Melbourne is to have yet another bauble added to its collection of rainbow night-time lights, this one with a whopping 305-square-metre area. It will not only look colourful, it will also beam advertising to all those within its sight – which from its position on a Swanston Street building, will include pedestrians and drivers as far away as Carlton.

A mega-sized 305 sq m display will light up wall of the CGI Business Centre at 231 Swanston Street. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Melbourne City Council had denied the planning permit. Even the building owners opposed the application. However, like a young child who knows which parent to ask, advertising firm Lumen Billboards took their case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the decision was overturned.

The tribunal said the digital billboard was not of "such a nature and at a height which may interfere with the ordinary use of the land".

Ordinary uses of buildings in the CBD did not previously involve pimping them out to the highest bidder. I am so sick of every last available space being taken up with advertisements trying to sell us stuff we mostly don't need.