Melville City Centre
We have a bold vision of a future Melville City Centre that will see our current Civic Square Library site transformed into an exciting new library and cultural centre.
The future Melville City Centre will be a place for people to gather and connect, experience culture, arts, events, entertainment and excellent dining, and will be a place to enjoy and celebrate with friends and family.
With the Westfield Booragoon Shopping Centre expansion now approved by the WA Planning Commission, we are working with Scentre Group to make our vision for the future Melville City Centre a reality.
Our Cultural Heart
The proposed library and cultural centre, will become the Cultural Heart of our future Melville City centre, responding to our community’s aspirations as identified in our Strategic Community Plan: People, Places, and Participation 2016-2020. The new Centre will contribute significantly to our City's cultural vitality, giving our community a stronger sense of place and belonging and a cultural identity that will be unique to Melville.
The Melville City Centre includes Westfield Booragoon Shopping Centre, the City’s Civic Centre and the surrounding area bordered by Riseley, Almondbury, Marmion and Davy Streets in Booragoon, which will grow into a mixed-use centre with opportunities for people to visit, live and work in.
With an expansion of the Westfield Booragoon Shopping Centre now approved by the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC), this investment will provide encouragement for a range of commercial, retail, community and residential uses on surrounding land, adding to the attraction and range of community services in the area.
A focal point of the Melville City Centre will be a vibrant high street and town square, linking the retail and entertainment precincts to the cultural and civic spaces and enhancing integration with Yagan Mia Wireless Hill. The centre will be a place for people to gather and connect, experience culture, arts, events, entertainment and excellent dining, and will be a place to enjoy and celebrate with friends and family.
The plan to build the new library and cultural centre will be known as the Cultural Heart Project and will result in exceptional learning and creative spaces for City residents and the wider community of Perth to come and enjoy, experience and learn in.
The City has been developing the Cultural Heart concept after it was identified in the Culture Plan – Creative Melville 2018-2022 which was informed by a unique community consultation event- 2017 MERGE Festival - which over 16,000 people experienced.
The Cultural Heart Project will deliver a new library and cultural centre that will build on connections with existing libraries, galleries, museums and performance sites across the City and will include an interactive and expanded library, gallery, museum, performance, development, and flexible creative spaces.
The bold and ambitious project will increase Melville’s cultural capacity and identity, providing improved access for all to the latest resources, and new ways to interact with and discover the breadth of our arts programming, events and experiences.
The City’s Cultural Infrastructure Strategy, which was endorsed by Council in November 2022 following input from the community, recommends the new library and cultural space in the Melville City Centre include flexible spaces for artmaking, performance and general community use.