and flood mitigation infrastructure, replacing a separate charge proposed by Melbourne Water. The separate 8% public open space contribution required for subdivisions under Clause 53.01 will continue to remain in place during this time.
An interim DDO was introduced limiting heights across much of the employment precinct. Is this the long term intent of government?
Schedule 74 to the Design and Development Overlay is an interim provision that is intended to be in place until an implementation plan for the National Employment and Innovation Cluster is finalised. This interim control includes a discretionary plot ratio provision that limits the amount of floorspace that is allowed on property relative to its size, but does not include heights. This gives applicants the flexibility to arrange their allowable floorspace on their land flexibly.
Will there be future financial incentives for current science and innovation SMEs?
There are no plans for this to be included in the planning framework for the area at this point in time.
There are calls for City of Melbourne to explore special economic zone via incentives to spur developments. Is there anything similar for the Fishermans Bend community?
There are no plans for this at this point in time for Fishermans Bend.
Transport
When will trams or light rail be installed in Fishermans Bend?
Planning work for surface transport interventions to service Fishermans Bend is ongoing, with timing for delivery to be confirmed .
How can we activate the bus network and increase utilisation in Fishermans Bend?
Government has delivered 1,500 additional bus services to Fishermans Bend since October 2022. This has created turn and go frequencies from Southern Cross throughout the day, supported by new bus stops on Salmon Street, near the future University of Melbourne Campus.
