GREENING MELBOURNE LANEWAYS
19 Jul 2017
Melbourne has seen the completion of its first green laneway. As part of the Green Your Laneways initiative several laneways will be revitalised with green life, community gardens and street art.
The City of Melbourne has recently unveiled the revamped Coromandel Place; the first of four laneways to be upgraded as part of the $1.8 million Green Your Laneway pilot program.
Coromandel Place has been rejuvenated with several planter boxes, trees, pot plants and two murals by local street artists.
“The 14 planter boxes on the western side of the laneway feature Boston Ivy and Creeping Fig, which both make attractive wall covers. While the walls are quite sparse now, we expect them to be covered in greenery within around five years,” Lord Mayor Robert Doyle AC said.
In a bid to combat the urban heat island effect, the Green Your Laneway project hopes to inject character into previously underdeveloped laneways while combating the city’s rising temperatures.
The Lord Mayor explains: “There are more than 200 lanes in our central city and they offer a great opportunity for renewal. We can transform these laneways with plants and trees to help cool the city, improve air quality and clean stormwater.” 
For the Coromandel Place, the revitalisation efforts saw the bluestone kerbing and asphalt dug out by and replaced with new soil and irrigation systems, allowing the new greenery to thrive. The works in Coromandel Place include a two-story mural by Ghostpatrol and a separate mural by Al Stark on the walls of the Uniting Church.
In addition to the Coromandel Place laneway, three other pilot laneways have been selected by the wider community and designs for their revitalisation were undertaken by a panel of engineers, sustainability professionals, place-makers and landscape architects. These laneways include Guildford Place, Meyers Place and Katherine Place.
Guilford Land will soon see works begin on a mural depicting an overgrown factory by artist Mike Makatron, and the creation of the laneway’s community garden. The garden will feature a series of innovative ‘drain gardens’ that use stainless steel grates to intercept water from down pipes, and in the process, filter out pollutants that have settled on the roof. The laneway will also feature a range of Gum Vines, Chinese Star Jasmine and other hardy species, all of which will be watered by the innovative drainage systems.
For more information, or to participate in these greening efforts visit: www.participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/greenlaneways
