I am a local resident at The Botanica that has been heavily involved in the Metro Tunnel Project.
I am VERY frustrated by their inability to simply arrange regular lawn mowing. I understand that there is a bit of a demarcation issue but I was shocked to hear them say the other day that this is the most difficult part of the project – the handover to various bodies.
REALLY?? Arranging handover to councils is harder than the tunneling and construction – there must be something wrong with what you are trying to handover??
One part of the plan going forward is based on
The area around the chillers is the responsibility of VicRoads
They have asked City of Port Philip to maintain the lawn and garden beds
City of PP are in the process of letting a contract to a third party for this work
VicRoads will continue to maintain the trees that are to be planted sometime by the City of Melbourne.
The area nearer Melbourne Grammar is also VicRoads but City of Melbourne have been asked to maintain that. I am almost pleased there are no trees involved there.
….sounds like a great plan. Don’t ask about bins on the station platform!
I gave up and simply mow the lawn when I have time, usually on a Sunday morning – happy to have others come and help, even bring me a cafe late 🙂
If you are unhappy with the ongoing car and maintenance, feel free to send them an email to
A few things to note, some from that meeting and some from subsequent meetings.
Five trees are still to be planted in our garden bed and 10 or 11 in the ‘chiller area’. Our garden beds trees will be planted by City of PP and the others will be done by City of Melbourne. Neither have any idea of ‘when’.
Our trees do not have ‘cages’ around them as they will be in a garden bed . They will have wooden stakes
The area near the chillers is VicRoads land. They have asked City of PP to manage the grass and plantings but VicRoads will manage the trees. City of PP will let a contract for the management of the grass / plants.
The grassed area on the other side of the tram tracks is City of M.
We have had some of our dead plants replaced this week and they have had our footpath closed for asphalt remediation work. It is not clear if the remediation has been successful. To me the three days’ work has not delivered any improvement.
You may have noticed that there are 3 drains in our garden bed. I have been told that the drains have been set too low. Apparently, they should be set higher to allow water to pool in the ‘gravel’ area and that provides water for the plants. Hmm?? So they will be lifting those drains – and yes that might mean stomping over the recently replanted living plants……and then when the trees come my guess is that they will have to remove some plants?!?!?!!?
You may have noticed that our garden underwent a massive change today. Dead plants were replaced with other plants.
I never like being flippant on safety matters, but I think that closing one lane of St Kilda Rd, moving the bikes onto that lane, closing our footpath and moving the peds on to the bike lane…because of dangerous wheelbarrows and shovels may have been over the top.
Four hours work here in sixty seconds
Oh – yes they are still planning to plant five elm trees here….so the garden will need to be dug up for that.
The rain last night means that the asphalting that was to happen on Thursday night couldn’t go ahead and will now happen tonight Friday 31 May We’ll be working from the Toorak road tram stop heading north towards Bowen Lane.
If time permits, while the asphalt crews are out on site, we’ll also asphalt the bike lane adjacent to the Albert Road Station entrance – we’ll also look to asphalt the path on Domain Road adjacent to Melbourne Grammar, which should see the path reopen early next week.
Works next week
Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance (Works until 1am)
This week we poured the concrete for the stairs that are adjacent to the Albert Road Reserve station entrance (next to the Windsor Oak in the park) as well as the concrete base directly next to the entry. No surprise that next week is pavers, pavers and more pavers – with the crews working their way along. We expect to see a mid-week concrete pour on the forecourt, followed by – you guessed it. More pavers.
Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)
Because we can’t get enough of paving, next week we’ll pour the first part of concrete slab around the station entrance on the Shrine of Remembrance side to be closely followed by bluestone paving.
A heads up that we’ll also start demolishing the hardstand where the big white covered canopy was, this will be using excavators with hammers, as will allow works to commence on the footpath on this eastern side and the landscaping leading up to the Shrine grounds
Out on Domain Road, the tram platform base is complete with works to start next week on the tram platform structure.
Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition
Nothing new at EHO, with the breakout of the hard-stand continuing this week, we’ll also continue the removal the substation from Edmund Herring Oval. This will be taken away in parts, and as mentioned previously, at least one of these parts is an oversized load – which means it will need to be removed from site after-hours to comply with VicRoads requirements. No set date on this at the moment, but I’ll advise when this is happening.
Centre Island – St Kilda Road The fresh new look for the central island is now in place, adding a nice touch of greenery to the area. Following tonight’s asphalting, we’ll have the green light for City of Melbourne to come through and plant the trees within the central median. Tree planting on the western side will be carried out by City of Port Phillip, we’ll advise when we have some dates for this planting.
Footpath RectificationStarting next Monday we’ll be in front of The Botanica during the day to rectify some low-points in the footpath asphalt. While we do this, pedestrian traffic will be temporarily diverted into the bike lane. Once we finish these works, we’ll be able to open the bike lane and open the St Kilda Road on-street parking in front of Botanica (400 St Kilda Road)
Friday Flashback
For today’s Friday Flashback we are heading to the intersection of Bowen Lane and St Kilda Road, where in March 2019, our clam shell excavator was digging the 20m deep diaphragm walls that form the station box.
A reminder to all to be mindful of loose items on balconies that may need to be secured during days of strong wind. Please check furniture to ensure nothing is at risk of falling and damaging yourself or others.
Be careful also of opening balcony doors as some have been blown closed suddenly and cracked glass in the past.
Last week was a bit quieter than expected after the decisions was made to delay the asphalting of the left turn lane from St Kilda Road into Domain Road. This was due to the kerbing area not being quite ready. The rest of the asphalting scope was still completed though.
This week we’ll focus on the northbound lane of St Kilda Road, more specifically asphalting the section between the Toorak Road Tram stop and Bowen Lane. The sequence of events is roughly:
Monday night: Barrier setup on southern side of Kings Way (to support the daytime shift to remove a temporary crossover in the median)
Tuesday/Wednesday: Final kerb installation, removal of temporary fencing adjacent to the tram tracks and planting of vegetation (Note: Planting crews to work in all areas)
Thursday Night: Asphalting
Friday Night: Contingency
Works this week
Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance (Works until 1am)
This week we’ll install the bus shelter adjacent to the road, while around the station entrance the sea of bluestone continues to make its way through the area, we’ll have another pour for a concrete sub-base this week to allow the bluestone team to continue their good work. We’re also progressing well on the formwork for the new stairs that will sit just to the west of the station entry. These will provide a link down to the Albert Reserve and the South African Soldiers’ Memorial. Speaking of the Memorial, this week we’ll continue the work on the central obelisk.
Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)
We’re in the final stages of commissioning the electrical and plumbing around the forecourt area, this will including the installation and connection of the utility cabinets on this side of St Kilda Road (similar to those already installed on the Albert Road Side). The forecourt retaining wall is also nearing completion.
Over on Domain Road we’re getting in the asphalt for the footpath, which means it should re-opening very soon.
Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition
The breakout of the hard-stand on Edmund Herring Oval continues this week, we’ll also remove the substation from Edmund Herring Oval. This will be taken away in parts, and as mentioned previously, at least one of these parts is an oversized load – which means it will need to be removed from site after-hours to comply with VicRoads requirements. No set date on this at the moment, but I’ll advise when this is happening.
Centre Island – St Kilda Road The fresh new look for the central island didn’t happen late last week as forecast, but we’ll definitely see the planting going in this week. We’ll also be putting in the final sections of the kerbing this week adjacent to the chiller plant.
Monday Memory Lane
This weeks Monday Memory Lane takes us way back to August 2020, when two operational lanes of St Kilda Road and Anzac Tram Stop were just drawings on a plan. Here we can see the preparation for the concrete pour of the station roof slab, immediately adjacent to Melbourne Grammar School.
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.
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!
The Botanica 
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