- Home
- Companies
- City of Melbourne
- Services
- Places of Public Entertainment Services
Places of Public Entertainment Services
If you are organising a public entertainment event, you may need to obtain an occupancy permit for a place of public entertainment. The Building Act 1993 requires that a person must not organise, carry out or cause public entertainment to be carried out in a place of public entertainment unless an Occupancy Permit for Places of Public Entertainment (POPE) has been obtained. Similarly, an owner or occupier of a place of public entertainment must not allow the place to be used for public entertainment for a fee, or reward, unless an Occupancy Permit for Places of Public Entertainment has been obtained.
A place of public entertainment is defined as an area used for public entertainment which is greater than 500 m2.
In some instances, events containing public entertainment include the use of permanent buildings within the event boundary.
If the proposed use is not in accordance with the approved use outlined on the occupancy permit (pursuant to the Building Act and regulations), then in addition to obtaining an Place of Public Entertainment Occupancy Permit (Division 2), you will also need to obtain written approval from the municipal building surveyor to occupy the building(s) on a temporary basis (Division 3).
Inspection prior to application assessment may be conducted to evaluate the structural integrity of the site for the proposed event.
A private building surveyor has limited authority to issue an Occupancy Permit for a Place of Public Entertainment. The limitations in the Act restrict private building surveyors to issuing it only in conjunction with an occupancy permit for a building that they were appointed to issue a building permit and occupancy permit for.