Melbourne has welcomed a new epicurean epicentre, located within Australia’s premier shopping and lifestyle destination. The fresh food and dining precinct at Chadstone, which officially opened 27 March, is home to more than 50 market-leading retailers of fresh produce, gourmet ingredients, and artisan delights.

The produce market spans 26,500 sqm of ground floor retail, making it the southern hemisphere’s largest integrated retail and lifestyle destination. The precinct also includes a casual alfresco landscaped dining area, the “Dining Laneway”, fitted with evergreen planter boxes and festoon lighting for day-to-night activation. 

The Market Pavilion aspires to create a global food mecca that embraces local heritage, quality produce, and an elevated retail experience. Woods Bagot Principal Ian Lomas says the Market Pavilion combines the best of local and global, creating a new Melbourne landmark poised to be a major tourism destination.

“We are thrilled to see our collaboration with Gandel Group and Vicinity Centres come to life, as the Market Pavilion honours Chadstone’s architectural heritage and Melbourne’s market halls, creating a spacious, top-lit vaulted destination that emerges from the original structure.”

Woods Bagot Associate Principal and project leader David Christie says the architecture integrates and elevates the former market structure, making it exemplary in reuse practices and minimising construction downtime.

“The Market Pavilion is a sophisticated transformation of an existing portion of the Chadstone Centre,” says Christie. “We retained the existing slab and structural grid which provided the framework for new, open-air vaulted roofs overhead. The result is an iconic destination for the market spaces below.”

Woods Bagot Principal and interior design leader Tracey Wiles says the interior space subscribes to a continental sensibility, features grand ceiling voids, structural archways, tile details, and generous volumes. The dramatic vaulted ceilings feature clerestory skylight windows, ushering natural light into the space.

“Like the popular covered markets of Europe, the Market Pavilion is a naturally lit structure comprising pavilion elements in a gridded structure, creating the vibrant, bustling mercantile energy of a commercial produce market,” says Wiles.

The retail pavilions create the framework, which are recessive in nature, to enable tenants to display their produce and create the sense of abundance and diversity. Tenants include renowned providers to specialty grocers, culinary artisans, and local institutions like Brunetti’s.

Chadstone Centre Manager Daniel Boyle says The Market Pavilion is delivering an unparalleled market experience for food lovers and retailers.

“With the opening of The Market Pavilion, we are redefining the way Melburnians experience of food,” says Boyle. “This precinct is a celebration of quality, craftsmanship, and the rich food culture that makes our city unique.”

The Market Pavilion has been designed to meet a 5-Star Green Star rating and net-zero operational emissions, supported by natural ventilation, a dedicated waste management plan, and a solar rooftop system to supplement the precinct’s energy usage.

The Market Pavilion is slated to be a global culinary destination the likes of London’s Harrods Food Halls, anticipated to welcome over 10 million visitors per year. 

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Isla Sutherland
Content and Communications Specialist (Australia & New Zealand)