Custom Parklet Design and Build in Melbourne CBD

Outdoor dining has become part of the fabric of Melbourne's CBD, and Meatball & Wine Co wanted a street-side space that matched the quality of what they serve inside. Bloom Box Products designed and built them a custom parklet, replacing a worn-out council parklet with a durable aluminium and composite timber decking outdoor dining space. It was prefabricated in our Melbourne factory and installed on a busy city street in about four and a half hours.

Replacing a failing COVID-era council parklet

Like many Melbourne hospitality venues, Meatball & Wine Co had been trading from a council-issued parklet installed during COVID. Those parklets kept outdoor dining going at the time, but they were never meant to last. This one was built from timber and formply, and after years of weather and daily service it need replacing.

The brief was simple: replace it with something purpose-built for the venue, made to last, and worthy of a permanent place on the street.

Designed in-house, approved by client and council

Every design and drawing for this project was produced in-house by the Bloom Box Products team. Keeping design and fabrication under one roof means the people drawing the parklet are the same people who know how it will be built, moved and installed.

We worked through the design with Meatball & Wine Co until it was right for their venue, then took the drawings through the local council approval process. By the time fabrication started, the parklet had been signed off by both the client and council, so there were no surprises once we reached site.

A modular parklet, prefabricated in our Melbourne factory

A busy CBD street is a hard place to build anything. There is constant traffic, foot traffic and deliveries, and a restaurant that still needs to trade. So we did the building somewhere else.

The whole parklet was fabricated in our factory as a series of modules, each sized to be transported to the city and connected together on site. Building this way gave us a controlled environment to get the details and finish right, and meant the on-site work came down to assembly rather than construction.

Each modular decking panel can also be levelled independently. City streets are rarely flat, and this makes the parklet easy to set up on uneven ground.

Materials built to last

The original parklet was not designed to be out in the elements as long as it was, due its material choices, so we replaced each one with something made for permanent outdoor use.

The original flooring was artificial grass laid over the the top of formply, which held moisture and caused degradation to the ply. We replaced the flooring with composite decking boards supported by a structural aluminium frame. The materials are robust, durable in all weather conditions and require very little maintenance. The decking boards also give a warm natural feel to the area and compliment the powdercoated finish of Bert Cafe Barriers perfectly.

The Bert Cafe Barrier which defines the dining area and brings greenery to the street, are powdercoated aluminium planters. At just 200mm wide, it is also much slimmer than a traditional timber planter box, which leaves more room inside the parklet for patrons and furniture. The the benefit of using aluminium over tradition timber boxes is that there will not be deterioration or rot and the powdercoated aluminium requires drastically less maintenance.

BERT Cafe Barrier (Pictured Above)

Hidden access panels for gutter cleaning

A parklet sits over the street gutter, which can fill up with rubbish and leaves. We built removable sections into the decking so the gutter can be reached and cleaned without pulling the parklet apart. The panels are disguised, so the deck looks seamless from end to end.

Installed in the CBD before the morning rush

To avoid traffic and pedestrians, we started the parklet installation at 4:30am and were finished by about 8am. That speed came from the smart modular prefab design: the modules arrived ready to connect, so we never needed to block off the street.

That mattered for three reasons:

• Safety. Less time working beside live traffic and pedestrians means less risk for our installers and the public.
• Less disruption. The street stayed open, and neighbouring businesses and passers-by were barely affected.
• Less downtime. Meatball & Wine Co could get back to serving customers outdoors sooner.

The result

Meatball & Wine Co now has a custom outdoor dining parklet in place of a temporary structure that had reached the end of its life. It was designed, drawn and built by one Melbourne team, approved by the client and council, made from materials chosen to handle the weather, and installed before most of the city had arrived for work.

Thinking about a parklet for your venue?

Bloom Box Products designs and builds custom parklets for cafes, restaurants and bars, from concept drawings and council approval through to installation. If your venue has an ageing parklet that needs replacing, or you are planning outdoor dining for the first time, request a quote or contact our team. You can also browse more of our projects.