• Project: Box Hill Metropolitan Activity Centre

• Location: Box Hill, Victoria

• Client: City of Whitehorse

Project Description

Box Hill is identified as a Metropolitan Activity Centre and as one of eleven Health and Education precincts in Plan Melbourne 2017-2050. Box Hill’s role in the Melbourne metropolitan area is also intersected by its strategic role as a major transport interchange in Melbourne’s east. The project team undertook a thorough assessment of the 2007 Structure Plan which identified emerging issues in Box Hill, strategic drivers of developments and key enablers for change. As an outcome of this review, a revised Structure Plan and Urban Design Framework was prepared to provide a robust planning framework to guide the next steps in Box Hill’s regeneration.

The plan reconciles the significant forecast growth in population, housing and employment with the necessary underpinning amenity, character, connectivity, and resilience to support the centre’s role as the pre-eminent urban centre for Melbourne’s east. A key principle of the plan is the creation of a network of distinctive neighbourhoods to build on their individual strengths as hubs for regional education, training, health, large employment, core retail and civic, residential, and entrepreneurial small business.

To support this outcome the plan provides recommendations for the enhanced placemaking role of all new development in combination with clearly articulated visions for each neighbourhood. Developed through an extensive engagement process that shaped and tested the vision the plan was informed by robust forecasting on future demand for commercial and residential floorspace by SGS Economics.

Collaborators:

Statutory and strategic planning – TQ Planning
Economics and demographic projections: SGS Economics and Planning
Strategic transport – Movement and Place Consulting
Landscape & Public Realm – Mary Papaioannou

Built form testing -- Urban Circus