Welcome to another Saturday morning in the beautiful Domain precinct, below is a snapshot of what to expect next week out on site, plus some unexpected visitors in Albert Road this morning:

Unexpected Road Closure – Albert Road – Saturday 11 Feb

 

We’ve been informed that a private contractor has closed Albert Road at Kings Way this morning to set up a crane. These works are not related to Metro Tunnel and we were also caught by surprise by the setup. I’ve spoken to Council this morning who are sending someone down to investigate.

Overnight Works: Monday 13 Feb, Tuesday 14 Feb

 

Just a reminder that we’ll be doing some overnight works on Monday evening and Tuesday evening works next week. It is also likely they’ll continue into Wednesday evening, but not overnight.

CYP UPDATEWhile at face value it might look like the worst Valentines Day present ever from CYP, we have worked closely with Department of Transport to get approval to close St Kilda Road south bound during the day (re-opening for peak hour). This means that instead of six nights straight of conduit works, we can start on Monday at 7am and limit the works to two nights only.  It also means the initial road saws and NDD trucks can be carried out during the day, instead of kicking off at 10pm at night. The evening works should be less disruptive, however the NDD trucks are likely to be a consistent presence. Below is a link to the notice

Click to access MT-AZ-Overnight-conduit-installation-St-Kilda-Road-February-2023.pdf

Station Roof Works

 

Those who park in the bottom carpark at The Botanica would likely have had a chance to drive on the newly minted connection out to Bowen Lane. The entrance/exit is a little tighter than the previous incarnation (though some who have been in the building a while would recall driving under the scaffolding when we first constructed the station walls, this 2023 edition compares a little more favourably)  The reason for the squeezed entry is that it maximises the amount of works we can complete in this first stage, and minimises the time we have to spend when we complete the roof works that cut across the front of the driveway.

The excavators will roll in next week to start breaking back this wall, our apologies in advance for the noise from the hammers.

Albert Road Reserve Station Entrance

 

On Thursday afternoon we installed a new gate out to St Kilda Road, this should take some of the pressure off our Albert Road gate, which was taking the bulk of the traffic going in and out of Albert Reserve. There is also a new wheel grid installed to try to limit the amount of dirt being taken onto Albert Road. As always, the sweeper trucks and water cart will continue to patrol the area, especially as we have now commenced the initial excavation works.

 

Conduit Installation – Albert Road North

 

The first stage of the conduit installation is now complete and we’ve switched over to the northern edge of Albert Road. This will involve using NDD trucks and excavators to open up the road an progressively lay the conduits that will ultimately connect into the lighting along St Kilda Road, and power the Anzac Station, which is currently on temporary power supply.

 

St Kilda Road median works

 

At the northern end of St Kilda Road we’re preparing to lay the first of the asphalt for the St Kilda Road centre carriageway between Park Street and Dorcas Street. The first of this asphalt will likely go down in early March, its worth noting that the section of asphalt immediately adjacent to the tram tracks may need to be done out of hours, we’re currently looking at methodology, but it’s likely that some of this asphalting will need to be done when trams aren’t running.

At the southern end of site, the blinding works have now started for the first chiller plant location, and next week the formwork will commence for the chiller plants.

Next week will also see the removal of three trees within the St Kilda Road median, one directly in front of the Royce Hotel, and two further up towards Toorak Road. These tree removals are required for the future alignment of St Kilda Road and have all the relevant planning approvals. The trees are also in close proximity to St Kilda Road, so we’re going to undertake them while the St Kilda Road southbound lane is closed. It’s been a little while since we have removed a tree from within the St Kilda Road boulevard, as always, regardless of planning approvals we review every single tree removal to determine whether it can be retained – and we also delay any tree removal until as late in the construction program as possible. As I mentioned in a previous update, we’ll keep everyone updated on the timing for the planting of the new trees within the boulevard.

 

Station box construction

The construction on concourse level and platform level continues, the installation of track through Anzac Station is a sign of the great progress across the project, I’ve included a photo here today of the tracks running through the station.

 

Shrine Entrance

Nothing new to report at the Shrine entrance, excavation and loadout is continuing and will continue up until 10pm. If you happen to walk past the site on the Melbourne Grammar side and have a peek through the gate, the section that the team are excavating out spoil, is where the future stairs and escalators will pop up to surface level.

 

Park Street under bore

The under bore drill will arrive on site at Park Street next week to drill underneath St Kilda Road and make the final connection for the high voltage conduit. The drill itself will operate during normal construction hours.

 

Thanks, Rob and Christian