By Rachael Dexter and Benjamin Preiss
Renovation reality show The Block will film its next series in the country hamlet of Daylesford after intervention by Victoria’s planning minister to approve it despite the objections of locals.
Executive producer Julian Cress confirmed that filming for The Block’s 2025 season would begin in Daylesford later this year. The Block is broadcast by Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead.
The parcel of land on the corner of Raglan Street and Midland Highway at the entrance to Daylesford. Credit: Jason South
“We’re very excited,” Cress said on Thursday. “In the end it was picked up by the minister’s office and approved.”
The Age revealed last year that developers Hygge Property and The Block’s official architect were appealing to state Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny to fast-track an application that would give the minister planning power and avoid locals launching a challenge at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Producers had planned to start filming contestants fitting out five luxury homes on former farmland on the outskirts of Daylesford in February this year, but instead switched to filming the 2024 series on Phillip Island after locals committed to fighting Hepburn Shire Council’s original approval of the project.
At the time Kilkenny’s office said the application merited being considered under her office’s Development Facilitation Program because the proposal was “shovel ready” and included “the provision of additional residential land supply in a regional location with an identified shortage in housing supply”.
The planning minister’s public permit register shows the application was greenlit in December but does not display reasons for the approval. Kilkenny was approached for comment.
The land intended for The Block sits within a larger development site owned by Hygge Property called Middleton Field, on which it intends to place more than 60 homes.
Sale agent Belle Property confirmed to The Age a contract of sale had been signed with Nine but would not reveal the purchase price. Hepburn Shire Council Mayor Brian Hood welcomed the show’s confirmation it was filming its 2025 season in Daylesford.
“That’s gonna be great for the town, great for the economy,” Hood said.
Architectural designs for the five dwellings proposed for 1 Raglan Street, Daylesford by Julian Brenchley, architect for The Block.Credit: Hepburn Shire Council documents
But Daylesford resident Debora Semple – one of two locals to have led VCAT objection cases against numerous phases of the Middleton Field development including sites for The Block – said the program would not help tackle the town’s housing shortage.
“We’re disappointed. The creation of five mansions is not going to help our housing crisis,” she said.
Semple said she hoped The Block would abide by their permit conditions, which included protecting remaining cedar trees. She said the developer also had a responsibility to ensure Daylesford’s famed mineral water was not harmed by the project.
“I just hope they abide by their permit conditions, which includes protecting water purity as the water runs down to the spring creek and mineral springs reserve.”
Hygge Property, which is the current landowner and developer of Middleton Field development, said civil works to the site were already under way, with The Block to start filming later in the year.
“We’re really looking forward to The Block coming to Daylesford – we think it’s great for Daylesford,” Hygge Property director Adam Davidson said.
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