The Jean McKendry Neighbourhood Centre is located on Melrose Street, North Melbourne. It provides ageing and inclusion administration and consultation spaces, a community hall, meeting rooms and a commercial kitchen. A toy library operates from the Hotham Hub building on the same site.

The North Melbourne Community Centre is located at the Buncle Street Reserve in North Melbourne. It provides maternal child health and family services administration and consultation spaces, youth services (funded by City of Melbourne and provided by Drummond Street), programs by various other community providers, a community hall, meeting rooms, a kitchen for community use, a gym and a basketball stadium.

The new community centre will provide maternal child health, family services and ageing and inclusion administration and consultation spaces, youth services (funded by City of Melbourne and provided by Drummond Street), meeting rooms and large function spaces, a commercial kitchen and other services and spaces to be determined through community engagement.

The City of Melbourne has allocated $21 million and a further $10 million in grant funding for this project over the next three financial years. Further funding may be assigned in future years.

Once design has been complete, Council will have a clearer picture of the likely costs for the project – and will share this information with the community.

The focus of the facilities and services at the new community centre will be family, youth and ageing services. Some multi-purpose recreation rooms could be included for a range of activities.

The recreation facilities at the existing North Melbourne Community Centre will continue to operate through community consultation and construction of the new centre, so there’ll be no reduction in recreation offerings.

Council is exploring the potential for a dedicated recreation facility in North Melbourne. All insights gathered through engagement will help us design the spaces and services in the new community centre, and will be used to inform future decisions on new recreation facilities.

The Macaulay precinct in North Melbourne is one of the fastest growing parts of the municipality. Significant growth is forecast for the Macaulay precinct in the coming years. The current population is 3150 residents – and is expected to increase to 10,000 by 2051. Existing recreation facilities will not meet future needs.

Council is investigating the longer-term recreation needs in the precinct, including potential redevelopment of the existing North Melbourne Community Centre’s recreation facilities at Buncle Street Reserve.

The North Melbourne Community Centre will continue to operate while construction on a new community centre is underway, including the basketball court and fitness centre – ensuring no net loss of recreation space and facilities.

Current services are expected to operate until at least mid-2024. Council will seek to relocate all services during the construction phase.

The facilities and services provided in the Jean McKendry Neighbourhood Centre and the Hotham Hub are expected to be replaced in the new community centre.

The new community centre will be located on Melrose Street – the site of the Jean McKendry Neighbourhood Centre. This is one block (2–3-minute walk) from the current site.

The Macaulay precinct in North Melbourne is one of the fastest growing parts of the municipality. Existing City of Melbourne community facilities in North Melbourne are already fully utilised.

Council has explored the potential of various sites in the precinct. Consideration has been given to how all Council-owned land might be used in the future to help meet growing community needs – for community services, recreation services, parks and open space, and affordable housing.

The Melrose site allows Council to design and construct a community centre that will be centrally located to its users and other community facilities, while leaving space available on other sites for other purposes.

In the past 18 months, community engagement in North Melbourne includes:

• 772 community members consulted on the North Melbourne Neighbourhood Plan
• 252 community members consulted on recreation in North Melbourne.

Other significant recent engagement includes the draft Macaulay Structure Plan 2021 and the Lady Huntingfield Early Learning and Family Services Centre renewal.

Community engagement for a new community centre in North Melbourne has not previously been accompanied by allocating a budget or by project planning, such as site selection.

Council now has sufficient budget and has carried out investigations on sites. Engagement will ensure the design work is directly informed by the desires of the community.