Malvern

What we understand about the place and how we’ve addressed it

Malvern is a well-connected, mixed-use centre anchored by Glenferrie Road’s fine-grain heritage shopfronts, diverse food and hospitality offerings, Malvern Central, and Wattletree Road’s health and medical precinct.

The Community Reference Group highlighted the importance of Heritage Overlays in shaping where taller development should occur.

We heard that the community is generally supportive of concentrating greater height along main roads and near the train station, provided this is done in a way that respects local character.

As part of our work, we've applied:

• Heritage Main Street Core typology to all of Glenferrie Road and Station Street to create a continuous street appearance that is responsive to its heritage context
• master planning requirements to Malvern Central to encourage the best design outcomes for the public on this large opportunity site
• sun protection on Glenferrie Road and other roads that run east to west through the Malvern activity centre, including Wattletree Road and Station street
• the lowest building heights of six storeys on Station Street and Claremont Avenue to reflect the smaller village character of the area.
• a mix of primary and secondary active frontages along Glenferrie Road, Wattletree Road and key side streets to reinforce the area’s vibrancy
• sensitive interface standards to residential areas immediately to the south of the centre, to ensure there is sufficient access to sunlight for north-facing windows given Wattletree Road’s east to west orientation.

View the Hawksburn to Malvern and Toorak Village core and catchment map.

Malvern core and catchment explained

The core is the central part of the train and tram zone activity centre, closest to public transport, jobs and services. This area is best suited to accommodate more homes.

The catchment is the surrounding area within approximately 10 minutes’ walk of the core (around 800 metres).

As you move away from the commercial and community core of the train and tram zone activity centre, we expect that the proposed building heights will gradually decrease. This will allow a transition between the activity centre and the surrounding suburb.

In Malvern, the catchment is determined by a comfortable walking distance from transport and commercial high streets. This is seen in the south which ends at Dandenong Road and ends further north at High Street for the catchment around Hawksburn and Toorak stations.

Visit the How we’re planning page to find out more about core and catchment areas, new planning tools, streamlined planning processes and the approach to delivering more homes in train and tram zone activity centres.

Page last updated: 22/07/26