Melbourne to boost creativity and footfall through rent-free space

Melbourne, Australia has begun to unlock disused office and retail space in the relatively new area of the Docklands to offer creative companies rent-free space in the hope of enticing people to the deserted area of the city.

Four tenants moved into Docklands Spaces during April, including architects and a 3D printing studio, after organisers, Renew Australia, partnering with the City of Melbourne and others, received interest from 80 applicants in January.

“Docklands is not an old area that has fallen on hard times but instead a relatively new precinct where, for a variety of reasons, the activities that are needed to give it ongoing life have not yet taken hold,” said Marcus Westbury, Founder and Director of Renew Australia.

Docklands Spaces is based on a previous successful model used in Newcastle, Australia, where new creative enterprises were given temporary access to otherwise empty spaces to incubate creative initiatives and ideas, building local economic development.

The City of Melbourne hopes that the initiative will help end the problem of surplus space relative to market demand. The City estimates that by around 2031, Docklands will be a residential area for 16,000 people, eventually attracting 20 million visitors a year and host workplaces for 40,000 people daily. The City considers Docklands a vital part of Melbourne and sees the investment as essential to achieve these goals.

“Docklands Spaces aims to activate Docklands’ underutilised or vacant spaces with innovative and interesting tenants in order to drive visitation to Docklands and diversify the retail offering in this growing part of the city,” Councillor Kevin Louey, City of Melbourne’s Chair for Economic Development told Cities Today. “We want to bring the essence of Melbourne’s creativity into the heart of Docklands.”

Renew Australia’s default agreement is not a lease but a rolling 30-day licence that gives flexibility to both the creative enterprise and property owners. Tenants only need pay a minimal fee for public liability insurance and utility bills.

On the waiting list are artists, jewellers, craftspeople, artisans and literary journals that are seeking various types of office space and studios.

Answering criticisms that the scheme is ‘manufacturing’ trendy areas, Westbury explained that Renew Australia’s aim is to create fertile ground for experiments. “We don’t actually set out to make the area ‘cool’ or ‘hip’ but to unpack the process and lower the barriers to small groups who have imagination but have no capital.”

Organisers expect to have another half a dozen spaces become available over the next few months with numbers rising or falling depending on the interest of property owners, vacancy rates in the precinct, and the success of individual projects.