These include parklands such as The Domain, Royal Park and Fawkner Park, thoroughfares such as St Kilda Road and buildings including Melbourne Town Hall and the City Baths. Places are listed on the VHR if they meet one or more of the Heritage Council criteria and can include parks and gardens, objects, buildings, infrastructure and archaeological sites. All places are protected by law, meaning any changes must go through a permit process and be approved by Heritage Victoria.
We are committed to our role as custodians of VHR heritage places and have recently finalised an action plan to ensure our heritage is appropriately considered at all stages of project planning and delivery. The plan outlines 16 actions, including the following:
- Create a City of Melbourne heritage practice guide to assist staff working on heritage/archaeology assets, sites or projects. This informs when in the project lifecycle heritage needs to be considered; How we can develop a successful application to Heritage Victoria including the consideration of any exemptions; and, requirements under the Heritage Act 2017.
- Deliver training and capacity building for City of Melbourne staff on their responsibilities in VHR heritage management.
- Provide centralised advice and guidance from the heritage strategy team to assist other departments.
- Seek Heritage Victoria feedback on potential improvements to the permit application process.
- Establish quarterly meetings with Heritage Victoria to discuss upcoming projects.
- Provide further guidance and clarification on when a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) is required to be developed and develop an appropriate digital storage mechanism for these plans.
- Finalise the Heritage Data project that will provide key heritage data (eg heritage category, extent, links to CMPs) on a visually mapped interface, accessible internally and ultimately by members of the public.
If you are interested in finding out more about the steps we are taking to manage our heritage, please contact the heritage strategy team at
heritage@melbourne.vic.gov.au