Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy
View the City of Yarra's Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy and Review.
Overview
Melbourne’s and Yarra’s economy has changed substantially since the 1990s. It has transformed from industrial to knowledge-intensive businesses and employment. Between 1996 to 2023, Yarra’s economy grew by an average annual growth rate of 4.5% in comparison to greater Melbourne’s 4.1%.
Change has also been significant since the 2000s. In 2001 Yarra was home to approximately 65,000 jobs and by 2021 Yarra supported approximately115,000 jobs.
Employment in Professional Services more than doubled between 2011 and 2021, making it now Yarra's largest employment industry. In the five years since 2016, Yarra has added nearly 4,000 jobs a year to its local economy.
Yarra’s activity centres and employment precincts play an important role not just for Yarra as a city and vibrant place but also for greater Melbourne. Yarra includes a tight network of activity centres and significant employment-only land in close proximity to the CBD.
Yarra’s unique positioning in inner Melbourne means planning policies and directions for its employment land requires careful consideration.
Why we need a strategy for jobs and our economy
Yarra's economy is changing. Once it was a hub for industry and manufacturing. Now there are jobs in knowledge and services, as well as in the creative economy.
These changes alter the way our land is used.
In the future, we will need more space for commercial offices, retail shops and government services, but less space for industrial production. Faced with strong population growth, we will need to decide carefully how land should be used - for living, for business or both.
Read the Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy
Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy (2018)
The Yarra Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy, originally adopted in 2018, guides our decisions on land use.
It helps us respond to the key trends and economic drivers over the next 10 to 15 years.
The SEES was adopted in 2018 and set the following strategic directions for employment land and uses in Yarra:
- Support employment growth in Yarra’s Activity Centres;
- Retain and grow Yarra’s major employment precincts;
- Identify preferred locations for housing growth;
- Support the expansion of health-related employment and services in Yarra’s health precinct; and
- Retain other Commercial 2 Zoned precincts and sites and Yarra’s existing industrial precincts for manufacturing and urban services.
The SEES directions informed the new planning policy framework and were implemented into the planning scheme with the gazettal of Amendment C269 “Rewrite of local policies” on 21 December 2023.
Since then, new data has been released, significant development activity has occurred and changes to the broader economy have occurred. The global pandemic has accelerated some economic trends that directly impact the role of employment land within Yarra.
Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy (2025)
The SEES review was commenced in 2024 to understand whether current directions need to be adjusted due to post-COVID shifts in the economy, including work location and traffic behaviour trends.
The updated SEES was adopted in December 2025, and set the following strategic responses for employment land and uses in Yarra:
- Retain and intensify the use of employment land;
- Reinforce preferred locations for housing growth;
- Plan for the transition of Yarra’s large industrial sites towards more intensive commercial/employment uses;
- Leverage growth in health and education; and
- Investigate a mechanism for more affordable workspaces.
This update recommended no significant update to the previous 2018 version when considering employment land use considerations and approach.
Floorspace capacity analysis in employment precincts
Capacity analysis was conducted to understand the extent to which future growth in employment and floorspace can be accommodated in Yarra’s employment precincts.