We’re seeking to facilitate a mixed-use redevelopment at the 1.2-hectare site, on Lonsdale Street, in line with the Victorian Government’s plan to improve housing supply and affordability.

Our site is part of a broader initiative led by the City of Greater Geelong including works to redevelop the public domain. The land is intended to be rezoned to Mixed Use Zone in line with the South Geelong Urban Design Framework (UDF).

Barwon Water relocated from the South Geelong Depot at Lonsdale Street in 2018. The site is no longer needed for our operations and the buildings were demolished in 2020. In the short term, we plan to use the site to store construction materials for other Barwon Water projects in the area.

We’ll look for opportunities in the future to temporarily activate or beautify parts of the site that are not proposed to be re-developed immediately.

We’ve started this by partnering with Gardens for Wildlife and the City of Greater Geelong to create a temporary demonstration wildlife garden in the site’s nature strip. The demonstration garden is now open to be enjoyed by the local and broader Geelong community.

The site is a key development area in the South Geelong Urban Design Framework (South Geelong UDF), along with Moorabool Street. The South Geelong UDF aims to increase the diversity of housing, improve pedestrian and cycling links, and facilitate vibrant public spaces around greater Geelong's train station precincts.

The South Geelong UDF was adopted in 2022, with amendments for its implementation considered with community input since 2019 and culminating in an Independent Planning Panel in 2024.

Council has recently adopted recommendations from the panel, together with the proposed changes to the South Geelong UDF. This included rezoning of Barwon’s Water land for mixed use, application of overlay controls and updates to local planning provisions.

The South Geelong UDF is now being considered for approval by the Planning Minister. You can learn more about the South Geelong Urban Design Framework Amendment here.

While at this stage we don’t have a defined plan for the site, we’re committed to aligning development with the Victorian Government Housing statement which seeks to increase housing supply at locations such as South Geelong. Creating more homes near public transport is a key goal.

We’re aiming for the development of our site to align with the design principles from the South Geelong UDF, the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme, and state government policy, which seek to maximise social, economic and environmental value from infrastructure investment.

We’ll be striving to enable circular economy principles, leading environmental and sustainability standards, and a pedestrian-friendly design that benefits the local area and wider community.

We’re seeking expressions of interest from potential developers through a multi-step EOI process from May until the end of 2025. We’ll prioritise proposals that best align with Council and Victorian Government development objectives.

You can register for project updates here. We’ll share with you how the project is progressing in line with our privacy statement.

Together with our development partners, we’ll consider the community’s views on preferred design options, and ideas for the public realm redevelopment.

We’ll keep the community informed as plans progress, and of any opportunities to have a say. You can also post a question to the project team below.