City of Melbourne’s Greenline Project has hit a major milestone, with two award-winning landscape architecture and design studios securing the prestigious contract to bring the initiative to life.
Councillors have unanimously endorsed the appointment of a multidisciplinary design consortia led by T.C.L and ASPECT Studios to design all five precincts of the ambitious, city-shaping project and deliver the Greenline Project Master Plan.
T.C.L is one of Australia’s most awarded landscape architecture and urban design practices, with major projects across the country including the Elizabeth Quay redevelopment in Perth and the National Arboretum in Canberra.
ASPECT Studios is an award-winning international design practice which has worked on major parks and greening projects such as the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk in Sydney and the Caulfield to Dandenong skyrail linear park.
The Greenline Project is a transformative vision for the North Bank of the Yarra River – Birrarung, creating a 4km promenade of parks, open spaces, cultural activations and environmental renewal between Birrarung Marr and the Bolte Bridge.
The project will be split into five inter-connected precincts – Birrarung Marr, The Falls, River Park, Maritime and Saltwater Wharf, all highlighting the area’s rich indigenous history.
The two firms will work together on each precinct site, collaborating with Council, State Government and key project partners to create a shared project vision.
The appointment comes as the proposed concept design for the first precinct of the Greenline Project – Birrarung Marr – received glowing endorsement from community and businesses.
The Birrarung Marr precinct is set to be transformed with more than 450m of new boardwalks, a 6m wide promenade, new native habitats and greening of the water’s edge.
Community consultation for the concept, designed by T.C.L, found the majority of respondents are supportive of the concept.
More than half of respondents said they wanted to see more art and music events occurring within the Greenline precincts, while there was also strong support for more Aboriginal culture events and ceremonies (51 per cent), cultural festivals (47 per cent) and food (41 per cent).
In addition, 56 per cent rated the response to environment and ecological sustainability as very good to excellent.
The outcome of the community consultation follows the release of the Greenline Project’s business case in September.
Prepared by Ernst & Young, the business case estimates a benefit to cost ratio of $3.29 for every dollar spent, with the project expected to attract an additional $1.9 billion of private sector investment.
The Greenline Project is also expected to create more than 3,400 jobs during construction, more than 6,400 ongoing jobs by 2042, and attract more than 1.1 million additional visitors to the city every year.
City of Melbourne Lord Mayor, Sally Capp, said, “The Greenline Project is a transformative vision for our city and we’re thrilled to have two of Australia’s leading landscape architecture firms on board to help us make this vision a reality.
“It’s a significant vote of confidence that traders and residents strongly endorsed our concept for Birrarung Marr, enabling us to move forward with our plans for the rest of the project.
“The Greenline Project will help to revitalise the north bank of the Yarra River while also creating thousands of jobs, attracting waves of new visitors and injecting millions of dollars into our economy.”
Featured image: Artist’s impression of Birrarung Marr precinct boardwalk – part of the Greenline Project. Image: City of Melbourne.
