Advisory and Technical
Providing strategic and technical advice to support planning projects and decisions.
Our work spans peer reviews, options analysis, implementation advice and specialist input across the Victorian planning system.
Not every planning challenge calls for a new strategy or a full amendment process. Some of the most valuable work we do is helping councils, state agencies and developers work through a specific problem: whether a proposed control is defensible, what implementation pathway makes sense, where an existing planning scheme has gaps or how a complex site or precinct should be approached.
This kind of advisory work draws on the same depth of technical knowledge as our larger projects, delivered in a more targeted way. It is often time-sensitive, politically sensitive or both.
What we do
Our advisory and technical work covers a wide range of planning questions. Common engagements include:
Peer reviews
We review draft strategies, amendment documentation, planning scheme controls and expert evidence reports. We assess whether the strategic justification is sound, whether the provisions are correctly drafted and whether the approach will withstand scrutiny at panel or VCAT. Recent peer reviews have covered neighbourhood character/environmental controls, built form overlays, structure plans and planning scheme amendment documentation.
Options analysis and implementation advice
We help clients identify the right tools and pathways before committing to a course of action. This includes advising on zone and overlay selection, assessing whether existing controls are achieving their purpose and identifying where provisions can be streamlined, consolidated or removed. For Banyule City Council, we reviewed and rationalised overlapping vegetation protection controls (ESO, VPO, SLO, DDO and Heritage Overlay provisions), identifying duplication, gaps and a prioritised action plan for future amendment workOptions analysis and implementation advice We help clients identify the right tools and pathways before committing to a course of action. This includes advising on zone and overlay selection, assessing whether existing controls are achieving their purpose and identifying where provisions can be streamlined, consolidated or removed. For Banyule City Council, we reviewed and rationalised overlapping vegetation protection controls (ESO, VPO, SLO, DDO and Heritage Overlay provisions), identifying duplication, gaps and a prioritised action plan for future amendment work.
Specialist zone and overlay reviews
We have undertaken detailed reviews of specific planning tools where councils need an authoritative assessment of how controls are operating in practice. For Yarra Ranges Shire Council, we led a review of all Special Use Zone sites and selected Green Wedge sites with expired existing use rights, assessing each site against current legislative requirements and recommending appropriate zoning pathways. We also undertook a statewide review of the Neighbourhood Character Overlay for the former DELWP, examining every NCO applied across Victoria.
Employment and industrial land
We prepare framework plans and advisory work for employment precincts, industrial land and commercial areas. For Maribyrnong City Council, we prepared the West Footscray Employment Precinct Framework Plan, a longterm vision to transition a 49.5 hectare precinct at the edge of the Western State Significant Industrial Precinct into a high-amenity enterprise precinct, as well as the Tottenham and Braybrook Ballarat Road Employment Precinct Framework Plans.
State-level advisory work
We have provided technical advice and documentation support directly to DTP and predecessor agencies across a range of system-wide projects, including the Apartment Design Guidelines, the Melbourne Planning Scheme Amendments Protocol and analysis in support of industrial and commercial land use policy.
Recent Projects
Why Plan2Place Consulting
Advisory work is only as useful as the judgement behind it. A peer review that misses the real problem, or an options paper that identifies what is theoretically possible without accounting for how a panel will assess it, does not give a client what they need.
The value we bring to advisory engagements comes from having worked on both sides of the planning system: inside government when the provisions were being designed, and in practice helping clients work within them. Paul Buxton’s experience includes developing the Activity Centre Zone, the residential zones and a range of other VPP provisions, as well as preparing the business case for the Smart Planning Program. That background means he can assess a planning control or implementation question with an understanding of how it was designed to operate, rather than just how it reads on the page.
For councils, that translates to advice that is direct and grounded in how the system actually works.
