Good afternoon everyone,

It’s time again for our weekly look ahead for all things construction related in the Domain precinct.
A reminder that next week is an RDO – enjoy the peace and quiet before we return to site again next Tuesday.

Overnight Works:

• Next week we’re kicking off the works on the southbound lane of St Kilda Road. The focus will be on asphalting the section of road that will be the future left turn lane from St Kilda Road into Domain Road. While we’ve got the asphalters out and about, we’ll get them to do a few other smaller sections around site – including the bike lane adjacent to the Albert Road Reserve entrance
• The following week we’ll switch our focus to the Northbound lane – asphalting the section between the Toorak Road Tram stop and Bowen Lane. This will also mean we remove the traffic barriers on the centre island median.

I’ve attached the construction notice here for anyone who may have missed it.

I’d love to confidently state that this will be the last of our overnight works – but from past experience there are always little bits and pieces that we need to do to finish the job, so I won’t make such a bold statement.
However – this is the last big section of asphalting that we have to do – a welcome piece of news I’m sure!

Works this week

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

We’ll be removing scaffolding around the lift shaft next week allowing us to get in and do the last little bits of waterproofing and backfilling around the lifts. Over at the South African Soldiers’ Memorial, construction is going well, next week the team will be working on the central obelisk.  Next week we’ll also be doing some paving around the future bus stop on this side of the road, and finishing off some of the drainage installation .

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

The electrical and plumbing connections into the station are now complete, so we’ll install the services cabinet on this side of the road (starting with the concrete foundations) The retaining wall will also resume construction now that the in ground services are complete through this area.

The crane I promised last week will now arrive next week to remove the builders lift down to the concourse level. This will trigger the removal of a lot of the white covered walkways in and around site.
Out on Domain Road we’ve installed the footings for the tram poles, while the granular base is down for the new tram stop, and we expect to be laying concrete next week for the stop.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

The hammers are out in force at the moment breaking up the surface of Edmund Herring Oval. They’ve made some good progress and will be back again next week to resume. There will be a day or so respite when we switch over to loading out the broken up concrete to remove from site.

Centre Island – St Kilda Road
Expect to see a real change in scenery through this area next week, as we’re looking at laying grass mid-week. Later in the week we’ll also see the low level planting going in – and we’ll also take the opportunity to remove the plants in front of Botanica that haven’t fared so well and replace them with fresh stock.

Friday Flashback

With the Shrine entrance making great progress, todays flashback takes us way back to October 2020, when we were excavating down to the concourse level for the Shrine entrance, adjacent to the old acoustic shed. Rest assured the door you can see in the side of the shed was sealed off from the inside!

Have a great weekend,

Thanks, Rob

I’m not sure who did this hack job to the beautiful trees in Bromby St but it does make it easier for The Royce Hotel to open and close their blinds.

Not happy.

This has just come through – it says that the centre planting will happen in week commencing March 27….I’m guessing that is May 27. In other words two more weeks of dirt shuffling to make sure it is nice and compact….Gary

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Good morning everyone,

Welcome back to the weekly update for Anzac Station and the surrounds. See below for an update on what is happening around the site.

I hope everyone had a great weekend – and celebrated mums yesterday!

Overnight Works:

As I mentioned previously, the next major set of works will be:

• Closure of the southbound lane of St Kilda Road to asphalt the left turn lane from St Kilda Road into Domain Road.
  (Tentatively set down for week of 21 May to 24 May)
• Closure of the northbound lane of St Kilda Road to asphalt the inner lane between Toorak Road tram stop and Bowen Lane (+ completion of the bike lane adjacent to Albert Road Reserve station entrance)
  (Tentatively set down for week of 27 May to 31 June)
• The only other activity happening overnight will be the removal of the power substation from Edmund Herring Oval. As it is classified as an oversized load by VicRoads, it will need to be taken from site in the middle of the night.  No date confirmed as yet, but we’d expect it to happen the week after next at the earliest. It’s up at Edmund Herring Oval, so I wouldn’t anticipate any disruption.

Works this week

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

The South African Soldiers’ Memorial is now ticking along with the careful installation of the heritage stones.

Works are starting on the future bus stop in front of the entrance, while elsewhere we are busy getting stuff in the ground, whether it be footings for light poles, or cables to service the station. The aim is to keep our pavers rolling continuously from north to south. We’ve poured a fresh section of concrete where they’ll lay fresh bluestone pavers. Perhaps not this week, but more likely next week, we’ll start the formwork for the wide set of stairs that lead from the concourse down towards SASM.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

Last week we poured concrete for a section in front of the new passenger lift, it seems like an odd little spot to start the concrete, but the reason is that this lift will serve a short stint as a builders lift to take materials down to the station. This allows us to remove the existing construction lift from the station. You’ll see next week a crane in place to remove this lift, the penetration will then be covered over and backfilled.

This signals a quite a bit of change for this area, with the removal of the white covered walkways and the start of works to reinstate the footpath and landscaping on the Shrine of Remembrance side of St Kilda Road.  Elsewhere, Domain Road works continue with the start of construction of the new dual purpose tram stops on Domain Road.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

The hammers have started on Edmund Herring Oval as we break out the surface area. It’s a bit of a juggle as we move things around and progressively break out the surface. We expect that this will be a 3-4 week program of breakout works.

Centre Island – St Kilda Road

The top soil is progressively being laid through this area, with planting to follow shortly after. As mentioned above, we’ll be looking to remove the traffic barriers in thew eek commencing the 27 March – so the landscaping and low-level planting through this section will need to be complete by then. City of Melbourne have confirmed that they will come through in June and plant trees through this centre island.

Thanks, Rob

Monday Flashback

Today’s photo takes us back to June 2019, as we had begun our excavation of the station box at the northern end.

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome back to the weekly update after a brief hiatus over the ANZAC Day long weekend.

See below for an update on what is happening around the site – and a reminder that next Monday is an RDO on site with no works happening.

Overnight Works:

No overnight works planned for next week. The next major set of works will likely be the following week when we will look to remove the remaining concrete barriers and temporary fencing adjacent to the tram corridor to the south of the tram platform.

This will be followed later in the month by the final asphalting of sections of St Kilda Road including the northbound lane between Toorak Road and Bowen Lane – as well as southbound, with the left turn from St Kilda Road into Domain Road. We might also knock over the bike lane adjacent to the Albert Road Reserve entrance while we’ve got hot asphalt on site.

Works next week

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

The South African Soldiers’ Memorial now has a scaffold around it as the team start to install blocks further up the monument.

Adjacent to the monument the ground preparation works are continuing around the perimeter of the station. We’ve laid some of the new bluestone pavers adjacent to the future bike lane and the cabinets hosting the station services. The last of the waterproofing around the public lift shaft is done and concreted over. Just adjacent to the service goods lift shaft, we’ve nearly completed the steelwork for a small bit of formwork for the final structure of the station. We’ll be aiming to pour this as early as tomorrow, or if not, Tuesday next week.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

The Shrine entrance works are also progressing well, the drainage and service connections are making their way into the ground, while on Domain Road the bulk of the new tram poles are in, which means next week we’ll start work on the foundations for the new tram platform in Domain Road.

Edmund Herring Oval Demolition

Further up Domain Road we’ve started to remove infrastructure from Edmund Herring Oval. This week it commenced with the removal of some of the storage sheds. On Tuesday next week we’ll commence the breakout of the concrete surface that supported the tunnelling, and has more recently been home to the storage area for the project construction.

We’ll be using hammer attachments on large excavators, which will generate loud noise.

Centre Island – St Kilda Road

Landscaping has now commenced in the southern area with the laying of topsoil through the area, this will be followed by irrigation installation and before the end of the month we’ll see low level planting through this area.
As mentioned in the opening of this update, we’ll then remove all the traffic barriers and temporary fencing through this area.
The tree planting will be in a similar timeframe – City of Melbourne are procuring and planting trees through the middle area of St Kilda Road, I’ll provide some information on these dates once confirmed.

Have a wonderful weekend

Thanks, Rob

Friday Flashback

With Edmund Herring Oval demolition works commencing this week, today we’ve featured a flashback to 2019, when the site was being prepared to handle the spoil removed from the tunnel boring machines. (To the left of the photo is Domain Road)

There was an article in the Age yesterday about house / apartment fires caused by batteries.

Some of you can read the full story here (needs a subscription) https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-ticking-time-bomb-family-s-plea-on-battery-fires-after-their-home-is-charred-pets-gone-20240424-p5fm81.html

Some parts of the story….

Their story is one of a growing number of lithium-ion battery fires in Victoria.

These energy-dense, rechargeable batteries are in dozens of everyday appliances including laptops, phones, power tools, stick vacuum cleaners, portable speakers, e-cigarettes and, notably, e-bikes and scooters.

Authorities say the No.1 rule is to avoid buying a device with a rechargeable battery unless it comes from a reputable brand and seller.

The ACCC estimates that by 2026, the average household will have 33 devices powered by lithium-ion batteries.

The consumer regulator was alarmed last year that a national voluntary survey of more than 4000 Australians found 54 per cent of respondents used aftermarket chargers, 39 per cent did not know how to correctly dispose of lithium-ion batteries, and many respondents said they would leave devices unattended while charging.

Fischer says Fire Rescue Victoria is particularly concerned about the growing risks for people living in apartments where dwellings typically have one entrance and are more likely to have people storing e-bikes and scooters in smaller spaces.

For those of you worried about Electric vehicles, here is a short video by an independent organisation.

CYP Update

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week.
Below is an update on the works for next week – as well as a quick update on some of our rectification and handover processes.

A reminder that next week is a short working week, we’ll be on site Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. While Thursday is ANZAC Day and there are no works on Friday or Saturday.

Overnight Works:

Tram Adjacent Works

Next week we’ve got works scheduled for Monday and Tuesday night adjacent to the southern ventilation shafts and chiller plant. These are works that are right next to the tram tracks, and as such we’ll need to complete them after the last tram goes through. We’ll also install the final sections of the pedestrian tactiles adjacent to the tram stop on the south eastern side.  The tactile work will require the use of a saw to cut out the sections where the tactiles are installed – We’ll try to do this as early as possible in the sections where we aren’t adjacent to the tram tracks.

Works next week

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

It’s more of the same at the station entrance next week, as the ground preparation continues and the bluestone pavers are installed adjacent to the entrance. There are some final underground services being installed, while the last of the waterproofing around the lift shafts is underway. As mentioned last week, we’ll have some formwork underway adjacent to the lift shaft as well.

South African Soldiers’ Memorial construction is now making some great progress. As we move up the structure we’ll erect scaffolding to allow us to continue reconstructing the memorial stone by stone.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

As promised last week, the retaining wall around the Shrine forecourt has made better progress, it will be much of the same next week with drainage installation.
We’ve continued to lay tracks up Domain Road this week, with concrete poured into place as the team head eastward up Domain Road. All going well, track installation will be finished tomorrow. Tram poles will be installed next week.

The footpath adjacent to Melbourne Grammar is open at the Wadhurst entrance end, but the progress is slower at the western end near St Kilda Road.
Still working our way through a few issues, and unfortunately I don’t have a forecast opening date just yet. We’re pushing to get it reopened as soon as we can.

Station Box

It’s been a while since I’ve given an update from the crew below ground. The team are busy installing signage, paving finishing off steps, and generally making the area look like a shiny new station.

I think it’s better served as a photo than an update – so attached below is a photo of the new entrance gates to the station – inside those wooden boxes are the new myki gates, getting ready for commuters to tap on and head down to the new station platform.  Rest assured the final gate placing will have a bit more room between them – that configuration would be a bit of  tight squeeze!

Centre Island – St Kilda Road

Southern Area:

As mentioned above, the end of the Chiller Plant works means that the team can get in next week and finish off the drainage adjacent to the tram stop, as well as the tree plots adjacent to the ventilation shafts and chiller plant.

Tree Planting

St Kilda Road Median

Once the tree pits are available adjacent to the southern ventilation and chiller plant – City of Melbourne will come through and plant trees through this area.  There are currently discussions happening later this afternoon about access and timing for the planting in the median. I’ll have the outcome and plan in next weeks update, but we expect to see trees through the area in early May.

Albert Road

Similarly, there are some new trees earmarked for the Albert Road area, City of Port Phillip have advised that they are planning on plating within the next couple of weeks – I’ll provide some more detail once i’ve heard more, but you can expect to see new trees popping up around the precinct soon, in what will be a very welcome addition.

Rectification Works – Planting

As I mentioned last week, as we finish areas of the job, we conduct a walk-through the site to identify any areas that need rectification prior to us completing the job. One critical part of this is the planting. As many local residents would have noticed, a number of our areas of planting have not taken as well as we’d like. Rest assured we’re very much aware of the plants that haven’t taken to their new homes and we are absolutely going to replace them.

The vast majority of planting on the project will become the responsibility of the local council once we’re finished (City of Melbourne and City of Port Phillip) We’re currently in discussions with both councils about handing over areas of the project where we’ve largely finished our work. We’ve got a list of things that we’re fixing prior to handing these areas over – and once we’ve struck an agreement on this handover – we’ll replace any dead plants and hand it over the respective parks team for each council, who will no doubt have greener thumbs than ours!

Have a wonderful weekend

Thanks, Rob

Friday Flashback

A quick flashback to where we were 12 months ago – with the excavation of the Albert Road entrance well and truly underway – ready to connect into the concourse.

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome to the end of a very soggy week in Melbourne. Despite the weather, I’m pleased to report that the crews working on St Kilda Road have made some excellent progress and we’re scheduled to be finished tomorrow and the road reopened as planned.  I’ve included a progress photo below from Domain Road yesterday prior to the asphalt going in.

Is this the end for our night works on St Kilda Road?, I hear you ask.

Not quite, but we are now through the last major interventions. We’ve still got a few things to do, including one northbound lane of St Kilda Road that needs its final layer of asphalt (Adjacent to the ventilation and chillers, between to the Toorak Road tram stop pedestrian crossing and Bowen Lane)  This is going to happen in early May once we’ve got the landscaping done through the centre median (I iimagine it would be 2-3 nights of work at a maximum) I’ll let you know when we have the finer details.

Southbound, we’ll also eventually need to asphalt the left turn from St Kilda Road into Domain Road prior to it reopening – no set time frame on that just yet.

Back to the one-week look ahead, and below is a snapshot of what is coming up everywhere on site.

Overnight Works:

Line Marking

Tonight is the final night of works, which will primarily be linemarking.

I’ve included line marking next week, just in case we don’t get the final lines down tonight. We’ve earmarked Monday night for this – but given where we currently are, we’re confident we’ll get it done today and tonight
We’ll prioritise the St Kilda Road line marking tonight, so anything that misses out will be small stuff and won’t require any St Kilda Road closures.

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

With the concrete down, the paving team have wasted no time at all getting into the new surface and laying an array of bluestone through the concreted area. Those who have walked past the South African Soldiers’ memorial would have noticed that the first of the heritage blocks were lifted into place this morning (Friday) this careful process will continue over the coming weeks.

There is some minor steel fixing that will happen next to the lift shaft next week. It’s a mini-milestone – but one worth noting. This is the very final piece of the primary station structure to be constructed. For those that love seeing concrete poured – rest assured we’ll still have more to come for ancillary retaining walls and the like – but this is literally the last piece of the station puzzle.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

Speaking on ancillary structures – the retaining wall around the Shrine forecourt has made some progress in between showers this week. With some drier weather forecast we should see this section move forward.

The footpath up Domain Road running alongside Melbourne Grammar has also suffered from the wet conditions, as well as the discovery of a communications cable that will need to be re-laid under the footpath. At this stage with school returning on Tuesday, we’ll ensure the access to the school is maintained, while the new communications conduit is laid down towards St Kilda Road.  

I’ll have a revised opening date next week once we’ve got some progress behind us in this area – the aim is to lay some asphalt tonight along the length of this footpath with a view to reopen it as soon as we can.

Lastly, as I mentioned last week, we will open the fourth and final pedestrian crossing to the new Anzac Station tram stop tomorrow – the temporary footpath in the bike lane will also reopen, connecting the corner of Domain Road to the pedestrian crossing at Park Street.

Centre Island – St Kilda Road

Adjacent to tram stop:

The median adjacent to the tram stop has had the grass planted overnight – adding to some additional greenery to match in with the resplendent green legs of the station canopy. These areas will be available to plant trees, with tree planting being handled by the relevant local councils. I’ll provide an update next week on the expected timing of trees planting through the area.

Southern Area:

We’re expecting the mechanical electrical and plumbing work around the chiller plants to wrap up tomorrow, which will allow us to get in and complete the landscaping through these areas. There’s a final bit of drainage to go in, before we switch to irrigation and landscaping – including tree plot preparation and turf laying.

Rectification Works
As we finish each area of the job and do a final inspection, there are inevitably some areas that will require touch ups, or fixes.

One such area is the kerbing in front of 400 St Kilda Road, which was knocked out of alignment shortly after installation. Next week we’ll be coming back to fix this up. To do so, we’ll run an NDD truck alongside the kerb to remove a thin strip of the garden bed, remove and reset the kerb stone, and then reinstate the strip of garden bed. We’re expecting this to kick off on Tuesday and will be complete by the end of the week.

Rather than closing St Kilda Road and doing these works at night – we’ll instead reduce St Kilda Road to one lane and a bike lane and complete the works during daytime hours. This will mean that the works wont kick off until after peak hour traffic has passed through at approximately 9:30am.

Street Lighting

CitiPower have confirmed that the street lighting north of the station box will go on tonight – still waiting on a date for the lights south of the station box – but it should follow closely behind

Have a wonderful weekend

Thanks, Rob

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Easter break.
Works are back in full swing at Anzac Station, just a reminder that we’re kicking off our 24/7 works to reinstate the tram track connection to Domain Road – starting this Sunday night

This will also involve the all week daytime closure of the southbound lane of St Kilda Road at Dorcas Street.
Below is a snapshot of what is coming up everywhere on site.

Overnight Works:

Domain Road Tram Connection Works

Below is a snapshot of the works happening from Sunday night next week – the noisiest night will be on Sunday night, with the use of profilers to remove layers of asphalt from a section of the road, similar to those used in the recent asphalting works. See below for a snapshot of the week ahead.

Just a reminder that pedestrian access along St Kilda Road adjacent to the Shrine will be closed while these works are underway

More detail is available in the construction notification:

Click to access MT-AZ-Southbound-closure-April-2024.pdf

Northbound St Kilda Road Closure (Thursday and Friday evening)

While the works are happening on the southbound lane, we’ll also finish off some works around site. Two nights will require a closure of the northbound lane of St Kilda Road between Toorak Road and Park Street.

During these works, access and egress at the Albert Road/St Kilda Road intersection will be closed from 8pm, with all access and egress via Kings Way.

• Traffic controllers will be on site to assist Domain Hill residents to exit their driveway
• Access for Botanica residents will be via Bowen Crescent on both nights

The following works will take place during this closure:

Albert Road Asphalting (Traffic Light Commissioning) – Thursday 11 April

You may recall Albert Road asphalting and light commissioning that was put on hold two weeks ago, as we were waiting on a delivery from Department of Transport. We’ve now scheduled this in for Thursday night next week.

Traffic Light and Electronic Speed Sign Commissioning – Thursday and Friday (11 and 12 April)

These works are not expected to be particularly disruptive, as they generally involve electrical works on existing traffic signals. The variable speed sign adjacent to the Toorak Road Tram Stop may require a mobile crane to install.

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

Last night we successfully poured the concrete base for the future pathway adjacent to the station entrance, this will allow bluestone paving to be placed in the forecourt area. We’ll have similar concrete pours in the future as each area is backfilled and ready for paving.  To that end, we’ll be contuing with some of the waterproofing around the lift shafts next week, while pile removal is still ongoing around the back side of the lift shafts, this will be followed by some formwork (likely the week after)
The heritage contractors will be out on site from Monday and prepping the concrete, followed by the craning of the first of the heritage blocks.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

Over at the Shrine entrance the retaining wall build continues next week around the station entrance, along with utility connections into the station entrance happening concurrently. We are also pushing hard to reopen the footpath along Domain Road by the end of school holidays.

In a bit of positive news for the local pedestrian connectivity, we are also aiming to open the connection to the north eastern pedestrian crossing from the Anzac Station tram stop to the corner of Domain Road and St Kilda Road by the end of the week.

Centre Island – St Kilda Road

Adjacent to tram stop:

There was some new grass laid next to the tram stop on the western side last night, adding the re-greening of the area. Next week while the southbound lane of St Kilda Road is shut, we’ll see more of the same going in on the eastern side of the tram stop.

Southern Area:

Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing commissioning of the chiller plants is still ongoing, by mid-April this team should be out of the area and we get on with the irrigation and landscaping within this area, which should come together quickly.

Street Lighting

Subject to CitiPower works, we should see the street lights either side of the project switched on by the end of week or early the following week.

Thanks, Rob

A couple of people have asked me if this is still happening – yes it is, it is one of the rare wins that we had. No parking in front of 412-416 strip, none in front of 390, none in front of Post Office. So I’m guessing ours will be in high demand

There will be another lane for traffic squeezed over next to the chillers – to be done around early May timeframe. Then we get our parking

The Dept of Transport came to the meeting to give us an update on the Domain Rd situation. I thought we were to be told whether or not the 58 tram would remain.

They told us that even though they had told us a year ago that community consultation was to occur, it has not yet been approved by the Minister.

So CYP / RPV are to build a new dual mode (bus and tram) stop in Domain Rd in case one day they need it. At this stage neither a bus or a tram is committed to go down Domain Rd. Yep – completely bonkers.

As you can see in the slide pack – a detailed study has been done on the safety of the tram crossing. Their conclusion is that there is no problem, but they will repaint the warning sign on the path.

The Yarra Trams head of operations (Kate Blackwood) said she was taking the matter very seriously. She noted that trams should only be doing 15 kmph on that section and that Yarra Trams carry out speed checks across their entire network. She could not confirm if they had checked speeds on that section and she admitted she had not been on site – but she is taking it very seriously.

We should get our parking bays out the front by mid-May.