The City of Melbourne is undertaking a major renewal of Melbourne’s iconic Queen Victoria Market and surrounding precinct.

The renewal project aims to secure Queen Victoria Market’s place as a traditional open-air market. Through renewal we will restore the market’s heritage while delivering facilities to make the market work better for traders, customers and visitors.

For more information on the market renewal program including the latest projects, visit Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal.

Where we are at

The next focus for the renewal program is the Southern Precinct. The Southern Precinct incorporates Gurrowa Place, a new mixed use development to be built by Lendlease - attracting thousands of new residents, workers and visitors to the precinct.

City of Melbourne will deliver a new civic building, the creation of 1.8 hectares of public open space in Market Square, a new linear park in Franklin Street and the restoration of the Franklin Street Stores.

These changes are part of delivering on the Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal Master Plan.

To enable the Gurrowa Place development and delivery of the new public spaces, Franklin Street needs to be realigned. See the Transforming Franklin Street page for further information on the proposed designs and to have your say on the proposal.

Market Square and Queen’s Corner Building will become one of the largest public spaces in the city, providing valuable space for connection, socialisation, activation and relaxation. With designs currently under development, we want to hear from you about what a great public space in this market precinct would look like to you, with more opportunities to engage in September.

You can find out more about each of these projects below, along with opportunities to have your say.

Follow this page to keep up to date with all things QVM Precinct Renewal.

News

Timeline

  • Timeline item 1 - complete

    Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal Master Plan was developed and adopted by Council.

    July 2015

  • Timeline item 2 - complete

    A People’s Panel was established, comprising a diverse group of traders, customers, community members and other key stakeholders to deliberate on key QVMPR projects

    2018-2019

  • Timeline item 3 - complete

    Future Melbourne Committee endorses new market infrastructure plan and People's Panel Report progress update released

    2 April 2019

  • Timeline item 4 - complete

    The Market Square Charter is endorsed as the framework for the new open space to inform the design and guide future management.

    30 June 2020

  • Timeline item 5 - complete

    Council announced Lendlease to deliver the Southern Precinct

    28 June 2023

  • Timeline item 6 - complete

    Phase 1 community consultation begins for Market Square and Queens Corner Building, consultation begins for Transforming Franklin Street

    12 July 2023

  • Timeline item 7 - complete

    Transforming Franklin Street consultation closes

    23 August 2023

  • Timeline item 8 - active

    Phase 2 community consultation begins for Market Square and Queens Corner Building

    September 2023

  • Timeline item 9 - incomplete

    Community consultation ends and insights shared with the community

    Late 2023

Consultation history

Since announcing the renewal of the market precinct in 2013, the City of Melbourne has worked closely with traders, the community and key stakeholders to plan for the careful restoration and revitalisation of this seven hectare site in the heart of the city. The ideas have reinforced the need to secure the market as a traditional open air market.

Alongside the heritage market, the City of Melbourne is also planning for the surrounding precinct in order to provide for the growing community.

For information about the previous community engagement which has informed this renewal program, see below.

  • Munro Library: 2022

    • January-March 2022: Consultation on Munro Library, a new community library in the heart of the Queen Victoria Market precinct.
    • August 2022: Designs for Munro Library and Community Hub approved by Future Melbourne Committee.

    Learn more 
  • Market Square charter: 2019

    • November 2019: Consultation on Market Square, a new 1.5 hectare public open space, replacing the current customer car park.
    • December 2019: Development of charter for Market Square endorsed.
    Learn more 
  • People's Panel: 2018-2019

    • September 2018: People's Panel formed. The panel focused on forming recommendations on how to deliver facilities at the market for traders and customers, including car parking.
    • December 2018: Council accepts People's Panel report and requests market infrastructure report.
    • April 2019: Council endorses market infrastructure report.


    Learn more 
  • Amendment C245: 2015-2017

    • October-November 2015: Engagement on Amendment C245: Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal. The amendment introduces planning controls to balance the heritage of the market precinct with the right type of new development.
    • July 2017: Amendment approved by Minister for Planning.
    Learn more 
  • Early engagement: 2013-2015

    • November 2013: Introducing the renewal and discovering what people value and want improved.
    • April-May 2014: Seeking feedback on five renewal draft concepts and six themes.
    • March 2015: Introducing and consulting on the draft Master Plan.
    Learn more 

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