Town planning in the City of Melbourne.
Melbourne CBD · Carlton · North Melbourne · Kensington · East Melbourne · Southbank · Docklands
The capital city scheme is unlike any other in Victoria: the central city runs on its own built-form controls, the Minister for Planning is the responsible authority for the largest projects, and the surrounding residential precincts — Carlton, East Melbourne, North Melbourne, Kensington — hold some of Australia's most intact Victorian-era heritage under extensive overlay coverage.
Most applicants here are not building towers. The daily work of the scheme is change of use in heritage shopfronts, licensed premises, apartment alterations, shop-top additions and the constant renegotiation between new uses and old fabric — matters where knowing the delegate practice and the heritage policy matters more than the headlines.
Our City of Melbourne work sits mainly in that daily layer: changes of use, licensed premises and food and drink matters, heritage alterations and the commercial questions that come with the mixed-use inner city. We also advise on when a proposal's scale tips it from council to the Minister as responsible authority — a threshold that changes the whole strategy.
Controls you'll commonly meet in Melbourne.
Every property is different — these are the zones and overlays that most often shape applications in this municipality. Each links to the current ordinance in the Melbourne planning scheme.
Services we provide in Melbourne.
Residential
Single dwellings, dual occupancies, multi-unit and apartment developments — the backbone of our practice.
Feasibility Report
Can your block be subdivided? A planner-reviewed desktop report for any Victorian address — $275 inc. GST, delivered within 24 hours on business days.
Commercial Permits
Statutory planning strategy, lodgement and permit management for commercial, retail and industrial projects.
VCAT Appeals
Strategic advocacy at the Tribunal — for applicants fighting a refusal, and for objectors challenging a permit.
Strategic Planning
Planning scheme amendments, rezonings and structure plans for long-horizon projects.
Protection Works
Form 7 and Form 8 notices under the Building Act — acting for building owners, adjoining owners and surveyor referrals. Victoria only.
Questions we’re asked most.
If you have a question that’s not here, call us — we answer honestly, whether or not it leads to work.
- Usually the use itself is permissible in the central city, but a permit is commonly triggered by liquor licensing, late-night trading hours, external changes to a heritage building or patron numbers. The combination decides it. Council's practice on trading hours and amenity conditions is well established, and applications framed within it move much faster.
Got a site, a permit, or a refusal on your desk?
An obligation-free conversation is the fastest way to see if we can help. We respond within 24 hours — usually much sooner.