The asphalting works on St Kilda Road were scheduled to start this evening.
Due to a combination of factors, these works will not go ahead tonight.
There may be some minor works undertaken, including shifting of some barriers, however the main asphalting works will not commence At this stage, we expect that these main works will start on Tuesday night (06 February)
The sequence of activities I sent out on Friday will remain largely the same (see below) – with the timing for each activity pushed back a day.
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.
The weekly update is coming to you on a Thursday today, with the public holiday on Friday. Just a friendly reminder that there is also an RDO on the Monday.
Despite the short week next week, there is still plenty happening around site.
PROGRESS UPDATE: Overnight Works – St Kilda Road final asphalt layer
We got very close to finishing the final section of wearing course last night, but we were thwarted by a few last minute issues in the section from Bowen Lane to Bowen Crescent. The team are currently looking at the best way to finish this section. No overnight asphalting works tonight or next week. We’ll instead get the base layer of asphalt in front of Botanica on day shift – but we will be back out on St Kilda Road the following week as we continue to finish apply the final layers of asphalt onto the dual lanes of St Kilda Road, ready to reopen them.
I’ll have more information on these works in next weeks update – and there will be a dedicated construction notice coming through shortly outlining the timing and location for these works.
St Kilda Road Footpath
Western Side of St Kilda Road
There is a new addition of planting in front of 390 St Kilda Road this week, next week we should see more plants going in, this time in front of The Botanica (400 St Kilda Road) Council will be back later this year to plant the new trees too.
As mentioned above, we’ll be doing the base layer of asphalt being applied to the bike lane and outer lane through this section during the day (The base layer across the Botanica’s St Kilda Road driveway has already been applied, so there wont be any impacts to building access)
We should also have the south-west pedestrian crossing to the tram stop (in front of 390 St Kilda Road) reopened next week.
Speaking of footpaths and crossings, just another reminder that in the coming weeks the works will shift to the reconstruction of the footpath between Bowen Lane and Albert Road, February construction update will be in letterboxes next week with more information on this.
Station Fit out
Nothing exciting to report from downstairs (It’s all very exciting to see the station starting to look like a functional station – but no big exciting milestones this week. I’ll pop in a photo next week of how the station concourse is shaping up)
Albert Road legacy construction
Next week we will continue our works on the legacy Albert Road South connection (a shared ped/road arrangement). Ultimately this will connect out to St Kilda Road, but next week we should have completed the section connecting Albert Road North to the driveway entry of The Domain and across the front of the Ramsay Clinic. We’ll likely pop cars onto this new section the following Monday morning (5 February).
Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance (Works until 1am)
The two lift shafts are now in shape and we’ve commenced works to fit out the internal mechanics for these two lifts (service and pedestrian) At the station entrance, works are still underway on the construction of the roof of the Albert Road Reserve Station entrance.
The last of the drainage sections are going in adjacent to the station entrance next week, after which you’ll see the kerb being installed along the alignment for the dual lanes of St Kilda Road. We should see some asphalt go down at the beginning of the following week – maybe at the end of next week if our kerbing crew set some new land speed records for pre-cast concrete applications.
Eastern site – Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)
The new pedestrian link on the Eastern side of St Kilda Road – didn’t quite open this week, instead we’ll do the last little bit of work before opening it on Tuesday, shortly thereafter we’ll close the other pedestrian crossing near Melbourne Grammar School.
Welcome to the first weekly update for 2024. I hope everyone had a lovely relaxing break.
This year we’ll be looking to finish work in a number of the surface areas around the site and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to our site shrinking as we move along.
Below is the update of works happening around site.
PROGRESS UPDATE: Overnight Works – St Kilda Road final asphalt layer
Works kicked off this week to apply the final layer of asphalt on the southbound lane – It was a somewhat slow start earlier this week with the final layer of asphalt on St Kilda Road, Sunday was rained off and some lightning in the area put a stop to Mondays shift. Regardless, the team managed to complete the section from the pedestrian crossing in front of the Royce Hotel through to Toorak Road.
Tonight the team are aiming to complete the section of southbound road from the pedestrian crossing to the Anzac Station tram stop, through to the pedestrian crossing in front of the Royce Hotel.
Next week we’ll be again working overnight and will start the northbound (city bound) section of St Kilda Road, working progressively from Toorak Road towards Bowen Lane. We’ll also be shifting traffic barriers on the southbound lane in the areas where we’ve completed asphalting.
St Kilda Road Footpath
Western Side of St Kilda Road
The footpath in front of Botanic now has fresh asphalt laid and is reopen to the public, this means we’ll be able to get in in and complete the garden beds, road, kerb and bike lane through this section. See above for the details on the asphalting plans for the northbound lane and separated bike lanes.
Next week the south-west pedestrian crossing to the tram stop (in front of 390 St Kilda Road) will close to allow us to lay the final asphalt and install the permanent tactiles.
In the coming weeks the works will shift to the reconstruction of the footpath between Bowen Lane and Albert Road, we’ll have more information in the upcoming February construction notice on how these works will be staged.
Station Fit out
Downstairs in the station, works are primarily focussed on the front of house fitout for the new station, the myki gates are ready to install, and the construction of the retail spaces within the station are well underway. No news as yet on potential new tenants for these spaces, but the spaces themselves are coming along with the relevant electrical and plumbing fitout.
Albert Road legacy construction
Speaking of final asphalt layers, this week we’ve managed to progressively lay the final layer of asphalt on Albert Road. Over the next few weeks we’ll apply the finishing touches on the roadway that connects Albert Road through to the Ramsay Clinic and 1 Albert Road. This will allow us to open this final legacy roadway and start works on the parkland and South African Soldiers Memorial in Albert Reserve.
Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance (Works until 1am)
The canopy is up for this entrance and it is now surrounded in scaffolding, allowing the team to work on completing the roof of the new Albert Road Reserve Station Entrance. Right alongside this is the construction of the two lifts for the station entrance. The round precast concrete is for the new pedestrian lift and the rectangular section is for the goods lift to service the new station. As I type, the roof for the pedestrian lift is waiting to be lifted into place. Works will continue next week on the shafts, before we move onto the fitout of the internal lift mechanisms.
Meanwhile, the works are nearly done for the underground services next to the station entrance, this will allow us to start laying the second lane of St Kilda Road between the Albert Road Reserve entrance and the central tram platform. We’ll be doing a bit of shuffling of traffic lanes adjacent to the tram stop in the coming weeks. As we complete the new outer lanes, we’ll put traffic onto it, which will allow us to work on the small median sections that sit between tram tracks and the road lanes.
Eastern site – Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)
There is a lot of action over at the Shrine of Remembrance side of the job, the scaffolding around the eastern station entrance has come down and anyone who has walked through the pedestrian walkway near Melbourne Grammar School may have had a chance to have a nice close up look at how it is shaping up. Speaking of this pedestrian walkway, its days are numbered as we are preparing to close it in order to continue our works on the reinstatement of Domain Road.
In its place we’ll have a new pedestrian connection that will run alongside the southbound lane of St Kilda Road, effectively connecting the footpath at the corner of Melbourne Grammar School, to the pedestrian crossing at Park Street. We’re aiming to have the new connection open next week, before we close the old crossing the week after, just to give everyone a chance to get used to the new arrangement. Those with a view over the site will have seen the new strip of asphalt going down today, this will be the final alignment of outer lane of St Kilda Road southbound through this section, while the separated bike lane will serve as a temporary footpath until the dual lane setup is commissioned. I’ve included an aerial photo where you can see the existing pedestrian walkway on the far right of the image, and the black asphalt of the new route being built today.
There will be overnight lane closures on St Kilda Road in both directions to allow for the final layer of asphalt.
Works on the southbound lane will take place each night from 8pm to 6am between Dorcas Street and Toorak Road from Sunday 14 January to Saturday 20 January 2024. Detour via Dorcas Street and Kings Way.
Works on the northbound lane will take place each night from 8pm to 6am between Toorak Road and Albert Road from Monday 22 January to Friday 26 January 2024. Detour via Kings Way and Park Street.
Albert Road, overnight works
Albert Road will be closed from 8pm Wednesday 17 January to 6am Thursday 18 January 2024 for the final layer of asphalt to be laid on the eastern end of Albert Road up to St Kilda Road. During the works, access in and out of Albert Road will be via Kings Way.
St Kilda Road, footpath resurfacing works
The footpath in front of 400 St Kilda Road will be re-laid with new asphalt from Monday 15 January to Monday 5 February 2024. Access will be maintained at all times, with pedestrians diverted around the works area. As works progress in stages to maintain building access, please expect some changes to signage and pedestrian movements during this time.
Notifications
Please find more details of these upcoming works in the notifications below:
It should be noted that this information is current at the time of sending, however due to unforeseen circumstances, changes may occur. We will let you know of any impacts to works and changes in times or date.
The Botanica 
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