Development Victoria — one year on

It has been 12 months since Development Victoria was established, which is a good time to reflect on what we have contributed to the fabric of Melbourne and Victoria.

Development Victoria was established to plan and deliver urban revitalisation for the benefit of Victorians. We are a leading urban renewal, property development and civic projects delivery agency that supports State Government policy objectives.

This is because urban renewal is at the heart of some of the challenges facing Victoria: population growth, housing affordability, environmental sustainability and economic development.

To respond to these challenges, Development Victoria seeks out opportunities to increase housing diversity in places close to jobs, transport and services; leads projects to create cultural, recreational and civic facilities that enrich communities; and revitalises urban precincts to stimulate economic activity.

In our first 12 months, we have delivered on our objectives

Civic project highlights include:

• Delivery of the Palais Theatre redevelopment in St Kilda
• Commencement of Stage 3 of the Melbourne Park redevelopment
• Ongoing refurbishment of Melbourne's iconic Flinders Street Station
• Beginning the next stage of redevelopment of the State Library Victoria

We continue to achieve outcomes in other areas, such as Melbourne's Docklands, which is one of our key precincts.

In 2017-18, there have been more than 10,000 residential apartments either delivered or under construction and more than one million square metres of commercial space delivered or under construction.

Other key precincts also achieved milestones, with our Revitalising Central Dandenong project securing a $60 million residential development to be delivered by Orion International; Junction Place in Wodonga receiving approval for its residential development; and settlement on the GMH site at Fishermans Bend.

Delivering diverse and affordable housing is also one of our policy pillars.

In the past 12 months, we progressed our Riverwalk development in Werribee and launched our first medium-density housing project — CIRQ Point Cook — which sold out in less than one year.

We will continue to work closely with government, the community and industry stakeholders to achieve our vision of making Victoria a great place to live.