RMIT’s push to expand into Carlton

Tree-lined streets dotted with delicatessens, restaurants and Victorian-era terraces are the fabric of Carlton, but one of the area’s largest stakeholders, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), is looking to challenge this.

The university is seeking to expand its footprint across the city and is putting pressure on the City of Melbourne to better support its growth and expansion in Carlton.

RMIT has criticised the City of Melbourne's Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS), stating that it does “not recognise” its significant landholdings in Carlton or support its growth and expansion.

However, following a raft of submissions on the planning strategy, as well as recent planning scheme changes introduced by the state government, the council voted, at the Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) meeting on April 15, to put the delivery of the MPS on hold while it is redrafted.

Further progress may not come until November 2026, with both RMIT and Carlton residents awaiting confirmation on how the revised MPS will impact the area.

Currently, RMIT holds a significant number of properties north of Victoria St, which fall within the Carlton precinct rather than neighbouring innovation districts in Parkville and the city’s north, where RMIT also has substantial holdings and is encouraged to deliver larger-scale projects.

This presents a challenge for RMIT, which believes that planning restrictions within the Carlton precinct hinder its ability to expand.

“What is clear is that RMIT cannot achieve the strategic precinct outcomes desired by state and local planning policy without reshaping the built form and education environment in Carlton,” RMIT said in a submission at the April 15 FMC meeting.

“RMIT is concerned that the desired vision for limited growth will inhibit the potential for redevelopment and therefore the significant expansion and upgrading of RMIT’s education facilities into the future.”

However, while council management acknowledged the significance of RMIT’s landholdings in Carlton, management noted that these currently sat within a context that included “low scale” residential areas and significant “heritage” fabric.

According to management, the MPS aims to balance the competing demands of a growing education and innovation sector within this context.

However, under the state government’s Development Facilitation Program (DFP), RMIT may be eligible to have some of its projects fast-tracked, with the City of Melbourne acting as an “expert adviser” in such cases.

The DFP is a dedicated team within the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) that provides an expedited planning process for eligible projects, which inject investment into the Victorian economy, keep people in jobs, and create housing.

A City of Melbourne spokesperson told Inner City News, "[the DFP] is implemented on a project-by-project basis, providing a pathway for planning applications to be decided by the Minister for Planning.”

“All applications through the DFP are required to be assessed by DTP against the policies and controls within the planning scheme,” they said. “It does not impact the overall vision for development in the City of Melbourne under the MPS.”

It is understood that there are currently no formal plans for RMIT to make use of the development facilitation program.

However, RMIT’s intentions to increase development in the area is a concern for some residents, who wish to see the heritage and character of Carlton preserved.

Town planner and member of the Carlton Residents’ Association Peter Sanders told Inner City News that it was opposed to further expansion of tertiary institutions and “knowledge and innovation uses” into the area.

“A substantial part of the area is under heritage overlays with small lots and low-scale buildings that are not adaptable to the proposed uses,” he said.

Mr Sanders also fears that for projects eligible for the DFP, residents will not have the same level of involvement they would under the regular local planning process.

He suggested that areas such as E-Gate, Fishermans Bend and Arden all held strong potential for large-scale tertiary and education developments.

However, for now, with the new MPS not expected to be tabled until late next year, Mr Sanders hopes that the character and heritage of his neighbourhood will be safeguarded when the revised strategy is released. •