Lorimer is one of five precincts in the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area (FBURA). Around 455 hectares in size, the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area spans the City of Melbourne and the City of Port Phillip. The Lorimer precinct and the Fishermans Bend Employment Precinct sit within the City of Melbourne's boundaries. The other three precincts (Wirraway, Sandridge and Montague) are part of the City of Port Phillip.

Lorimer has been identified as one of the central city’s key growth areas, and is set to accommodate a significant increase in population. It is important to plan carefully for this area to make sure the needs of the community are met and it evolves as a liveable, sustainable place.

Lorimer is also an industrial precinct, providing vital jobs (around 1,800) and services to the inner city region. This project will consider how Lorimer will transition from an industrial area to a thriving inner city, commercial and residential precinct.

• July 2012: The previous Minister for Planning rezoned Fishermans Bend (including the Lorimer precinct) to Capital City Zone and requested that Places Victoria prepare a Strategic Framework Plan to guide future development.

• September 2013: Places Victoria released the 'Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area Draft Vision' for community comment.

• November 2013: The City of Melbourne provided comments to Places Victoria on the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area Draft Vision.

• January 2014: Responsibility for finalising the Fishermans Bend Strategic Framework Plan (SFP) was handed to the newly formed Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA).

• June 2014: Melbourne City Council adopted its 2014-15 Annual Plan and Budget which contains anactionto prepare a draft Lorimer Structure Plan for consultation. This supports the Council Plan 2013-17 goal to create a city for people.

• July 2014: The MPA released the SFP, including design guidelines. This plan provides high-level guidance on the development of the Lorimer precinct.

• August 2014: The SFP was incorporated into the City of Melbourne Planning Scheme.
• March-April 2015: City of Melbourne commences the Lorimer Structure Plan with Stage 1 of Community Engagement.
• April 2015: The Minister for Planning announced a review of the SFP and the introduction of a fifth precinct in Fishermans Bend. The Minister for Planning introduced interim mandatory maximum height controls for the Lorimer precinct and precincts in the City of Port Phillip into the Melbourne and Port Phillip planning schemes.

The Lorimer Neighbourhood Precinct Plan will provide greater clarity to the public, government authorities and developers on how to create a liveable, sustainable central city precinct.

The Minister for Planning announced changes to Fishermans Bend in April 2015. These changes included creating a Fishermans Bend Taskforce with resources from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA), Places Victoria (PV), the City of Melbourne and the City of Port Phillip. One of the Taskforce’s roles is to drive the development of detailed precinct plans for the five precincts in Fishermans Bend.

The Fishermans Bend Strategic Framework Plan (released in July 2014, updated in April 2015) states that by 2050, it is expected that the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area will accommodate at least 80,000 residents and 40,000 new jobs.

The Lorimer Structure Plan will investigate different development scenarios to test the amount of growth that will be appropriate for Lorimer. This will consider the parks, community services, and transport and other infrastructure that will be needed for current and future residents, workers and visitors in Lorimer and surrounding precincts.

The Minister for Planning, the Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA) and the City of Melbourne are responsible for strategic planning for the Lorimer precinct. They have different roles:

• The Minister for Planning is overseeing the April 2015 review of the Strategic Framework Plan (SFP) which will recast the plan into distinct neighbourhoods (including the Lorimer precinct).
• The MPA will lead planning and infrastructure coordination for the expanded Fishermans Bend. The MPA is also preparing a Development Contributions Plan for the Fishermans Bend Urban Renewal Area.
• The City of Melbourne will prepare a Lorimer Structure Plan which will provide more detailed planning for the Lorimer precinct. The Lorimer Structure Plan will be used to inform the Minster for Planning’s review of the SFP.

The City of Melbourne is also responsible for considering future infrastructure needs in the area, and for maintaining streets within the precinct (with the exception of Lorimer Street, an arterial road managed by VicRoads).

The Minister for Planning replaced the MPA as the authority responsible for determining most planning permit applications for development in the Lorimer precinct on 17 April 2015 The City of Melbourne is responsible for determining applications for development proposals that have a floor area of less than 25,000 m2.

The Minister for Planning seeks comments from the City of Melbourne to inform his assessment of planning permit applications.

No decisions on any permit applications for the Lorimer precinct have been made to date. There are four current planning permit applications for large-scale developments in Lorimer. These four permit applications were lodged before the introduction of interim mandatory maximum height limits in Lorimer on 17 April 2015. They will be assessed against the controls that applied prior to 17 April 2015.

All land parcels in the Lorimer precinct are owned privately, by a number of private owners.

The Lorimer precinct will be integrated with the Yarra's Edge precinct in Docklands. Located north of Lorimer, Yarra’s Edge is home to more than 2,500 residents and around 150 people work in the cafes, shops and offices in the area. Construction in Yarra's Edge began in 1999 and the precinct is still being developed.

The City of Melbourne is working closely with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Metropolitan Planning Authority, other state government departments and agencies and the City of Port Phillip to plan for the area.

The City of Melbourne invited feedback to inform the development of the draft Lorimer Structure Plan from 25 February to 2 April. Submissions were made through the Lorimer Participate Melbourne site feedback form, at information sessions held in March and by email.

The issues raised in these submissions, in questions raised at the information sessions held in March and in other meetings with the community will help guide work to prepare the draft Lorimer Neighbourhood Precinct Plan, which is being produced by the Fishermans Bend Taskforce.