Located in Melbourne’s Docklands, Waterfront City is a mixed-use development consisting of multiple buildings. Retail tenancies, cafés, bars and restaurants take up the first two levels and residential apartments occupy the rest. At the centre are a landscaped podium area and the Southern Star Observation wheel (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere), which is destined to be the next major Melbourne tourist attraction.

ING Properties, owners of the development, contracted JA Dodd Ltd to complete hard and soft landscaping works from ground level up to level five. This involved landscaping busy commercial areas and private courtyards, streetscapes and the central podium and took just under a year to complete.

The hardscape works were extensive and included a variety of surface finishes spread over 15,000sqm, including balconies and podiums. The surfaces used included UrbanStone and Streetscape concrete pavers, cast in-situ exposed aggregate concrete (of varying colours and aggregate types), timber decking and stainless-steel trench grating.

The various paving types create a bright, modern streetscape and are separated by galvanised-steel angles as specified by designers Hassell Architects. To ensure the area remains in first-class condition, the whole surface was sealed with a penetrative sealer.

To enhance the design and make the public areas user-friendly, custom-made street furniture was used extensively.

Softscape works included the supply and installation of approximately 15,000 shrubs and trees to streets, internal courtyards and the podium. For street planting, the trees included several varieties of eucalyptus varieties, flame trees and Australian red cedar. These were mixed in with mass plantings of New Zealand flax, poa, lomandra and an impressive display of grass trees. All areas are serviced by a fully automatic irrigation system, which is partially fed by recycled water from a harvest tank situated beneath the Southern Star Observation wheel.

For J.A. Dodd Ltd, it was a privilege to have played such an integral role in transforming Melbourne’s once under-utilised docks into vibrant public spaces that will only continue to grow and improve with time.