Evacuation diagrams vs redline plans: what Victorian venues actually need
Victorian venues get asked for drawings with similar names and different jobs. An evacuation diagram shows how people leave. A redline plan, in the liquor sense, shows where alcohol may be sold, served or consumed. A third meaning, an architectural redline, is a markup of building changes for a council or a builder. Melbourne venue owners usually need one of these, and sometimes two. This page separates them. It is written for bars, restaurants, cafés, hotels and temporary venues. It is not a statement of what your licence or your building permit requires. Liquor Control Victoria, your council, and your building surveyor each ask for their own document. Check which one you were actually sent.
The liquor red line
A liquor red line plan is the floor plan Liquor Control Victoria expects with many licence applications and variations. A continuous red line goes around the licensed area: sale, service, consumption, and anywhere a patron may walk with a drink, including toilets. North, the address, the surrounding streets, measurements, the area in square metres, and labels for the bar, dining, kitchen and toilets are the core of the published list. The source is Red line plans for licensed areas. The practical tick-list is the liquor licence checklist for Victoria.
That plan does not show exit routes, assembly points, or fire-fighting equipment. A licensing question about the licensed area is not a question about how people leave, and a request for exits is not a request for a red line. The two drawings can be prepared from the same floor plan. They are not substitutes.
On redline plans, a standard liquor licence redline is $499 flat when usable existing plans already exist, typically in 48 hours, issued as DWG and PDF. If the venue has no reliable plan, site measurement in Melbourne comes first and is quoted separately. A call-out fee may apply to that visit. We do not publish the amount, and we do not publish a laser-scan price.
A pop-up that has been asked for "the plan" may mean this sheet, or the event layout. The split is in event and pop-up liquor licence plans in Victoria.
The evacuation diagram
An evacuation diagram is a plan of how people get out. It is drawn over the layout, with exits, the way to those exits, and an assembly point, and it is formatted so it can be printed and put on a wall. It is not a licensed-area plan, and it is not a building permit set.
Who asks for it depends on the building. A council, a building surveyor, an event permit, or a venue's own emergency arrangements may all request one. For NDIS Specialist Disability Accommodation and Supported Independent Living, providers have emergency and disaster preparedness obligations, and the diagram those homes use is a separate service: NDIS evacuation plans. That page is for SDA and SIL. A bar can need an evacuation diagram without being an NDIS property. Say which building it is for. The broader drawing work around accessibility and SDA, which is not a venue red line, is in NDIS, SDA and accessibility drafting in Melbourne.
We do not decide that you are required to display one. If you have been asked, send the request with the floor plan. If you have not been asked, check with the council or the building surveyor. Do not assume LCV's red line page is also asking for exits. It is asking for the licensed area.
The diagram is a free quote. It is not the $499 liquor redline. Every drawing, including this one, is issued as DWG and PDF. The PDF is the copy you print and post. The DWG is the file you edit when a door is added or a fitout moves a path. PDF and DWG on every job is why both files are in the folder.
Asked for the diagram, it usually shows a simplified floor, the exits, a way out, an assembly point, the address and a date. It does not carry a licensed boundary. Exit arrows do not turn a red line into an evacuation diagram, and a red line on an evacuation diagram does not make it an LCV plan. Need both? Draw them from the same base and keep two sheets.
The architectural redline
Builders and councils use "redline" for a different sheet: the existing drawing with proposed changes marked on it. A wall coming out, a kitchen growing, a response to a request for information. That markup is also prepared on the redline plans page, and it is a free quote. It is not an LCV plan, and it is not an evacuation diagram.
If the email you received says "redline" and does not say liquor, licence, or licensed area, ask which meaning they want before you order. The drafting meaning is explained in what is a redline plan.
What a Victorian venue usually needs
Match the document to the question you were asked.
- The licensed area for a liquor application or a variation: a liquor red line.
- How people leave, the exits, and an assembly point: an evacuation diagram.
- A change to the building drawings after a council note or a builder's markup: an architectural redline.
- A pop-up, festival or temporary bar: often a liquor red line and a site layout. Sometimes an evacuation diagram as well, if the event permit asks for one. Check the permit pack.
A permanent restaurant can need the liquor red line and an evacuation diagram at the same time. Draw them from one measured floor plan so the walls match. Do not trace one from the other after the fact. If the only plan in the office is a landlord's marketing PDF, or a photo of a plan behind the bar, start with a measure. What that day looks like is in measuring your venue for a liquor licence redline plan.
A larger licensed area is not, by itself, a larger patron capacity. See red line plan vs patron capacity. We state areas. We do not certify occupancy.
What each sheet should not be asked to do
- Do not lodge an evacuation diagram as the red line plan. It has no licensed boundary, and it is the wrong document for LCV's list.
- Do not lodge a red line as the evacuation diagram. It does not set out the way out.
- Do not use either sheet as a building permit set. Permit drawings are a larger package.
- Do not treat a satellite image as the base. LCV says a satellite image does not show the internal layout.
How to brief it
Tell us the address, which of the drawings you need, and who asked. Attach any existing plan and the email or permit note that names the document. If you need the liquor red line and the evacuation diagram, say both, so they are quoted as two drawings from one base.
Usable plans: the liquor red line is $499, DWG and PDF, typically 48 hours. The evacuation diagram is quoted. No usable plans: the measure is quoted first, a call-out fee may apply, and a laser scan is quoted only if the building needs it. There is no published scan price. Both finished drawings are DWG and PDF.
Check the regulator's page and your council before you lodge. We draw what you instruct against the published list. We do not describe a drawing as the thing that gets the licence or the permit granted.
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