Victory for Village Docklands

By Elliana Saltalamacchia

Collins Square developer Walker Corporation will fund a pool enclosure for apartment tower Village Docklands after many years of negotiation.

Village Docklands owners’ corporation (OC) chair Graham Standfield said Walker will give the OC $200,000 to fund an enclosure for their level-five pool.

The residential building has become surrounded by office towers under Walker’s development of the Collins Square complex, creating privacy concerns for residents using the pool area.

Mr Standfield said the agreement with Walker to fund the enclosure was a good outcome.

“The OC is comfortable and happy with the result,” Mr Standfield said. “We feel we have been quite successful.”

“The pool will be usable again,” he said. “Residents can use the pool without prying eyes.”

Mr Standfield said the OC proposed Walker pay for a pool enclosure as soon as the corporation was issued a permit to build Tower 2 but had not received any commitment from the developer until now.

“It’s been a number of years,” Mr Standfield said. “This is what we wanted all along. It was a long, hard negotiation.”

The Collins Square site was originally intended to house four residential towers under a master plan by Malaysian developer Kuok Group.

But the global financial crisis saw the Kuok Group sell the site to Walker Corporation, which successfully applied to change the development plan for the area. 

Village Docklands is now the only residential building in Collins Square, which has become Australia’s largest CBD commercial precinct.

Mr Standfield said the pool enclosure was expected to be built by March 2017.

Walker Corporation declined to comment on the matter.