Love Your Laneways
Melbourne City Council’s ‘Love You Laneway’ project aims to improve the amenity and presentation of Melbourne’s laneways in collaboration with residents and businesses.
The project involves improvements to manage traffic in the laneway, minimise bins located in the lane, improve safety through additional lighting, improve the look and feel of the laneway and create a sense of place for residents, businesses and the public. Gallaghers Place, in the heart of the city, was selected as one of four laneways to benefit from the project in 2016. A $5,000 grant was awarded to Housing Choices to carry out a project of significance to residents living in Gallaghers Place. Housing Choices residents and businesses joined together to commission two murals to brighten the laneway and to reflect elements that are important and meaningful to residents. The project also received support from Housing Choices’ support partner, Wintringham Specialist Aged Care Services. The two artists commissioned to undertake the work, Mike Makatron and Conrad Bizjak, are well known for their mural artwork. They completed the task over two weekends, attracting a number of residents and others to watch their creation emerge. They went on to paint an additional mural for a local business, which has added vitality and vibrancy to the laneway. The project was a successful partnership with Melbourne City Council, as described by the Love Your Laneway Project Officer, Nicolette Vaszolyi. “ The City of Melbourne’s Love Your Laneway program improves the presentation and amenity of Melbourne’s laneways in collaboration with residents and businesses. Our experience in Gallaghers Place has clearly demonstrated the benefit of this approach to laneway improvement. Working in partnership with Housing Choices Australia, Wintringham, residents, businesses and building owners enabled us to develop a shared vision for the laneway that has resulted in a spectacular nature- themed mural by artists Mike Makatron and Conrad Bizjak. The mural was commissioned by Housing Choices Australia and funded through the Love Your Laneway small grants program, and has transformed the look and feel of the laneway for the benefit of all laneway users.”
The Gallaghers Place mural.
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Building for the future
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