Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome to this week’s look ahead for everything Domain precinct related. Next week’s forecast is for a wet-week, but below is a snapshot of what we’re aiming to get stuck into next week.

Overnight Works:

We have come to the end of the two weeks of overnight works. The weather was not our friend, but we managed through the vast majority of works.

The next possible works on the horizon are tucked up Domain Road adjacent to the Melbourne Grammar to complete the footpath in front of the school entrance, however we’re still finalising this program.

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance  (Works until 1am)

Next week we should see the scaffolding come down from around the South African Soldiers’ Memorial next week (possibly into the following week if the weather is unkind) It will be a welcome return to the precinct for the memorial. Elsewhere it will be the same story up on the concourse, while down in front of The Domain, we’ll be kicking off some of the final kerbing work on the Albert Road South future road connection.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

The western side of St Kilda Road has seen quite a lot of change over the last few weeks. The connection up to the Cobbers Memorial is having the first layer of asphalt applied today and we’ll reopen the connection, likely tomorrow, with the first of the new turf also going in adjacent to the new footpath shortly. The fencing will pull back just in time for the wreath laying at Cobbers Memorial to commemorate the Battle of Fromelles on Friday 19 July (https://www.shrine.org.au/battle-fromelles)

The fencing will scale back to surround the station entrance and lift entrance, as finishing works continue on the entrance forecourt and lift forecourt.  Up on Domain road the asphalt has been going for sections o the roadway and the tram stop.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

EHO continues at good pace and we’ll start next week putting the last of the subgrade soil out onto the oval before the subsoil drainage goes in during the upcoming weeks.

Friday Flashback

This week we travel back to February 2020 as the cutterhead for TBM Millie was being lowered underground inside the big green acoustic shed on St Kilda Road. The bright yellow cutterhead didn’t stay this vibrant for too long, as Mille tunnelled her way from the corner of St Kilda Road and Domain Road – out towards the eastern portal in South Yarra.

Have a great week

Thanks, Rob

Good morning everyone,

It’s that time of the week again where we dive into everything happening in the Domain Precinct.
For those of you without the RDO calendar up on your fridge – a reminder that Monday 8 July is a rostered day off – so no works.

Overnight Works:

One week down of the fortnight of night time asphalting and odd-job works. Next week is the start of asphalting week, and weather permitting, we’ll see the following activities take place:

• Asphalting the left turn from St Kilda Road into Domain Road (Tue Night + Bike Lane)
• Cutting and Installation of slots for car detector loops at traffic lights (Thursday night)
• NDD works at the corner of Bowen Crescent and St Kilda Road to lower a fire hydrant (Overnight on Thursday 11 July)
• Barrier removal on Northbound lanes (Inbound Barriers, Outbound barriers Thursday night)
• Installation of pedestrian crossing tactiles at St Kilda Road pedestrian crossing (Bowen Lane and Toorak Road)

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance  (Works until 1am)

If you were walking past Albert Road Reserve at the right time this week you may have seen four lions suspended in mid air at various times. These are part of the South African Soldiers’ Memorial, and now take pride of place on  each corner of the monument. Next week will be some detailing work done on the memorial, before the following week the scaffolding comes down to reveal the entire monument.

Elsewhere, the paving continues up on the concourse level, along with the light poles within Albert Reserve. The retaining wall that will site alongside the new Albert Road South is coming along nicely and will see some work on it next week as well.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

The landscaping and path construction adjacent to the Cobbers Memorial is progressing at a good pace, with asphalt also due next week for the legacy footpath that runs along the western edge of St Kilda Road, between Park Street and Domain Road. There will also be a new pedestrian connection leading up to Cobbers and the Shrine of Remembrance.
The asphalt for the pedestrian footpath is currently planned for day shift on Thursday, and we’ll also start putting down some turf in this area.

On Domain Road the drainage installation is nearly done and the tram stop construction is in the same boat. The drainage completion will allow works to start on the footpath on the northern side of Domain Road. We had hoped to complete the footpath on the southern side (adjacent to Melbourne Grammar School) the delayed relocation of one pesky overhead communications wire has scuppered those plans. The wire is now scheduled with its owner for this week, meaning the footpath completion will likely need to happen overnight outside school hours in the coming weeks.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

EHO is a story of two halves at the moment, the grading and surface preparation has just begun on one side of the oval, while the other side there is still some works to be done to remove all remnants of the previous site offices and support site for the tunnelling in the East. Next week will be much of the same up at EHO.

Sunday Snap

Now that we’re on the cusp of completion of the western footpath and connection into the Shrine of Remembrance, I thought this week I’d share a nice evening shot from 2018, when we had just begun the construction of the station walls in the northern section of the station box.

You can see St Kilda Road realigned to the west to allow the construction of the station box, as well as the Windsor Oak tree in Albert Reserve (bottom left of the shot), which is now adjacent to the new Albert Road Reserve Station entrance.

Have a great week

Thanks, Rob

Be aware that it is now truly one hour parking out the front. Be careful as City of Port Phillip will now enforce it

They were proposing it to be paid ticket parking until I informed them that there is nowhere to put a ticket machine 🙂

Trains will be running at full speed from the city to South Yarra some time tonight.

…no idea of when but that’s why we have a monitor in the lobby

Hopefully you won’t hear a thing

The council didn’t do their collection so you have time on the weekend and get your stuff out….hopefully all gone Monday

A few of you noticed that they seemed to have missed some trees in their Friday plantings. You will be shocked to be told that there are some problems…it seems an electrical pit and the watering system have been installed in the wrong spot It will be fixed

Not sure when our footpath trees will be done – after the garden comes good I guess

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome to the weekly update for all things construction in the Domain precinct.
A reminder that next week there is an RDO on the Monday, so activities will resume on Tuesday.

Overnight Works:

Once again, no overnight works next week on surface level.
But as flagged in last weeks update, we’ll have some works in early July. We’re in the process of finalising programs and dates, but activities that will run overnight are:

• Asphalting of the left turn from St Kilda Road into Domain Road
• Installation of the final section of kerb on St Kilda Road southbound (just past Park Street)
• Asphalting the bike lane adjacent to the Albert Road Reserve entrance
• Installation of the permanent tactiles at the St Kilda Road pedestrian crossing at Bowen Lane
• Removal of the fencing adjacent to the tram tracks near the ventilation shafts

I’ll have further detail in next weeks update and there will be a notice distributed soon

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance  (Works until 1am)

The South African Soldiers’ Memorial is now at its full height. We’ll be doing some of the finer work around the base, this includes the installation of the blocks on which the stone lions will eventually be placed. Two of the four blocks were done this week, with the lions to come to site near the end of the installation.

Everyone’s favourite activity, bluestone paving, will continue next week on the concourse level, while the subgrade is being done for the future Albert Road South connection to St Kilda Road, along with the kerbing that runs alongside the future shared roadway

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

In a literal sign of progress, the new Anzac Station totem signs are up on both sides of St Kilda Road. Adjacent to the lift shaft there is a significant amount of topsoil being loaded into the area, this will continue next week as we progress the landscaping up into the Shrine Grounds.

Next week the footpath that leads from the Park Street pedestrian crossing to Cobbers Memorial will be fenced off so that it can be removed and the final legacy footpath connection built.
The legacy footpath connection will run straight past Cobbers Memorial, down to the footpath that will run along St Kilda Road between Park Street and Domain Road. The subgrade for this footpath has been done, and the asphalt will be laid in early July. This will allow us to reopen the footpath along St Kilda Road and close the temporary arrangement in the bike lane (opening the southbound separated bike lane to bikes for the first time)

Up on Domain Road, the main activity is construction of the outbound dual tram/bus stop, this includes installation of the conduits for the stops functionality.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

The substation on the oval is now gone, and as mentioned last week, we’ll commence the breakout of the slab that it was sitting on.

The remainder of the oval is being graded and prepped for its return to a functional oval.

Bowen Cres to Bowen Lane Parking Open

There are still a few minor works to be undertaken between Bowen Lane and Bowen Crescent, that may require a future footpath closure, but the parking that has recently been line-marked is now available for public use.

Friday Flashback

With the reopening of St Kilda Road parking in front of The Botanica, I thought today we’d flash back to September 2019, when we were finalising the southern section of the Anzac Station roof underneath St Kilda Road.
In the picture you can see:

• The start of the circular formwork that would become the round ventilation structure in the middle of St Kilda Road
• The temporary driveway for Botanica residents, affectionately known as ‘Jan’s Way’
• The tram tracks realigned further to the east on St Kilda Road, with a curve between the northern and southern sections of the Anzac Station box
• The yellow bentonite silos, the site of the current landscaping works near the Shrine entrance

It was a very odd process?? Lots of walking up and down checking / looking for something.

You will notice that they have been painted and the road lanes have been moved across.

Apparently CYP need to do some more work on our footpath and it would be inconvenient for them to open the car bays and then have to close them to re-route peds.

Bays should be open and available next Monday…unless people move the bollards

This is still the plan for trees – five in front of us (I think they are waiting for the garden to become established before digging it up), two in front of 390 SKR and 10-11 in the middle near the chillers.

Here is a close up of our section

No word on our parking bays out the front

No word on trees in the middle or out the front

No word on releasing the parking bays in Albert Rd

No word on the wrong sign

…..and have a good long weekend – surely not another one?!?!?!

Good evening everyone,

Not an overly productive week this week, with the public holiday, RDO and intermittent rain.
Despite this, we still managed to get a bit done around the site.
See below for the lookahead of all things construction in Domain next week

Overnight Works:

The only possible nightworks next week is some minor line-marking works on St Kilda Road. The team wont need to close any roads or driveways, so they’ll take the opportunity when the weather is right from Sunday next week. The works are minor and aren’t expected to generate any disturbance.

Looking further ahead, we will have some overnight works in the first week of July. This is the asphalting of the left turn from St Kilda Road into Domain Road.
While we’re out and about that night, we’ll also install the permanent tactiles at the south western pedestrian crossing to the tram stop (near Bowen Lane) as well as remove the temporary fencing that runs alongside the tram tracks.

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance  (Works until 1am)

I’m running out of interesting ways to say that we’ll be doing bluestone paving, but rest assured, there is more bluestone paving ahead of us.

Elsewhere though, we’re about to start work on a retaining wall that delineates Albert Road South from the station concourse. This started this week and will continue into next week, with some formwork and concrete pours.

Meanwhile, the South African Soldiers’ Memorial continues to make its way upward.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

At the Shrine entrance, its more of the same, with breakout of the concrete working surface adjacent to the new lift shaft. This area has cleared out nicely though, and we’ll begin the surface preparation shortly for the new footpath connection into the Shrine grounds, as well as the landscaping in the area.

Out on Domain Road, work continues on the installation of the dual tram/bus platforms.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

As mentioned last week, we’re all but done on the breakout of the main hard surface on EHO. All that remains is the roadway that is in place, as well as the base that currently sits underneath the old substation on EHO. This is progressively being dismantled and removed, to be taken off site and re-used elsewhere. Once its gone, we’ll break out the final section of concrete base that it was sitting on.

Friday Flashback

For today’s Friday Flashback we are travelling back to November 2021 and a cross section look at Anzac Station. This logistic void in the station roof stretched down from surface, past the concourse level and down to the base slab and provides us with a good look at the scale of the structure underneath St Kilda Road.

Have a great long weekend

Thanks, Rob