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The Project:

The Victorian State Government, in association with the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) and a private consortia ‘PPP Solutions' sought to redevelop and upgrade the existing 27 hectare Royal Melbourne Showgrounds site into:

• a Core area, that would continue to cater for the Royal Melbourne Show and a wider range of events throughout the year (including the ‘Big Day Out', ‘Octoberfest', school exams, product sales and markets, exhibitions, seminars, concerts, dog shows, equestrian events, etc) plus
• a Non-Core area fronting part of Epsom Road, which will be developed into a mixed use retail, child care, medical and restaurant precinct.

Redevelopment of the Core land involved the demolition of a number of redundant buildings, the retention and refurbishment of a number of buildings with heritage significance, plus the construction of a range of key new structures, including the Main Arena, Grand Pavilion, and the Exhibition Building.  Construction works were staged over a period of two years.

The upgraded Showground facilities are expected to attract a range of new events and attract a greater year round patronage.

The Challenge:

To ensure that the reduced area available for the Showgrounds Core area was able to cater for a wide range of users, including:

• A logical and coherent network of pedestrian routes and spaces.
• Safe and efficient pedestrian access to minimise on-site congestion during peak activity at the Royal Show.
• Staff and user car parking, including parking for trailers, horse floats, and trucks.
• A range of truck sizes, including B-Doubles, to provide safe and efficient internal and external site access and loading / unloading.

The Approach:

Coordinate and hold effective consultations with key parties, including clients, VicRoads, DOI, Yarra Trams, Melbourne and Moonee Valley Councils and members of the surrounding community.

Conduct detailed research on pedestrian capacities and level of service to ensure that adequate capacity was provided along key pedestrian routes.  Work with the RAS to seek to avoid or minimise on-site congestion points.

Seek to minimise the level of on-site parking for staff and users and require all customer parking during ‘Show mode' to park in suitable off-site parking locations and to use more sustainable transport modes of travel.

Provide improved facilities for public transport users, including raised platform stops along Epsom Road and better access to / from the railway station.

Conduct a detailed Autoturn assessment of the site and external access points to ensure that B-Double trucks can access key site locations.

The Result:

The 2007 Royal Melbourne Show, being the first with the smaller (Core) area, was a major success with record crowd numbers and visitors able to move around an attractive setting in a convenient manner.  Trucks were able to gain easy access to on-site facilities with good manoeuvring opportunities.

The Non-Core land provides an attractive development site for a mixed use development to service the local community.

Improved tram and pedestrian facilities will be provided along and across Epsom Road.