Surf Park Plans for Pellicano’s Melbourne Waterpark

A new surf park could be on the horizon as part of $100 million water park plans lodged with City of Kingston in Melbourne’s south-east.

Melbourne’s Pellicano family are behind the mammoth project and have formally resubmitted plans for its Surf n Play Aqua Park that, if approved, would include a wave pool with waves of up to 1.8 metres high.

Previously known as Zagame’s Wild Water Park, development plans for the four-hectare Dingley Village project were initially submitted in March of 2019 along with publican family Zagame, who has since left the project.

Privately-owned developer Pellicano has spent the past 18 months working through key items with Melbourne Water and VicRoads reaching “agreements in principle”, allowing the developer to lodge its plans with council.

Pellicano managing director Nando Pellicano said some of the changes include a 30 per cent reduction of building mass.

“After hearing some of Council’s main concerns, we challenged our design team and our construction division to be smarter and more efficient,” Pellicano said.

“We have been a lot more scientific about how we approached the built-form, and only put the height where it was needed, whilst still maintaining an architecturally impressive building.”

Design changes include a 25 per cent increase to landscaping, and double the number of solar panels to cover nearly 5,500sq m of roof space.

Riding the wave craze

Melbourne was the first city in Australia to open a surf park, with Urbnsurf opening its $40 million Tullamarine project in the past 12 months.

Pellicano’s new wave pool would create waves up to 1.8 metres in height, and deliver six waves per minute using Endless Surf technology.

Pellicano said the first Endless Surf park was being built in Paris, with Melbourne next in line, and would see it become the largest indoor and outdoor waterpark in the southern hemisphere.

“We always wanted to accommodate a surf park within the facility, but, at the time of lodging back in 2019, WhiteWater West—our equipment provider—did not have its technology finalised,” Pellicano said

The surf park will occupy a portion of the outdoor space that was previously planned for more passive recreation. A specific zone will be earmarked for beginners, while intermediate to expert-level surfers will use the main surf zone.

If approved, the development would have 1.8 hectares of indoor pools and 1.3 hectares of outside space incorporating the man-made beach.

The City of Kingston will now assess Pellicano’s application responses.

Construction would kick-off within 12 months, subject to approvals.