Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-Operative

VINC Masterplan

Last year alone, VINC grew 400,000 plants, supplying 150 organisations, 13 local councils, Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, conservation groups, and schools.

They are turning down orders. They had simply outgrown their space.

The Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-Operative (VINC) have been growing indigenous plants at Yarra Bend for 40 years. Not ornamentals. Not cultivars. Indigenous plants propagated from seed collected in the specific catchments where they’ll eventually be planted, matched precisely to the ecological conditions where they need to thrive.

These are species that cool the city, filter stormwater, rebuild habitat corridors along the Yarra and its tributaries, and give threatened wildlife somewhere to call home.

Client: Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-Operative
Location: Fairfield, VIC
Country: Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung
Year: 2026

Existing

Proposed

Production infrastructure

Three new climate-controlled greenhouses, specialist seed storage, cleaning and sorting equipment, and reorganised logistics that separate delivery vehicles from the community experience of the nursery. The target? 800,000 plants per year within five years, nearly double current output.

Community and retail

A reimagined front-of-house that becomes a genuine destination. Somewhere to buy plants, to understand why provenance matters, and to connect with the remarkable work happening behind the scenes. Better amenities for the volunteers who have given decades to this place.

Environmental upgrades

Solar panels and battery storage, an electric delivery vehicle, and external landscaping that doubles as a seed collection area. The nursery’s footprint expands. Its environmental impact shrinks.

The masterplan isn’t the hero of this story, VINC is. Nine million plants over 40 years. A Geranium species thought to be extinct until 2000, propagated and replanted across Melbourne’s north-west. Living corridors running through the heart of the city.

Our job was to listen, learn, and help it grow.

For

Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-Operative

Sector

Masterplan

Status

Completed

Year

2026

Location

Fairfield, VIC

Country

Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung

VINC Masterplan

Last year alone, VINC grew 400,000 plants, supplying 150 organisations, 13 local councils, Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, conservation groups, and schools.

They are turning down orders. They had simply outgrown their space.

Existing

Proposed

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