Footscray in a few facts
Towers near the station
Higher-density projects approved in Footscray include a 25-storey block of 222 apartments in the Joseph Road precinct, and twin towers with 260 apartments on the Little Saigon market site.
Timber houses on bigger blocks
The 1890s brought a burst of housing. Footscray's houses were mostly timber, but on larger blocks than in other inner suburbs.
Heritage streets
Old Footscray has heritage precincts, including Bunbury and Whitehall Streets. Maribyrnong City Council's online heritage database lists places in the Heritage Overlay, searchable by street.
Mostly rented
At the 2021 Census, 55.9% of occupied homes were rented. Only 31.5% were separate houses, and 15.3% were townhouses or similar.
More heatwaves
Maribyrnong City Council says heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense. It suggests making sure air conditioning and fans work, and adding outdoor shading such as awnings to lower indoor temperatures.
Who needs to say yes
In a rental, fixed heating is the rental provider's to supply, and soon cooling will be too. From 1 March 2027 a fixed, energy efficient cooler is required in the main living area at the start of a new agreement, and every rental needs one from 1 July 2030. A working heater can stay until it permanently fails.
In an apartment building, the owners corporation's rules come first. Consumer Affairs Victoria lists centralised building systems, which it says are common in apartments, and owners corporation rules among the exemptions from the new rental standards. Not having room for an outdoor compressor is another.
In a heritage precinct, check the property in Maribyrnong's heritage database and its Statement of Significance before anything goes on a wall that faces the street. Our apartments and strata page has more on approvals.
The jobs that come up in Footscray
Mostly splits: one for the living area in a flat, sometimes a second for the bedroom. In the old timber houses, it's heating first. Solar Victoria says split systems are great for heating and cooling single rooms or small apartments, which covers most of Footscray's homes.
Send your job and licence-checked installers near Footscray who do that work can see it, but only the one who takes it gets your phone number. If no one near Footscray takes it within 48 hours, the job may be shown to installers across the rest of Victoria.
What we'd do
How we'd approach it in Footscray
Get the approvals sorted before the quotes: the rental provider's yes if you rent, the owners corporation's rules if it's a flat, and a look at the heritage database if it's an old house. Then a split in the room you live in most is usually the right first step.
