Footscray Community Courtyard Makeover

GroupGSA was invited by Frasers Property Australia to donate and design a community courtyard garden for a Unison facility, housing women in crisis in Footscray, Victoria as part of International Women’s Day 2018.

The design concept was completed by Zhi Cai and refined with advice from David Dreadon as we got behind this great initiative.

On 3rd of May, Zhi Cai and Hui Li from the GSA Melbourne Studio attended the planting day, and together with the team from Frasers, renovated the existing courtyard garden including upgrades such as:

• Raised planters for vegetable gardens, planted with fresh herbs and hardy native vegetation for colour;
  
• Cleaned up the garden bed and courtyard, planted new vegetation for variety and colour, which include hardy flowering plants, feature grasses and low groundcovers;
  
• Replaced the existing worn out turfed access path with a mulch walkway;
  
• New edging to establish existing garden bed edges;
  
• Pressure cleaning of existing paved courtyard (have not been cleaned for decades previously);
  
• New moveable outdoor seating, tables and storage to enable residents and visitors adjust their seating position to different times of the day; and
  
• A feature climbing frame with Star Jasmine planted as a central attraction.
  

A massive effort from everyone involved and an unbelievable result.

It was a great day and the women residing in the facility were extremely appreciative.