Happy Wednesday everyone,

We’ll keep todays update short and sharp, in keeping with the short sharp working week.

We hope everyone enjoys the four day weekend – and five days free from construction, with next Monday being an RDO.

Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange

Progress around the edge of the canopy has been good, with fascia nearly complete and the caulking and waterproofing on the skylights also well on its way to completion.

The trenching and conduit installation is continuing next week, as the team start the installation of the electrical services to the platform. Next week construction will also begin on the balustrades that surround the edge of the oculus (or opening) that lets natural light down from the tram platform to the station concourse.

The feature photo is the start of what is referred to as a strata vault. These strata vaults will hold the trees that will feature on the new tram platform – We’ve also included an artist impression that shows where the trees will be located on the platform. The strata vaults in the image will house the tree shown closest to the tram in the artist impression.

Station box construction

No new works to report on the B1 and B2 levels As we mentioned last week, the testing and commissioning of the new back of house lift is the newest feature in the station and is a real sign of how far the station build has progressed.

In a previous edition we mentioned that the platform was nearly complete, save for a gap that allows plant and workforce to traverse between the two track sections and for workforce access to install the electrical conduits underneath the platform. Over the next two weeks this gap will be closed up as the final precast elements are installed – completing the entire length of the future Anzac Station train platform.

Shrine Entrance

The Shrine entrance over near Domain Road is constructed in two parts, with initial excavation underway in the first section, with around 1m left to go next week. Steel tying for this first section for roof will also start later next week. The second part of the entrance employs a bottom-up approach, with construction of a retaining wall around the perimeter of the piles currently underway, the team will then excavate down roughly 2m before the piles are broken back with excavators to their required height. We expect this hammering work to commence next week, and take place intermittently for around one week.

Surface Works

On Thursday evening next week the team will be out on St Kilda Road near Park Street to inspect a sewer pit, this is just a visual inspection of the pit and will not generate any noise or require any road closures.

Inside site, the new road alignment for the southbound lane of St Kilda Road is starting to take shape. Over the coming weeks this road and kerb will be constructed and the road will be connected into the existing roadworks that have been underway at the northern end of the site where the construction sheds were previously located.

Staying at the northern end of site – the works to install the pre-cast concrete panels for the northern ventilation shafts has progressed well. These works have been continuing up until 10pm, but with the pre-cast panels installed, work on these structures will revert back to standard working hours.

Speaking of ventilation structures, the southernmost area of the site is also home to the future ventilation structures, the precast panels are still a week or so away in this section, but work is underway to prepare for the installation, with waterproofing, screeding and backfilling works extending into next week. This will include the use of our smaller vibrating roller at the back end of next week.

As we mentioned last week, installation of tram infrastructure footings for future overhead lines will continue within site to the south in preparation for tram alignment works in November and December. We’re also looking to have the first section of the new tram track alignment laid within the site in the coming weeks.

With the D-wall demolition complete for 2022, this week will be the last edition of the day-by-day look ahead table. When we resume D-wall demolition and sucker trucks in the final location next year we’ll reintroduce this table to help everyone plan around our noisiest and easily least favourable activities.

Southern Civil Works Lookahead
Monday26/9	Tuesday27/9	Wednesday28/9	Thursday29/9	Friday30/9	Saturday1/10
RDO	Waterproofing Completion	Waterproofing screed	Permanent Backfill placement and compaction	Permanent Backfill placement and compaction	Permanent Backfill placement and compaction

Enjoy the long weekend, and best of luck to anyone with a team in this week’s Grand Final!

Regards, Rob and Christian