Welcome to the second update of December, as we gather speed towards the Christmas break.
The focus of the team is on getting the various public areas into good shape before we break over the new year.
Below is the update of works happening around site.
PROGRESS UPDATE: St Kilda Road and Toorak Road Resurfacing
Weather was slightly kinder to us this week, but unfortunately we haven’t completed the entire scope of works on St Kilda Road. The contingency plan at this stage is to complete these works early next week in place of the previously notified night works near on the roadway adjacent to the tram stop. This includes works to complete the pit lids in St Kilda Road southbound overnight on Monday and Tuesday – in front of Melbourne Grammar. In the meantime, we are trying to get a booking for asphalt with our suppliers for next week. If you’re stuck for a gift idea this year – batched asphalt appears to be hottest item of 2023, with supplies hard to come by.
Tonight there are no asphalting works and St Kilda Road is back open overnight. If the rain holds out there will be some crews doing some minor curb works on the southbound lane of St Kilda Road between the pedestrian crossing and Toorak Road, but noise is expected to be low and nothing like the previous nights.
Park Street to Albert Road
As per last week, we’ve had some delays here due to the weather – but we’ll continue installing cladding and furniture in this section next week.
Albert Road legacy construction
The western side of The Domain driveway closed yesterday to allow works to start on the connection of the bluestone pavers into the driveway. Unfortunately we were rained off today (Friday) and may be the same story tomorrow judging by the forecast.
The sea of bluestone pavers and smattering of low-level planting continue to be put in place down Albert Road as we push to finish this area before the end of year.
Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance (works until 1am)
This week saw some pours done for the station entrance, the works continue on both the structure itself and the canopy construction. Services are being laid in the forecourt area of the station entrance, getting ready for paving and asphalting in 2024.
As we mentioned last week – the view of the new station entry canopy at Albert Road Reserve will be short-lived, as we surround it in scaffolding to allow the installation of the roof and services on the canopy. I’ve included a quick photo of the site today, you can see the scaffolding surrounding the Shrine entrance canopy on the right of the shot, with a similar structure to follow for the Albert Road entrance.
Station Fit out
Down on the platform level the brand new Anzac station is a sea of wrapping and coverings on the newly installed screens and passengers information displays and seating – it won’t be unwrapped on Christmas Day, but the covers will start coming off early in 2024 as the trades finish up on the platform level.
Eastern site – Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)
As seen in the photo below, the Shrine entrance is already surrounded in its own scaffolding to allow work to continue. Out the front of this station entrance, we’re moving towards the laying of asphalt next week for the future road – this section is likely to be a victim of the recent (and ongoing) rain issues. But despite switching the overnight works to complete St Kilda Road southern end – we’re still looking for an asphalt booking for next week with the aim of getting asphalt down for the second southbound lane of St Kilda Road between Park Street and the tram stop pedestrian crossing.
St Kilda Road – Toorak Road to Bowen Lane
Northbound side (Towards City)
This week saw the removal of some of the beautified concrete barriers in front of Botanica (They go back to the hire company, so keep an eye out for them around Melbourne) Next week will see the welcome addition of asphalting between Bowen Crescent and Bowen Lane. This is scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
To achieve this – there will be a closure of Bowen Crescent and some impacts on the Botanica driveways. Attached is the notification associated with the works.
Once complete we should be able to reopen the pedestrian crossing at Bowen Crescent.
St Kilda Road Bowen Crescent to Toorak Road (Night works)
Southbound side (Away from City)
With the delays in this area we’ve put on a night shift to complete the kerb works through this area (as mentioned in the intro). The drainage was on track to be completed today before we a short sprinkle put a stop to proceedings. If tomorrows rain holds off until the afternoon we should get this done.
This just leaves the standing of two light poles next Monday and Tuesday, followed by some laying of asphalt in the bike lanes.
As mentioned above, we’re still looking to get an asphalt booking in to complete the entire roadway here. We are aiming to remove the barriers and get out of this section as soon as we possibly can.
In a small win, the right turn from St Kilda Road into Kings Way has now reopened.
Have a great weekend,
Rob
The Botanica 