Good evening everyone,

Below is a summary of current and upcoming works next week.

Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange

Above the tram platform, caulking of the colour back glass and skylight surrounds has continued this week with work on under canopy features to continue next week.

Around the western side of the tram platform, installation of electrical conduit will progress through the week with electrical and communications services continuing to be connected to the platform.

Station box construction

Forming up and pouring of the central platform stairs will begin within the station box structure and with pouring of the northern roof now complete, pouring of the south box roof will take place over the coming week.

On sub-surface levels, testing and commissioning processes are continuing at lift 9 and installation of lift 8 will commence.

As blockwork on the southern platform is now complete, blockwork will continue to shape the northern end of the platform into additional back of house rooms from the open space.

Shrine Entrance

As we mentioned last week, initial excavation and break back has commenced around the piled columns to develop the Shrine entrance, enabling formation of the top-down roof to start mid-next week.

Excavation of this zone will progress steadily over the coming weeks.

Surface Works

On Monday night/ early Tuesday morning, the team will conduct a visual inspection of a sewer pit on the northbound lane on St Kilda Road at the intersection of Park St and St Kilda Road.

To ensure worker safety, this inspection will be conducted between midnight and 4am when traffic periods are low.

Northbound traffic will be maintained on St Kilda Road during this inspection with reduced speed signage and traffic management in place to assist.

As mentioned last week, this is just a visual inspection of the pit and will not generate any noise or require any road closures.

From Tuesday 4 October until Friday 11 November, works will occur on Park Street at the intersection of Park Street and St Kilda Road to connect a high voltage cable to its connection point on Park Street.

This work involves boring underneath St Kilda Road to the retrieval and connection point on Park Street and will require the closure of the left hand turn from St Kilda Road into Park Street for approximately four weeks.

Access to properties and driveways will be maintained, including Hallmark Apartment residents, with detours in place via Dorcas Street and Wells Street and traffic management on hand to assist drivers with access to properties.

To ensure pedestrian safety during these works, pedestrians may be intermittently detoured down Park Street to cross at the Wells Street pedestrian signal however pedestrian access will be maintained at the St Kilda Road and Park Street intersection whenever there are no works occurring and if it is safe to do so.

At the northern end of site, the team will be applying asphalt next week, developing the new southbound lane of St Kilda Road and installing kerbing that will shape this roadway.

To enable these works, there will be another minor shift of site fencing at the Park Street signalised crossing St Kilda Road next week leading into the Shrine of Remembrance however pedestrian pathways and access will be maintained.

These road formation and asphalting works will progress further through site towards the south with a small vibration roller in use and some out of hour works that may occur once this compaction sequence has commenced.

To the south of the tram platform, strata vault drainage installation will continue.

Towards the end of the week works underway at the MGS crossover will be nearing completion.

This week we have included an image of the ventilation and services shafts that were craned into place last week in the north.

These will be stitch-poured next week with backfilling around the perimeter of the foundations to follow over the next 2 weeks.  

Some out of hour welding works may occur at the base of the ventilation shafts however this is not expected to generate high levels of noise.

From Tuesday, a crane will mobilise onsite in the south to begin the lifting of precast panels for the southern ventilation and services shafts which will follow the same build process as the northern ventilation structures.

On top of the southern station box, backfilling will recommence once craning of the ventilation precast panels and waterproofing is complete.

Southern Civil Works Lookahead
Monday03/10	Tuesday04/10	Wednesday05/10	Thursday06/10	Friday07/10	Saturday08/10
Northern & southern stitch pour FRPDrainage installationElectrical conduit installation	Northern & southern stitch pour FRPDrainage installationElectrical conduit installationHV installation – Park St	Southern precast installationDrainage installationElectrical conduit installationHV installation – Park St	Southern precast installationDrainage installationElectrical conduit installationHV installation – Park St	Southern precast installationDrainage installationElectrical conduit installationHV installation – Park St	Southern precast installationPermanent Backfill placement and compactionDrainage installation

All the best for a great weekend ahead everybody.

Best regards, Rob and Christian

We now have an arrangement for coffee pod recycling – but it is NESPRESSO only. In the basement carpark near the bike racks – see photo

Nespresso offer this as a free service, we will look at other brand pod types later.

The guys who run Otis in Bowen Lane have now opened a cafe in the bottom of 412 St Kilda Rd (the old Police Building)

It’s called Flo, has really good coffee and nice setup…plus fab little egg tarts

There are some free coffee vouchers on table in our lobby…only take one please

Just spotted this on my walk – too late to lodge a submission but has a lot of details about the bike paths. You need to scroll down a little

https://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/protecting-our-heritage/currently-advertised-permits

After five days off, lots happening today

https://www.youtube.com/c/GaryBuck

Spotted this driving this evening…maybe a happy cats fan looking for the way home??

Watch the car at the right edge of the screen

Happy Wednesday everyone,

We’ll keep todays update short and sharp, in keeping with the short sharp working week.

We hope everyone enjoys the four day weekend – and five days free from construction, with next Monday being an RDO.

Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange

Progress around the edge of the canopy has been good, with fascia nearly complete and the caulking and waterproofing on the skylights also well on its way to completion.

The trenching and conduit installation is continuing next week, as the team start the installation of the electrical services to the platform. Next week construction will also begin on the balustrades that surround the edge of the oculus (or opening) that lets natural light down from the tram platform to the station concourse.

The feature photo is the start of what is referred to as a strata vault. These strata vaults will hold the trees that will feature on the new tram platform – We’ve also included an artist impression that shows where the trees will be located on the platform. The strata vaults in the image will house the tree shown closest to the tram in the artist impression.

Station box construction

No new works to report on the B1 and B2 levels As we mentioned last week, the testing and commissioning of the new back of house lift is the newest feature in the station and is a real sign of how far the station build has progressed.

In a previous edition we mentioned that the platform was nearly complete, save for a gap that allows plant and workforce to traverse between the two track sections and for workforce access to install the electrical conduits underneath the platform. Over the next two weeks this gap will be closed up as the final precast elements are installed – completing the entire length of the future Anzac Station train platform.

Shrine Entrance

The Shrine entrance over near Domain Road is constructed in two parts, with initial excavation underway in the first section, with around 1m left to go next week. Steel tying for this first section for roof will also start later next week. The second part of the entrance employs a bottom-up approach, with construction of a retaining wall around the perimeter of the piles currently underway, the team will then excavate down roughly 2m before the piles are broken back with excavators to their required height. We expect this hammering work to commence next week, and take place intermittently for around one week.

Surface Works

On Thursday evening next week the team will be out on St Kilda Road near Park Street to inspect a sewer pit, this is just a visual inspection of the pit and will not generate any noise or require any road closures.

Inside site, the new road alignment for the southbound lane of St Kilda Road is starting to take shape. Over the coming weeks this road and kerb will be constructed and the road will be connected into the existing roadworks that have been underway at the northern end of the site where the construction sheds were previously located.

Staying at the northern end of site – the works to install the pre-cast concrete panels for the northern ventilation shafts has progressed well. These works have been continuing up until 10pm, but with the pre-cast panels installed, work on these structures will revert back to standard working hours.

Speaking of ventilation structures, the southernmost area of the site is also home to the future ventilation structures, the precast panels are still a week or so away in this section, but work is underway to prepare for the installation, with waterproofing, screeding and backfilling works extending into next week. This will include the use of our smaller vibrating roller at the back end of next week.

As we mentioned last week, installation of tram infrastructure footings for future overhead lines will continue within site to the south in preparation for tram alignment works in November and December. We’re also looking to have the first section of the new tram track alignment laid within the site in the coming weeks.

With the D-wall demolition complete for 2022, this week will be the last edition of the day-by-day look ahead table. When we resume D-wall demolition and sucker trucks in the final location next year we’ll reintroduce this table to help everyone plan around our noisiest and easily least favourable activities.

Southern Civil Works Lookahead
Monday26/9	Tuesday27/9	Wednesday28/9	Thursday29/9	Friday30/9	Saturday1/10
RDO	Waterproofing Completion	Waterproofing screed	Permanent Backfill placement and compaction	Permanent Backfill placement and compaction	Permanent Backfill placement and compaction

Enjoy the long weekend, and best of luck to anyone with a team in this week’s Grand Final!

Regards, Rob and Christian

This art exhibition is on just around the corner and it is open today

Well worth a visit

We are writing to provide you with an update on the St Kilda Road Bike Lanes project, on behalf of Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV).

Overview

The Victorian Government has committed $30.5 million to build new kerbside bike lanes that physically separate drivers and cyclists to make St Kilda Road safer.

The St Kilda Road Bike Lanes project will deliver separated kerbside bike lanes from Linlithgow Avenue to Dorcas Street, Toorak Road to Union Street, and Union Street to Charnwood Road (St Kilda Junction).

MRPV is undertaking further planning and development work for the section of St Kilda Road between the Junction and Carlisle Street, investigating the safest and most cost-effective solution for this complex section.

Benefits

St Kilda Road is recognised as one of the world’s grandest boulevards, but it’s also one of the most dangerous for cyclists. Cyclists are more likely to be seriously injured by a car-dooring on St Kilda Road than anywhere else in Melbourne.

Building better, safer bike lanes on St Kilda Road will:

• improve safety for the 3,500 cyclists who currently use St Kilda Road each day

·         encourage more people to take up cycling, thereby easing congestion on busy St Kilda Road, reducing vehicle emissions and freeing up capacity on public transport

·         create stronger connections between major activity centres in Melbourne’s inner south and the CBD

·         create an estimated 134 direct and 182 indirect jobs during construction.

What MRPV is doing

The St Kilda Road Bike Lanes project involves:

·         building separated kerbside bike lanes with bike markings along St Kilda Road

·         installing coloured bike lane surfacing at conflict points, and bike boxes and bike lanterns at traffic light intersections to provide better visibility and priority movement for cyclists

·         modifying traffic signals to provide additional priority for cyclists

·         removing kerb outstands to allow for continuous bike lanes

·         resurfacing existing bike lanes to improve safety and comfort

·         construction of DDA-compliant pedestrian crossings at some key intersections.

What to expect

MRPV is starting works on the St Kilda Road Bike Lanes in late September 2022. They are building the project in stages to minimise impacts on all road users, businesses and the local community.

Works are starting on Stage 1 between Linlithgow Avenue and Dorcas Street on Tuesday 27 September 2022 and are expected to be complete by December.

During this time, MRPV will:

• set up work areas, which will involve installation of safety fencing, barriers, bollards and site offices
• remove the old road surface, install kerb separators and lay new asphalt
• install new line marking and surface treatments.

All works during this stage will take place between 7am and 6pm, Monday to Friday and 7am to 5pm, Saturdays.

Traffic changes
So that MRPV can complete these works safely, they’ll need to temporarily close a section of the outer traffic lanes in each direction on St Kilda Road, between Linlithgow Avenue and Dorcas Steet. There will be temporary bike lanes, reduced speed limits, reduced parking and restricted access to loading zones while these works take place. They will let you know ahead of time if these changes are expected to affect you directly.

There will be no access to Government House Drive from St Kilda Road during this time, however a detour will be in place via Linlithgow Avenue.

Please refer to the map below of the works area for more information.

You can keep up to date on any upcoming traffic changes by visiting bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/mrpv/st-kilda-road-bike-lanes.

Construction impacts
Construction activities for the St Kilda Road Bike Lanes may generate low levels of noise, dust and vibration at times. MRPV will be monitoring to ensure any impacts are kept to a minimum.

Please phone MRPV on 1800 105 105 and select option 5 if you have any questions while the works are taking place.

The timing for works on Stage 2 between Toorak Road and Union Street and Stage 3 between Union Street and Charnwood Road (St Kilda Junction) will be confirmed as the project progresses.

All of the new protected bike lanes being built by MRPV, as part of the St Kilda Road Bike Lanes project, are expected to be open by late 2023.

More information

For more information on the St Kilda Road Bike Lanes, please visit https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/mrpv/st-kilda-road-bike-lanes or contact:

• Christine Lo Iudice – Manager, Communications and Stakeholder Engagement on 0436 524 408 or christine.loIudice@roadprojects.vic.gov.au
• Dave Kristy – Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement on 0436 640 473 or dave.kristy@roadprojects.vic.gov.au. 

For languages other than English, please call 03 9209 0147.

Good afternoon everyone,

We hope you all have had a great week and getting ready for a great weekend ahead.

Below is an overview of works that have been occurring onsite over the past week and lookahead for the week to come.

Pit Lid Repair

For those of you who are close to the southern end of site, you will be pleased to hear that despite inclement weather this afternoon, works to repair a loose pit lid on St Kilda Road are still scheduled for this evening.

These works are scheduled to begin at 11:30pm when hopefully the rain will subside however this may still by weather dependant.  

As previously notified, there will be a temporary closure of the southbound lane of St Kilda Road between Park Street and Toorak Road while we undertake these works with traffic detours in place.

The works will take about an hour to resolve and not generate too much noise.

Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange

Next week the team will be continuing to completion the canopy’s surrounding fascia, applying caulking and waterproofing elements to the newly installed skylights.

Around the western side of the tram platform, trenching and conduit installation will continue before installation and termination of the electrical services to the platform.

With next week being a short week, some of these works on the fascia and at surface level around the platform may occur outside of normal construction hours until 10pm, with a scissor lift, excavator and hand tools in use.

Station box construction

Next week, the team will finish building blockwork at the southern end of the station box on the platform level and will move towards the northern end of the station box. 

The team will begin installing the back of house lift that travels between B1 and B2 and the back of house lift that has been installed over the past month will be tested and commissioned over the next two weeks.

Throughout the station box, fitout works are ongoing with sections of precast for the platform over track exhaust continuing to be installed.

At track level, the team will be busy pouring track slabs westbound and will begin pouring track slabs eastbound after the long weekend.

Shrine Entrance

Starting Monday, the team will commence the initial excavation of the top-down works for the station entrance near the Shrine.

Initial excavation of the capping beams will also begin in this zone following the build for the retaining wall with the main excavation works at this entrance to occur during over the coming month.

Surface Works

At the northern end of site, roadworks are continuing to build the sub base, permanent pavement, kerb and drainage which will become the future southbound lane of St Kilda Road.

Some of the site perimeter fencing may change again in this location to ensure the continuity of the asphalt works.

Installation of tram infrastructure footings for future overhead lines will continue within site to the south in preparation for tram alignment works in November and December.

Around the northern ventilation shaft, a crane will mobilise over the next few days to begin installing precast panels for the northern ventilation services shaft.

As next week is a short week, works to crane these panels and fix them into site will occur outside of normal construction hours until 10pm with some noise expected as the teams use hand tools to fix these panels into position.

After the long weekend, these works will occur in the southern end of site at the southern ventilation shaft.

On top of the southern end of the station box, the team will be waterproofing, screeding and backfilling in preparation of these precast panels to be installed.

Over the coming week, there will be a small team from Yarra Trams installing footings and poles for tram infrastructure on St Kilda Road near the corner of Toorak Road.

These works will be undertaken by Yarra Trams and as we receive more information about these works we will be sure to keep you up to date.

Southern Civil Works Lookahead
Monday19/9	Tuesday20/9	Wednesday21/9	Thursday22/9	Friday23/9	Saturday24/9
Southern SectionWaterproofingD-Wall PrepMiddle SectionWorks Complete	Southern SectionWaterproofingD-Wall Prep	Southern SectionWaterproofingScreed placement	Public Holiday	Public Holiday	Shutdown Weekend

All the best for a great weekend.

Regards, Rob and Christian