Building a harmonious Docklands

Docklands local Yvonne Zhou-Grundy is interested in building a “harmonious” neighbourhood.

According to Yvonne, people often think of themselves as busy people, living busy lives, and don’t take the time to engage with the people around them.

“I’m always passionate about neighbourhood and I always say hello to everyone in the lift,” she said. “So I think we still need to try. Try to say hello and stretch ourselves.”

Yvonne is one of the newest representatives appointed to the Docklands Community Forum and hopes to be able use her role to ensure that the continued development of Docklands best serves the local community.

“I think the forum provides a platform, somewhere people can go to share and to listen and to voice what we like about Docklands and potentially to connect with people,” she said.

“I’m glad the City of Melbourne and Places Victoria and all of the stakeholders have thought of that.”

Having lived in Docklands for the past six years, Yvonne has noticed the pattern of workers leaving Docklands as soon as the work-day is done.

“During the daytime there are plenty of people coming for work and after five they tend to leave Docklands. How do we maintain a competitive and vibrant environment that’s viable for business?”

At the same time, she believes preserving space for the community is also of utmost importance.

“As a community you need community spaces for living, like other suburbs,” she said.

She said the new western park development was a step in the right direction in providing community spaces.

“As a development I think we can do better, for the commercial to take off and also as a community to look after the needs of people living here in the long-term,” Yvonne said.

“I do think as a whole we need to build a cohesive Docklands. We are an extension of the city and I think we should market ourselves as such.”

Born in Shanghai, Yvonne moved to Australia 26 years ago and has been running her own business since 1989.

She and her husband moved to Docklands six years ago when they decided to slow down with work and were looking for somewhere low maintenance.

“For people wanting to slow down it’s a great place to live. There’s very minimal housework to do, great public transport and it’s close to everything,” Yvonne said.

“It’s a very laid-back, very relaxed lifestyle.”