Good afternoon everyone,

We’ll get right to the point – Next week marks the start of two weeks of overnight works within the precinct – Our apologies in advance for the disruption that will follow, but as we’ve outlined before – we absolutely cannot miss the start date for the shutdown of the tram corridor on Sunday 27^th of November.

In the sections below I’ve briefly outlined the daytime activities next week – with a more detailed table that breaks down the overnight activities scheduled in for next week.

Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange

In yet another step towards a functioning tram platform, we’ve now got the first of the bluestone pavers laid down. I’ve included a photo of the first section of the new pavers going down, particularly as this will be a key activity that will continue up until 10pm in the leadup to the 27^th November – and potentially overnight depending on progress. The reason this is such a key activity is that the entire footprint of the new tram platform features bluestone pavers, requiring a significant amount of work and coordination to ensure they are laid in time. Over the next few weeks the tiling crews will be a continued presence on the platform. The glass balustrades are also being installed around the opening in the tram platform looking down onto the tram platform. On top of the canopy roof, the team need to do the final elements of waterproofing, to support this activity, we’ll have another two scaffold towers erected at either end of the canopy. The roof of the canopy will be a busy place over the next three weeks as this is our last chance to access the roof before we kick off the 24/7 works, and ultimately commission the new platform.

Surface Works

Either side of the platform, the most obvious addition is the new track that is slowly extending out from the platform. Next week a lot of the preparation works will move into the southern section as the tracks make their way to the south end of the site. The backfill around the ventilation structures will also be finished off next week and the teams will start installing the bracketry inside the precast elements of the ventilation shafts, before the cladding is then installed.

Elsewhere around site CitiPower will be doing some work to decommission redundant light poles ahead of the 24/7 works at the end of November. We’ve attached a copy of their notification regarding these works.

There will also be some work to decommission redundant pits on the footpath of the pedestrian crossing at the Park Street tram stop on St Kilda Road. The footpath and crossing will remain open while these works are underway with fencing in place.

Station box construction

Underground the station box team are continuing to make good progress, the track slab construction is nearly complete on both the eastern and western sides. The platform will soon have new set of stairs leading up to the concourse, with the steel fixing for the stairs nearly complete and a pour scheduled in for next week.

Shrine Entrance

Next week over at the Shrine of Remembrance entrance the team will doing some work to break back piles ahead the pouring of a capping beam over the top. Steel fixing for the roof of this section of the entrance will also continue, while in those completed sections we’ll kick off some of the waterproofing works

Extended Hours Works:

The works listed below are those that will extend overnight next week. The coloured squares indicate the days that the listed activity will be continuing.  We’ll have additional supervision on site to ensure that we minimise any unnecessary noise, however all these activities will continue through the night. Activities such as hammering and sucker trucks are not permitted during the night, and other activities such as paver cutting will be stopped at 10pm.

As always, there is a chance that these days may slip or shift – but this represents the teams current thinking around which crews will be working in each location, each evening.

Regards, Rob and Christian