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Southbank 3006 Fact Sheet
2025 PDF
This is a demographic snapshot of the 3006 suburb (Southbank), compiled by the City of Melbourne. The sheet has further links to more in depth information available on their website
The Greenline Project. Partnership and Funding Strategy
2024 PDF
This document - to be read in conjunction with the Greenline Master Plan - outlines how the City of Melbourne will partner with other levels of government, otherorganisations and the private sector to deliver the $300 million, 4km long project for the Yarra's northbank.
Southbank 3006 Resident Survey
2023 PDF
This was the first survey conducted by a business association into the needs and wants of its 25,000 residents. Conducted by Right Angle Studio in 2023, it drew upon existent Council, ABS data and supplemented it with the findings from a 300 strong face to face survey of local residents. It will guide the Business Association's approach to serving its residential community throughout the 2020s.
South Wharf/North Wharf Heritage Review
2023 PDF
In 2023 Yarra River Business Association commissioned a team of consultants, under the banner of The Gaibo Agency, to review the current state of heritage assets on South Wharf and in the western end of the precinct. They were also asked through research to try to determine the public appetite for a more integrated and themed sub-precinct which highlighted the maritime heritage of 19th and 20th century Melbourne. The consultants looked at the current grouping of assets, the current level of interpretation and possible ways forward to strengthen the theming.
Resident 3006 Survey results fact sheets
2023 PDF
These fact sheets summarise the key findings of the larger report conducted by Right Angle Consulting during 2022 and 2023.
Southbank Promenade Pedestrian Counter
2023 PDF
This is a brief overview of how the key pedestrian counter at the southern end of Evan Walker Bridge works and how it analyses pedestrian traffic flow.
Greenline Master Plan
2023 PDF
This is the comprehensive and highly illustrated master plan for the 4km Greenline project along the Yarra northbank. Although each node of the project will be micro-planned to allow for nuance and local feedback, this document sets the overall tone for the $300 million project.
Lighting, and Nightime Safety
2022 PDF
This paper presented to the Southbank Safety and Security Committee in 2022 by Arup Australia outlines findings about perceived and actual safety in high traffic public areas like Southbank. It analyses the effect of different type of lighting and even the colour of pavements to provide wayfinding and reflectivity.
Southbank Promenade Landscape Upgrades
2021 PDF
This is a Council document that overviews the proposed changes to the look of Southbank Promenade, especially in front of the Southgate complex.
Southbank Structure Plan - Audit & Priorities report
2021 PDF
The Southbank Structure Plan is now 15 years old, but this more recent Council publication (2021) provides an overview of key priorities for the development of the 3006 residential area. This report undertakes a review of key initiatives relating to the public realm and built environment to ensure the overarching vision of the Structure Plan has been achieved. This includes a review of subsequent masterplans, strategies and projects.
Southbank Heritage Review
2020 PDF
The Victorian State Government's Amendment C305 sought to implement the Southbank and Fishermans Bend Heritage Review, 2017, which had been revised in November 2020 and renamed the Southbank Heritage Review, 2017, updated November 2020. The Panel set=up to review the changes and public submissions recognised that Southbank had undergone substantial change since the Review was undertaken in 2017. The Panel did not support Heritage Overlay HO1214 City Road Industrial and Warehouse Precinct, finding that while it may have once been a cohesive precinct it now lacked the requisite degree of cohesion. Further, the Panel did not support the Heritage Overlay proposed for places in circumstances where the buildings had been redeveloped since the Review was conducted or for two places for which it determined the threshold for local heritage significance had not been met. The attached review, which follows the Council report, is an excellent overview of the suburb's heritage assets.
Federation Square Review
2019 PDF
Following a community uproar over Fed Square management proposing a large Apple store for the Square, in order to improve the financial position of the pubilc-owned entity, the State Government finally overruled the proposal and then undertook an extensive community consultation process to find out what Melburnians wanted for their major public meeting space. This is the summary of those findings.
Pacific North West (USA) Waterfront Report
2019 PDF
YRBA’s then Executive Officer, Tim Bracher, visited the Pacific North West of the United States/ Canada in September 2019. The cities of Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco were selected for study because of their significant waterfront developments, each with a major emphasis on tourism. The three waterfronts provided a contrast, as each was experiencing a different lifecycle and stage of development, not dissimilar to Melbourne’s Lower Yarra River and Docklands.
Yarra River Birrarung Strategy (Part 1)
2019 PDF
This document (part 1) is the City of Melbourne's response to the overarching Yarra River management plan. It recognises that increasing worker, residential and visitor populations will put additional demands on the public space, recreation and movement uses of the river and create challenges to the river health. It says there is a need to rehabilitate and improve the natural spaces along the river corridor, not only to benefit the growing population but as a commitment to restoring the ecology of the river. An opportunity to improve reconciliation with the traditional owners is also a key ambition of this strategy and also a key challenge for a rapidly growing city.
Yarra River Birrarung Strategy (Part 2)
2019 PDF
This is part 2 of the Council's Yarra River Birrarung Strategy. IN this second document, the guiding principles of part one are applied to the differenent sections of the river, showing what it could look like. It also draws upon examples from riverfronts around the world.
Yarra River Big Ideas Forum (final report)
2019 PDF
In 2019 the Yarra River Business Association, in conjunction with Arup Australia, gather a wide variety of stakeholders into the Supper Room of the Melbourne Town Hall to examine what could be achieved along the city section of the river., if budget was no object and planning and territorial restrictions were removed. The examples were very enlightening.
Vision 21
2019 PDF
The business association's 21st birthday arrived shortly after it conducted the Big Ideas Forum at the Melbourne Town Hall. This short document produced by YRBA followed the Forum and is an overview of what the Association considered the major projects in the precinct and which ones they should prioritise.
Lower Yarra River Recommendations
2018 PDF
The Lower Yarra Management Advisory Committee (LRMAC) was formed in 2016 and it grew out of the work of the Lower Yarra River Users Future Direction Group. Both committees were created by the State Government to review the management structure of the Lower Yarra, in response to considerable disatisfaction by river users in the performance of Parks Victoria. The LRMAC's report appeared in 2028, though the river community had to lodge a Freedom of Information request to see its recommendations. The 4 person committee commissioned two pieces of research to inform its findings: Visitor Experience Review (2017) and a Planning and legislative Review (2018). Despite the significant work and investment, the river community was disappointed with the lack-lustre findings of the final report, and little has changed in the management of the river since then.
South Wharf: A Short History
2018 PDF
South Wharf is one of the most significant and extant remnants of Melbourne's 19th and 20th century maritime heritage. THis short brochure produced by the South Wharf Association overviews that history.
South Wharf Maritime Heritage Walk
2018 PDF
This short heritage walk of South Wharf was commissioned by the South Wharf Association in an effort to better highlight the maritime heritage significance of their area.
Visitor Experience Review Lower Yarra River
2017 PDF
This report for the Lower Yarra River Management Advisory Committee (LYRMAC) was one of two reports the committee commisisoned to inform their final recommendations (2018) This study reviews opportunities to enhance the visitor experience along the Lower Yarra River corridor, defined as the reach of water, riparian zone and adjacent landside catchment between Herring Island and the Bolte Bridge. The approach taken in this report is to focus on the opportunities for enhancement of the experience for all users, residents and visitors alike, and in both commercial and non? commercial/recreational realms through. The report deliberately emphasises opportunities and desirable outcomes tied to the enjoyment and engagement of the river and its environs, rather than the obstacles and challenges to be overcome, which was the subject of a later assessment. This Visitor Experience review was informed by direct engagement with some 30 individual stakeholders representing regulators, state and local government, business associations, recreational clubs and private operators on and adjacent to the waterway. It also draws upon the findings and recommendations of a number of preceding reports, studies and assessments by a similarly wide range of stakeholders to arrive at a range of conclusions about the Lower Yarra River’s potential as an asset to be acknowledged, experienced and celebrated by all visitors to its environs.
Overview of Southbank and Fishermen's Bend History
2017 PDF
This is a comprehensive review of the development of the Southbank and Fishermens Bend area, which was produced for Council as an input to its Southbank Heritage Plan and overlays.
Protecting the Yarra
2016 PDF
This discussion paper was developed by the Yarra River Protection Ministerial Advisory Committee (Yarra MAC) to promote community discussion about opportunities to improve the oversight and management of the entire Yarra River. It was developed through consultation with a reference group and key stakeholders about the most important issues and opportunities that need to be addressed. It fed into the establishment of the Yarra River Protection Act and the committee charged with responsibility for oversight of the Act.
Recreational Boating Guide: Yarra & Maribyrnong Rivers
2016 PDF
This guide has been produced by Parks Victoria to encourage recreational boaters to explore the lower reaches of both rivers whilst recognising the need to protect their natural values. There are a number of regulations that must be observed to protect the river environment and ensure the safety of all users. There are local conditions you need to be aware of to ensure your trip is enjoyable, safe, sustainable and trouble free.
Yarra Pool
2016 PDF
In mid 2015 the Yarra Pool's committee teamed with Monash University to examine the means of filtering the waters of the Lower Yarra, which could mean the ability to insert a floating pool in the river for year-round swimming. The trial involved development of a prototype pool and the trialing at Burnley and in Docklands.
Protecting the Yarra
2016 PDF
This is one of the early discussion papers that made up the final Yarra River Protection Plan
Yarra River: A Case for Change (2015)
2015 PDF
This brief report was prepared by a team of private sector businesses and individuals, as input the the multi-department review of the management of the Lower Yarra River. At the time there was significant disatisfaction about Parks Victoria's management of the waterway, and the push was growing for the declaration of a Port of Yarra River.
Final Report on Lower Yarra River Management to the Minister for Natural Resources
2015 PDF
This report is the final deliberations of a two year inter-departmental committee review of the most appropriate way to management the Lower Yarra River. It very much reflects the feelings of the river waterways users of the time. It was presented to the then Minister Lisa Neville. The outcome, after a lengthy delay, was the creation of another smaller committee to examine the findings of this review. The follow-up committee - managed by Parks Victoria - deliberated for another 3 years and the outcome was very little change to the management of the waterway.
Yarra River Shuttle Preliminary Design
2014 PDF
One of the inputs to the 2014 multi govt department review of the Lower Yarra River Management, was a design review by Chamberlain Marine of a purposes built water shuttle service that could operate on the Lower Yarra. The report was commissioned by the City of Melbourne but was never acted upon.
Lower Yarra River Tourism Opportunities Background Paper
2012 PDF
In 2012, in recognition of its tourism potential, the then Minister for Tourism and Major Events, the Hon Louise Asher MP, asked the Lower Yarra River Tourism Committee to develop a tourism opportunities paper for the river. The paper identified possible tourism opportunities (and particularly products and services) associated with the reference area: the Lower Yarra River, from Grange Road, Toorak to the Bolte Bridge, taking into account existing development objectives and broad community expectations. This report fed-into the multi-departmental review in 2014 regarding the management of the Lower Yarra, in which the Yarra River Business Association played a major role.
DSE Berthing Review
2011 PDF
Consultation Draft DSE Review of Policy Framework for Yarra River Berthing Licences
Southbank Structure Plan 2010
2010 PDF
This the City of Melbourne's 30 year plan for 3006 - the municipality's fastest growing and most dense residential area. This report should be read in conjunction with the Southbank Structure Plan - Audit and Priorities report, which is also contained within this data collection.
Maribyrnong & Yarra Rivers draft Water Access Plan
2006 PDF
The Draft Two Rivers Water and Access Plan (released circa 2006) represented a significant move forward in the long term planning for the sustainable use and development of Melbourne’s key waterways, the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers. The plan was the culmination of a number of planning projects that had been lead by Parks Victoria, the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Melbourne Water. These plans broadly addressed the issues regarding the statutory planning framework along the waterways, river health, river traffic, sustainable dredging, event management and commercial vessel operations. Each of these plans has involved extensive consultation and partnerships with local government, agencies, user groups and the community. The Draft Two Rivers Water and Access Plan aims to draw all the recommendations of these plans together and provide a consistent approach to optimise safe, equitable and sustainable access to the rivers for a wide range of users. It is unknown whether the report even reach final draft and was accepted by State Government, but its contents are nonetheless valuable into the early thinking of the modern day river management.
Two Rivers Traffic Management Plan
2006 PDF
The Yarra River Waterways Committee (Parks Victoria, Melbourne City Council, Marine Safety Victoria, Port of Melbourne Corporation and VicUrban) commissioned the Two Rivers Traffic Management Plan. The plan made recommendations for planning and managing traffic for the Yarra River from Dights Falls to Port Phillip, the Maribyrnong River from Canning Street Bridge to the Port of Melbourne, and Port Phillip from the mouth of the Yarra River to Fawkner Beacon. The Two Rivers Traffic Management Plan has the following aims: 1. Determine the capacity of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers and Port Phillip to meet the growing demands of increased vessel movements; 2. Identify management systems and infrastructure that may be required to control vessel and ship traffic in a safe and sustainable manner for the benefit of all river users; 3. Develop a management strategy for the control of recreational and small commercial river traffic for the study area; 4. Identify performance measures for river traffic as a trigger for implementing management systems or infrastructure required to control river traffic; and 5. Optimise river usage while maintaining a sustainable physical and user-friendly environment.
