Measuring your venue for a liquor licence redline plan: what happens on the day

Measuring a Melbourne venue for a liquor licence redline is a site visit, not the red line itself. The visit exists because Liquor Control Victoria needs a floor plan of the licensed area, and many venues do not have a plan that still matches the room. Arya Designs measures the building, draws it, and issues that drawing as DWG and PDF. The liquor red line is the next step.

This page is the day of the measure, written for venue owners in Melbourne and greater Victoria. The drawing that gets lodged is covered on redline plans. The free tick-list of what that drawing should show is the liquor licence checklist for Victoria. If you already have accurate plans, you can skip the visit and go straight to the red line.

What the visit is, and what it is not

The measure records the venue as it stands: walls, openings, the bar, the dining room, the kitchen, the toilets, stairs, and any outdoor area you want considered. It is a drafting measure of the building. It is not a land survey, and it does not decide whether you need a liquor licence. That question sits with Liquor Control Victoria, and sometimes with your council. Check both before you treat a drawing as the application.

The red line is a continuous boundary around where alcohol is sold, served or consumed, and anywhere a patron may go with a drink. We can only draw that line on a plan that matches the floor. If the lease sketch is not to scale, or the fitout has moved since the last PDF, the measure comes first.

A licensed-area example is the red line plan for Coltivare in Camberwell. A measured tenancy is the Torito Foods layout in Carlton.

Before we arrive

Send three things with the enquiry, even if they are rough:

• The venue address, and whether we are measuring the whole tenancy or only the area you hope to license
• Any existing plan, lease drawing, or photo of a framed plan on the wall
• The licence type you are applying for or varying, if you already know it, plus whether outdoor dining, a courtyard or a footpath is in the brief

We confirm a free quote before we book. A call-out fee may apply to the site visit. We do not publish an amount for that fee, and we do not publish a price for a laser scan. The quote names the scope.

We need to walk every room in the brief, including toilets and any outdoor area that might sit inside the line. Tell us the trading hours. Furniture can stay. If you already have a council footpath or event permit, send it. It does not replace the measure. Whether that outdoor area belongs on the red line depends on the licence type. Check LCV's red line plan page. We draft to that list. We do not tell you the licence will be granted.

What happens on the day

One person from the venue needs to be there to unlock doors and point out anything that has changed: a new servery, a wall that used to be a doorway, a cool room patrons can walk into. We do not need the whole team.

The visit is a walk of the floor, not a design meeting. On a typical Melbourne café, bar or small restaurant it runs like this:

1. A short briefing at the entry. We confirm the address, the rooms in scope, and any courtyard or lane you are unsure about.
2. We measure the tenancy: wall lengths, openings, the bar and point of sale, kitchen, toilets, stairs and the outdoor edges in the brief. Where the edge is a rope, a screen or a fence rather than a wall, we note how it is marked. The red line plan has to describe that later.
3. We photograph the rooms we measured.
4. We agree what is out of scope. A roof, a plant room, or a cellar patrons cannot enter is included only if you asked for it.

We do not mark the red line on site with tape. The licensed boundary is drawn in the office against the measured plan and the brief you confirm. If you are still deciding whether a footpath is inside the line, say so, and check the licence type on LCV's page before you assume it belongs there. Book a quiet hour. Lengths along the bar are hard to take during service. The venue does not need to close for the day.

When a laser scan is used

Most cafés, bars and small restaurants do not need a laser scan. A traditional measure is enough when the floor is simple and we can walk the perimeter.

We use a laser scan when the room is large, on more than one level, or the drawing needs ceilings, bulkheads and exposed services as well as the walls. A warehouse bar or a mezzanine is the usual case. The scan is quoted with the job. We do not publish a scan price. The drawings are still DWG and PDF. Ask in the quote if you also want the point cloud.

The service is site measurement in Melbourne. How the two methods compare is in laser scanning versus a traditional site measure.

What you receive

Every measure is issued as DWG and PDF. The PDF is the sheet you can read, email to your licensing consultant, and keep in the venue folder. The DWG is the editable CAD file the red line is drawn on, and the file your architect or builder can use if the fitout continues. We do not treat the DWG as an upgrade. Why both files go out on every job is the short explanation.

Timing is in the quote. A straightforward tenancy is often drawn within a few business days of the visit. A large floor or a laser scan takes longer. We do not promise a fixed number of days. A call-out fee may apply. We do not publish the amount. The sheet is an as-built. The red boundary is added when you confirm where alcohol will be sold, served or consumed.

The red line after the measure

Once the as-built exists and it is accurate enough to work from, the liquor licence redline is a separate step. On redline plans that step is $499 flat, with a 48-hour turnaround, when we can work from usable plans, and it is issued as DWG and PDF. The measure is not included in the $499. It is quoted on its own. Architectural and council redlines, which are a different drawing, are a free quote as well.

Usable drawings skip this visit. Send them to the redline page. Pop-ups with no plan of the space follow the same sequence. What those events need is in event and pop-up liquor licence plans in Victoria. An evacuation diagram is a different request, covered in evacuation diagrams vs redline plans.

What to have ready for the drafter

After the measure, the red line still needs a brief: where alcohol will be sold, served or consumed, where a patron can walk with a drink, including toilets, any outdoor area, and how a temporary edge is marked. The measure records the building. The red line records the licensed area. If you are unsure which rooms belong inside the line, check LCV's red line plan guidance or ask the regulator before you lodge. We draw the line you instruct. We cannot tell you the application will be accepted.

Related reading

• Site measurement in Melbourne
• Redline plans
• Liquor licence checklist for Victoria
• Event and pop-up liquor licence plans in Victoria
• Evacuation diagrams vs redline plans
• If redline means a builder markup or a council RFI, not a licensed area, read what is a redline plan