Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone had the chance to enjoy some of the glorious sunshine this week. A short week on site, but still some good progress has been made. There are a few changes to pedestrian access around the site next week – I’ve included a copy of a notification that is going out to the Hallmark and Domain Hill building regarding works on the footpath in front of their respective buildings – but I’ve also included it here as it will involve a slight detour for anyone walking from Albert Road around to Park Street.

Broader update is below, and have a lovely weekend.

1. Station Roof Works

The noise of the sucker trucks will ease off (temporarily) next week as the team move onto tying steel to connect the last part of the station roof into the wall next week, with the aim to have concrete poured later in the week. The pour is done in one hit, with all exposed areas poured. After this we’ll move onto the waterproofing and backfilling. The backfill will be reinstated with a temporary surface (likely concrete) that in May will serve as a future driveway for the residents of the Botanica who use the basement carpark while we complete the remaining sections.

2. Albert Road Reserve Station entrance

The station entrance saw the completion of the first stage of excavation, ground anchors and shotcreting (sprayed concrete application) this week, with the second stage of excavation also kicking off. The excavators and trucks will again be hauling material from site next week.

On the northern side, the steel tying works are almost complete and we’re expecting to pour the concrete for the capping beam early next week (likely Monday)

3. Conduit Installation – Albert Road North

CitiPower are expected on site from the 20^th March (Monday) on Albert Road – As we understand, they’ll have some excavation and will be pulling cable through for the permanent power connection for the tram platform. This means the generator that is currently on the side of the road over near the pedestrian crossing will be decommissioned and removed in early April. I’ll firm  up the date once we’ve heard more from CitiPower.

4. Albert Road North Construction

If you’ve been down to Albert Road recently you’d have seen that the team have made short work of the carpark as they start construction of the final alignment of Albert Road. The first stage of the works is the excavation for drainage that runs from St Kilda Road all the way down to Kings Way. The team will be installing drainage all next week, which varies from box culverts through to standard drainage pipes.

Beyond this, the remainder of this area will be progressively excavated to prepare the surface for the construction of final road layout.

Just a note that the NDD work that was happening on the southern footpath this week will also run into tomorrow, with some parks occupied on the southern side.  Next update I’ll look to firm up a date on the permanent removal of the parking on the southern side of Albert Road.  Like the central median parking, we try to leave the parking in place until the point that we absolutely need to get in there and work. It may just be a delay of the inevitable, but every day counts.

5. St Kilda Road median works – South

The base slab for one of the chiller plant structures is expected to be poured tomorrow, while the other one follows along behind with the same sequence, with steel fixing ongoing next week. Over on the other side of the road, the most of the works will be in the centre median across from the Royce Hotel, with some works to prep the surface for new pavement.

6. St Kilda Road median works – North

Moving up north beyond the station canopy, the inner carriageway of St Kilda Road is prepped and ready for asphalting on the western side, with the eastern side just having the last of the subsoil drainage completed.

Next week we’ll see some new irrigation installed on both sides of the road.  We’ll have a notification in letter boxes (and inboxes) next week regarding the switch of city-bound traffic into this middle lane. In an all too familiar sentence, parking will be removed to facilitate the bike lane works through this section – though this section of St Kilda Road will have parking reinstated, so the loss is only temporary.

7. Station box construction

Down underground, the western section of track is now laid all the way through Anzac Station and the new platform screen doors are complete. Up on the concourse level, we’ve started installing some of the permanent lighting for the station, which adds a splash of colour to proceedings. Meanwhile, in the back of house, the rough in for services is ongoing – Not as interesting as rail track, platform screen doors and feature lighting – but the team are hard at work back there, so it would be remiss of me not to give them a shout-out.

8. Shrine Entrance

The Shrine entrance has made good progress down towards the base level. If you were so inclined you could now poke your head through from this western station entrance into the main station box (you wouldn’t see much as there is a giant curtain there to protect from debris – but a good milestone all the same.

9. Park Street to Albert Road

The last section of todays update will see the most changes next week, as the team are close to completing the drainage run between Park Street and Albert Street. This means next week they’ll be in a position to divert pedestrian traffic up to a dedicated pedestrian walkway through our site (on the future roadway) and around to Park Street. The reason we’re putting pedestrians up on this section is so that we can break out the asphalt footpath and build the new bluestone footpath in this location. The notice has flagged a start date of Thursday, but as of this afternoon, progress has been very good, so it could be slightly earlier.

To do this we’ll break out the surface and excavate it down to the required level, before pouring a layer of concrete to form the base for the new bluestone. As we excavate down we’ll find out more about the root systems of the trees adjacent to this footpath. We’ll have an arborist on hand as we go, and we’ll make an assessment as to whether we can retain the trees in this location. They are listed for removal in the approved plans – but like all trees on the project, if we find that they can be retained – we most certainly will.

The notice for these works are attached – the detour is relatively minor, but it is an access change for Hallmark residents. I’ll have more info for Domain Hill residents when we get closer to starting the footpath section in front of their apartments. (Ultimately everyone will the footpath reinstatement works experience, Hallmark is the first cab off the rank)

Thanks, Rob