
Good afternoon all,
Hope everyone is having a great Friday, as we tip over into the first week of winter – it’s time for a look ahead to what’s happening out on site next week.
- Station Roof Works and Bowen Lane Utility Works
As promised the last section of the station roof was poured last Saturday and the last of the blue waterproofing membrane has been applied to the completed section. It’s a bit of a low key milestone, but it means that the entire station box structure underneath St Kilda Road is now complete. Over the next few weeks we’ll see some pre-cast concrete risers installed around what is the future egress hatch that sits below ground in front of The Botanica building. This hatch is specifically designed so that the transformers within the station below can be (relatively) easily removed and replaced when they come to the end of their lifespan. The mini-detour down Bowen Lane came into effect on Thursday, and the works will commence on the utility connections down this section of Bowen Lane. The target remains to reopen Bowen Lane by the end of July/start of August.
- Albert Road Reserve Station entrance
A large section of the concrete blinding layer was poured earlier this week for the station entrance. There won’t be a great deal of variety in this section for the next few weeks, as the entire site will be a mix of waterproofing and steel tying.
- Albert Road North construction
One section that will see a great deal of change over the coming weeks is Albert Road. The Albert Road configuration is slowly but surely transitioning to its future alignment, which will see the westbound lane pushed further to the north to make room for the future parkland between the station entrance and Kings Way. In the June monthly construction update, you’ll see that Albert Road will essentially shift into a one-way arrangement between Kings Way and St Kilda Road. The closure of the last remaining section of the westbound lane of Albert Road will enable the team to complete the final kerbing at the intersection of Kings Way and Albert Road – and start the works on the actual parkland itself. We’re expecting that these works will take just over a month to complete.
There is quite a lot of chopping and changing happening on Albert Road, and given the reduction of parking, we’ll look to include drop off bays wherever we can. Following the closure of the westbound lane out to Kings Way, we’ll implement some additional short term drop off bays to help with taxi/uber drop offs and pick-ups. We’ve already included one bay in front of the Ramsay Clinic.
- St Kilda Road median works – South
With the asphalting complete last week, the crews are working on the inner lane of St Kilda Road through this southbound section. This should be fairly stable for a little while, before we move onto the bike lane construction and the second stage of the permanent parking removal in July. The work on the two chiller plant structures in the median are also progressing well with a crane arriving next week to assist with the installation of the 8 tonne chiller plant.
- St Kilda Road median works – North
Another big change to site is coming next week with the start of kerb works in front of 380 St Kilda Road. Unfortunately this is the return everyone’s least favourite step-count booster – the walk down Park Street, crossing at Wells Street, and back up Park Street to continue along St Kilda Road. It also comes with the addition of the closure of the crossing over to the Shrine grounds and Gardens at Park Street. If you’re headed from Albert Road, over to the gardens for a stroll, it might be quicker to cut over the tram stop crossing – otherwise, the next crossing point is at Dorcas Street.
This blitz on the corner will also see a short term cul-de-sac arrangement come into effect in the service lane between Park Street and Dorcas Street. You can turn right on the green arrow at Dorcas Street to access Seasons Botanic, or for a drop-off/pick up at any of the apartments here.
The good news is that once we’re done here, the separated bike lanes will be in effect, the inner and outer lanes will be reopened and the parking will be returned (and the pedestrian crossings reopened).
- Station box construction
No new news from those working down underneath the station box – the various back of house rooms required to commission the power to run trains are being progressively completed and tied in. It is maze of cables running from room to room.
- Shrine Entrance
This week we have prepared the reinforcement and form work for another five sections of the internal walls, ready for concrete next week. We are also preparing to lower precast elements down into the shaft. Excavation for the footing for the future beams that will support the station canopy is underway.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the hoarding, works are processing with the new site alignment. Behind the temporary fencing, a section of the new site footpath was poured today.
- Park Street to Albert Road
I’m pleased to say that the bluestone footpath between Albert Road and Park Street is now reopened and looks great. The garden bed has been filled with soil and will planted with some of the ground cover in the next few months. The replacement trees that will go in this location will be planted separately, we’re working with City of Port Phillip on their planting and I’ll provide an update when I have some timing on when we’ll see them in place. We’ve also got some finishing works to do on some fencing that will go on the retaining wall that runs behind the garden bed – We’ll complete these works before we go in and plant in this location.
With everyone back on the footpath, the team are working on the future connection from the footpath up to the tram entrance, as well as works to complete the driveway connection into the Hallmark buildings service area. This driveway resurfacing will be the predominant activity in here next week.
Have a great weekend
Thanks, Rob and Remy

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