We’re upgrading East Ivanhoe shopping village

We are entering an exciting phase for East Ivanhoe! We’re starting work in mid-March on a significant upgrade to make your shopping village streetscape safer and more inviting. It will be completed by the end of 2024.

East Ivanhoe Village will continue to be the green and attractive heart of your vibrant community with a unique cultural heritage, with places for people to shop, meet, connect and celebrate.

A safer and more inviting streetscape

Both sides of Lower Heidelberg Road will be upgraded, from Carmichael Street to the end of the shops past the McArthur Road roundabout. The upgrade includes:

• New footpath surfaces within the existing kerbs
• Safer crossings at Warncliffe Road, Wilfred Road, Burton Crescent and Carmichael Street
• Seating and other new street furniture in keeping with local heritage
• Improved planting and green spaces
• Better drainage for Burton Crescent carpark

Following positive community feedback, the Burton Crescent parklet will be upgraded. The recently installed stone paving around the Lower Heidelberg Road pedestrian crossing between Wilfred Road and Carmichael Street will remain.

Council is managing the project and has appointed contractor Kaizen Civil to build the main infrastructure.

Minimising disruption

Like most improvements, there will be some disruption while we undertake this work, such as temporary road and footpath closures.

Parking will be available and pedestrian access will be maintained as much as possible except during the brief periods when new path sections are being laid. We will complete small stages at a time to minimise disruption to residents, shops and business owners.

We thank you for your patience as we build a better East Ivanhoe shopping village streetscape.

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Community engagement

In 2022, we temporarily transformed one side of Burton Crescent into a parklet. The footpath on the other side was permanently widened, improving pedestrian access and providing more outdoor dining space for two local businesses. Several events were also held in the space, including the Winter Solstice. We asked the community what they thought of this transformation.

From this feedback we then prepared four options for the future of Burton Crescent.

• Return Burton Crescent to what it was, including three parking spaces to the west and no change to traffic movement.
• Retain the parklet, and no change to traffic movement (two-way)
• Retain and widen the parklet, make Burton Crescent one-way (northbound with no exit to Lower Heidelberg Road) and raise the pavement to create a shared zone where pedestrians have priority
• Make it Hybrid, retain a section of the parklet, create a disabled parking bay, make Burton Crescent one-way (northbound with no exit to Lower Heidelberg Road), and raise the pavement to create a shared zone where pedestrians have priority.

What you told us

In March and April 2023, we asked the community to state their preferred option. 420 people completed a survey online or in hard copy to provide feedback on the future of Burton Crescent.

Respondents' preferred option was to retain the parklet, with no change to traffic flow (keep it two-way).

Community engagement

In 2021-22, we asked the East Ivanhoe community to share with us what they value most about the East Ivanhoe Village and tell us how we can support to create a more connected, sustainable and vibrant place. Your responses helped shape a community vision for the Village:

East Ivanhoe Village will continue to be the green and attractive heart of a vibrant, welcoming community with a unique cultural heritage, providing places for people to shop, meet, connect and celebrate.

This vision was used to help develop the East Ivanhoe Village Concept Plan for the streetscape upgrade.

During this time, almost 470 people provided feedback and there were more than 2,200 visits to the Shaping Banyule project page. Of those who provided formal feedback there were:

To read more about what we heard, have a look at the social map below, go to the consultation findings page or read the full consultation report.

The upgrade to East Ivanhoe Village streetscape will include the addition of three new parking bays:

• one in Warncliffe Road, subject to completion of design; and
• two new parking bays in Wilfred Road.

The existing disabled parking will also be improved to meet DDA standards.

To improve pedestrian safety and accessibility we are also advocating to Department of Transport and Planning for future improvements, including an upgrade to existing signalised pedestrian crossing located in front of no. 255 Lower Heidelberg Road, and pedestrian crossings in local streets adjacent to Lower Heidelberg Road.

Car Parking

Based on comments received during the initial consultation process, we engaged traffic and parking consultants to investigate and report on parking supply and occupancy within the East Ivanhoe Activity Centre.

The report included:

• an assessment of current car parking supply in the Village, that considers number of parking spots, occupancy and turnover.
• a parking inventory to ascertain the number of on-street car parking spaces and existing parking restrictions within the area including Beauview Parade, Burton Crescent, Warncliffe Road, Wilfred Road and Carmichael Street.
• parking occupancy surveys of the off-street car parking spaces in Council owned carparks in Beauview Parade, Burton Crescent and Wilfred Road.

The study was undertaken on different days and times of the week and the analysis highlighted that there is some high occupancy during the week but mainly from 10am - 5pm. There is also medium occupancy on Saturday from 10am - 1pm. During all other times car park spots are available.

We have also conducted an area wide parking investigation and survey with local businesses and are considering some changes to the parking restrictions within the off-street car parks along Burton Crescent and Wilfred Road to increase the turnover of parking in the area.

Project Reference Group

From October to November 2021, we invited interested community members and traders to participate in a small but informed Project Reference Group (PRG) for East Ivanhoe Village. Eight places have been filled, representing a cross-section of the community.

Membership categories include:

• Banyule Trader Association, Business Association or Body Corporate (Centre Manager or Committee Member/President) 
• Banyule business operator and/or owner
• Interest and sporting group member (eg. cycling, sporting, community interest group)
• School Community – PTA member and a member of staff 
• East Ivanhoe resident

The PRG has:

• Helped develop an understanding of the current useability and function of the public realm at East Ivanhoe Village, through the eyes of those who use it – what works, what doesn’t
• Helped shape public consultation activities and consider feedback that emerges from it
• Identified areas for improvement or focus
• Provided feedback and ideas to inform concept designs

The final meeting for the PRG was held on 11 April 2023. We would like to thank the Project Reference Group for their valuable contributions and feedback over the past 18 months.