National Trust Victoria Visitor Welcome and Experience Spaces | EOI

We are seeking a coherent, contemporary approach that improves how visitors arrive, find their way, discover each place’s stories and connect with the Trust. This is an integrated visitor experience project spanning welcome, ticketing, information, interpretation, retail, membership and event access — not a conventional retail fit-out.

Project context

National Trust Victoria is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that champions Victoria’s diverse heritage, embraces the complexity of the past and inspires connections to place for current and future generations.

As we implement our refreshed organisational brand, these three places offer the first opportunity to translate it into a consistent physical visitor experience. The current entrance and retail spaces have evolved separately. We want to create a stronger welcome that is recognisably National Trust Victoria while reflecting the distinct identity, history and atmosphere of each place.

The sites

The project covers three visitor-facing spaces, with a combined primary footprint of approximately 143.53 m².  Areas are approximate and will need to be verified on site.

• Old Melbourne Gaol – Shop, 34.15 m²: The arrival must build anticipation and support visitor orientation, high-volume flows, school groups, tours and events.
• Rippon Lea Estate – Gatehouse retail space, 76.5 m²: The space welcomes daily visitors, members, tour groups, event guests and venue visitors.
• Como House and Garden – Shop, 32.88 m²: The design must support retail alongside tenants, hospitality, public programs and events.

Project scope

The appointed consultant or team will work with National Trust Victoria through discovery, concept design, design development and an agreed implementation phase. We welcome responses from teams able to provide these services directly or coordinate the required specialists.

The work may include:

• Auditing the three spaces and reviewing their stories, visitor journeys, operations, retail needs, accessibility and heritage considerations.
• Developing shared visitor welcome principles alongside site-specific concepts for spatial planning, visitor flow, interpretation and retail.
• Considering ticketing, point of sale, fixtures, signage, wayfinding, lighting, materials and adaptable content.
• Developing the approved concepts to an agreed level of detail for costing, approvals, fabrication and installation.
• Delivering or coordinating fabrication and installation, and recommending how the approach could be adapted at other National Trust Victoria properties.

Design priorities

We are looking for a shared National Trust Victoria experience that still allows each place to feel distinctive. The design should respect significant heritage fabric, make arrival and movement intuitive, and bring place-based storytelling into the experience.

It should also support flexible retail displays, changing product ranges, daily operations, tours, school groups, events and special programs. Durable, practical and maintainable solutions are important, as is the ability to adapt spaces when several functions are operating at once.

Who should respond

We welcome expressions of interest from individual studios, multidisciplinary practices or collaborative teams with relevant experience in areas such as visitor experience, cultural or heritage interpretation, tourism, retail, museums and galleries, exhibition design, wayfinding, environmental graphics, heritage-sensitive interiors, fabrication or installation.

Please provide a concise response. We are not seeking speculative creative concepts at this stage.

Responses should include:

• An introduction to your practice or team and the proposed project lead.
• Your understanding of the brief and proposed methodology.
• Two to four relevant project examples, including experience in heritage or culturally significant settings.
• The disciplines and team members involved, including external consultants or suppliers.
• Your approach to integrating visitor experience, interpretation, brand, retail and operational requirements.
• Your capacity to meet the proposed programme.
• An indicative fee and budget allocation, with contributions, assumptions, exclusions and staging clearly identified.
• Two relevant referees

Timing and next steps

Submission due by November 12th. National Trust Victoria intends to review submissions and meet shortlisted respondents during November 2026, with a preferred partner selected in early December 2026. The project must be completed and operational by 31 May 2027.

National Trust Victoria will manage and obtain any required heritage approvals. The appointed partner will provide the drawings, specifications and supporting information needed for those applications.

Shortlisted respondents will be invited to site visits and provided with further information, which may include the brand toolkit, site plans, visitor and retail information, photography, heritage information and property-specific operational requirements.

Submission Details

• Maximum submission length: 10 pages (PDF preferred).
• Include links to portfolio or supporting material where relevant.
• Provide contact details for a primary project lead.

Details and full EOI brief available via email: communication@nattrust.com.au with subject line: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: Visitor Welcome and Experience Spaces