Welcome to the first weekly update of February – as always, plenty happening out on site this week and next.
You might have noticed it was a very quiet out on site today – It was a part of a project-wide safety refresher for the workforce across all our sites.
Overnight Works – St Kilda Road final asphalt layer
We’ve got an extensive program of works to complete the final layers of asphalt on St Kilda Road and reopen the road in the completed two lane configuration by the end of March. I’m sure this will be a welcome milestone, but there is a bit to do before we get there.
We’ve got a work area stretching from the Toorak Road Tram Stop through to Park Street, so the impacts will vary across the nights. To help get a sense of when the works will be in your area, I’ve included a bit more detail of where the team plans to be asphalting each night.
Bear in mind this may change depending on progress, but it reflects our current plan for next week. I hope it is helpful.
St Kilda Road Footpath
Western Side of St Kilda Road
Roads aren’t the only area getting a resurfacing, we’ve still got sections of new footpath to install around the precinct. The new footpath from Bowen Lane, around the front of The Domain, and through to Albert Road is set to kick off in February. Earliest start is likely to be the week after next – but I will advise when we’ve got a precise date. The February notification contains details on the extent of the closure and the detour in place.
There are also some final light pole installations planned for during the day at three locations along St Kilda Road, between Bromby Street and Toorak Road. This will involve saw cutting, non destructive digging of the footing and pouring concrete for the footings. The footings will then cure and the light poles stood at a later date – We’re expecting all three footings to be done next week.
Centre Island – St Kilda Road
Southern Area:
Civil works in the middle of St Kilda Road have taken a bit of a back seat while the team worked on the chiller plant in the middle of the road, the team are nearly finished the fitout works, and that means we’re back in there doing some more of the preparatory works in the middle of the road. This involves trenching for utilities, including the public lighting and the drainage. At the end of next week we’ll shift some of the traffic barriers adjacent to the ventilation shafts to allow works to commence on the preparatory works for the centre island landscaping around the ventilation shafts, as well as some of the kerbing further south.
Adjacent to the Anzac Station tram Stop
The shift of the outbound lane of St Kilda Road between Park Street and Domain Road has allowed us to start works on the centre island that sits in between the road way and the tram stop. This will continue next week, including kerbing and in ground utility work.
We’ll also be able to get into corresponding area on the other side of the tram stop – adjacent to the city bound lane of St Kilda. Works in this area wont kick off until we’ve shifted traffic slightly west and we have the room to safely work.
Station Fit out
The station downstairs is coming together, with the infrastructure for the new Myki gates going in, as well as the fitout for the new retail precincts within the concourse level. The future facilities for Metro staff are also being installed, including the new customer service windows installed at the concourse level. As promised last week, I’ve included a photo from the concourse level, with acoustic baffles on the ceiling and the retail fitout underway on the left of the image. No decisions as yet on the tenants for these retail spaces.
Albert Road legacy construction
This week saw the works commence in earnest for the base slab of the new South African Soldiers’ memorial within the Albert Road Reserve. The stones for the memorial have been safely stored away while we have built Anzac Station, and our specialist heritage contractor will begin bringing sections of the monument to site once the base slab is ready to go.
Last week I mentioned the commissioning of the new legacy Albert Road South in the week commencing Monday 5 February. We’ll push this date back a tad while the watermain connection works are still ongoing. I’ll advise the new date once we’ve had a look at the program and sequencing
Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance (Works until 1am)
The big crane servicing the Albert Road Reserve Station entrance has been packed up and sent on its way. We’ll be using smaller mobile cranes from this point onwards. The scaffolding around the entrance is nearing its final days as the works on the roof progress. In front of the station itself, the drainage is now largely complete and the team have moved onto the road construction. This means we’ll have crews out on the surface installing the new road kerbing. These crews will continue up until 10pm, before the works scale back to quieter works, on the surface. Inside the station entrance, the works will continue overnight, as they have been since late last year.
Eastern site – Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)
We’ve now opened the new pedestrian path along St Kilda Road connecting Park Street to the corner of St Kilda Road and Domain Road in front of Melbourne Grammar School. Very soon, the existing crossing into the Shrine Grounds will close.
That corner will see a lot of activity over the next month, starting with the removal of the wall that separates the work site from the school. The wall itself was originally constructed by the Early Works contractor who was installing the new Melbourne Sewer connection adjacent to the school. It was left in place during the station works, but will be removed in February to allow the construction of the watermain connection under the footpath. There may be some delays if you’re walking up Domain Road during the removal of the wall, as we’ll need to stop pedestrians whenever we’re lowering sections of the wall. Following this removal, we’ll need to also excavate the footpath itself to install the new watermain connection. This will mean a detour is in place via Bromby Street and Domain Street, further details are in the February notification.
February Notification:
Have a great weekend,
Thanks, Rob
The Botanica 