Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne is the largest integrated retail and lifestyle destination in the Southern Hemisphere, offering high-end retail, dining and entertainment. Co-owners Vicinity Centres and The Gandel Group sought to further enhance the visitor experience, building a new fresh food precinct, The Market Pavilion, a nine-storey commercial office building (One Middle Road), and 1,400 new car spaces. This upgrade is part of the centre’s continual development strategy.

We’ve been a key partner in Chadstone’s ongoing evolution, providing fire engineering services for over 20 years. Our extensive knowledge of the centre allowed us to develop solutions that minimised disruption and supported the complex staged delivery of the works. For this development, we’ve been involved since 2019 on the concept and pre-planning stages. Our fire engineering team ensured the centre’s safety and operability of the new precinct, and our pedestrian planning strategies helped refine flow at the junctions to the existing centre to ensure a seamless experience for the community.

This development elevates the visitor experience and support’s Chadstone’s evolution. The Market Pavillion delivers an engaging, dynamic, and convenient food precinct that caters to residents, visitors, and workers. One Middle Road’s nine-storey office tower establishes a sustainable workplace ecosystem, integrating modern amenities to attract businesses.

Ensuring fire safety during ongoing construction phases

Our team of over 18 specialist fire engineers, bolstered by a global network of experts, navigated the project’s unique complexities – particularly the critical balance between advancing the development’s design and safeguarding the occupied trading centre’s fire and life safety systems. Proactive collaboration with the broader project team ensured meticulous planning, alongside the implementation of dynamic Interim Fire Safety Strategies (IFSS) to adapt to evolving construction phases. These strategies altered access and egress pathways, maintained clear separation between operational and construction zones, and managed intermittent isolation of critical fire safety infrastructure during adjacent works. Much of this work was intentionally unobtrusive - seamlessly integrated across design and operational disciplines so that safety enhancements supported, rather than detracted from, the architectural vision.

The project involved excavating an underground basement loading dock that affected existing building exits, extending the structure to integrate with a new multi-level carpark, and delivering a nine-storey, 20,000-square-metre office tower at its core. Careful phasing of work ensured critical areas were completed in a set order, allowing smooth transitions between relocating occupants, removing existing structures, and upgrading facilities. This approach minimised disruptions and maintained safety for both workers and the public throughout ongoing operations.

A building with glass windows and tower

Chadstone Shopping Centre, One Middle Road office tower

A large building with a large roof.

The food precinct expansion

Bespoke Fire Safety Handbook

Post development, our team continues to partner with the centre’s operations team to create a simplified fire safety handbook, centralising essential fire safety protocols to maintain ongoing compliance across the precinct’s 60+ ongoing development phases. This user-friendly guide ensures consistent safety standards for all users, even as the site evolves. We transformed complex safety procedures into straightforward guidelines, fostering uniform safety standards for operators, tenants, and emergency teams. This clarity proves essential for large mixed-use sites where continual development and active occupancy overlap.

The handbook provides Vicinity Centres’ teams with a clear, centralised resource to maintain safety across operations, development, and leasing - while laying the groundwork for a future digital platform to deliver real-time updates and wider access. Designed for ever-evolving precincts like retail hubs, healthcare and aviation sites, it adapts to ongoing changes, ensuring proactive safety management and consistent clarity for all stakeholders.

Extending fire safety expertise to One Middle Road

Our fire engineering team was re-engaged by anchor tenant Kmart to support the fire safety design and approvals for their new headquarters within One Middle Road. Drawing on our detailed knowledge of the base building, we worked closely with the fitout architect and tenant team to review multiple design options and ensure compliance was seamlessly integrated with design intent. Our scope also included facilitating a change of use from retail to office and storage areas, aligning safety requirements with Kmart’s operational needs as they transition from their long-standing Mulgrave base. This continued involvement reflects our commitment to supporting the evolution of Chadstone as a connected, resilient, and future-ready precinct.

Images © Shannon McGrath