Good afternoon everyone,

What a beautiful day! Spring really is just around the corner. 

The precinct has seen a lot of change over the last week. We have removed the barriers from Dorcas to Park street, reopening the Kings Way slow lane, shifted the barriers between Park Street and Melbourne Grammar School to start the legacy road work and have begun the two week closure of Albert Road at the St Kilda Road end.

Next week will be just as busy, lets take a look at what is coming up.

1. Utility Works – Bowen Lane to Bowen Crescent

We are getting ready to rebuild the kerbs and roadway of Bowen Lane. You will have noticed a common theme in these weekly updates, largely being that we’re having a lot of trouble with services in this area. Unfortunately Bowen Lane won’t open by the end of the month, it is now looking more like 9 September. We will let you know how this is tracking next week.

2. Albert Road Reserve Station entrance

Nothing new to report in the station entrance, it’s more of the same as the team continue the steel fixing and concrete pours for the station walls. We have poured seven of the walls so far, we’ve included a picture of the formwork below.

3. Albert Road legacy construction (Major Works)

Just as this week, next week a lot of energy and resources will be sent to Albert Road.

I hope everyone is getting around the site and the pedestrian detours ok. There will be some changes over the weekend so keep an eye out for updated signage as you make your way through the site. From Monday the final driveway will close and will have access to the full works area.

Next week:

• Installation of the final drainage connections
• Excavation of the existing roadway
• Construction of the legacy kerb and separated bike lanes

This closure will be in place until 7 September.

4. St Kilda Road median works – South (Night works)

On the southbound side, works to investigate and prepare the site have been going well. The team will start to trench from next week and install the drainage pieces.

On the other side of the road, drainage install will continue next week and then the team will move onto installing the separated bike lanes and reinstating the road.

A new compound was intended to be set up earlier in the week south of Kings Way / Toorak Road but these have been rescheduled to Tuesday 29 August. The new site will be in place for about six weeks where we will, again, install new drainage and separated bike lanes. One night of works is required to move barriers into place, then day works only until we need to remove the barriers. A closure of St Kilda Road northbound is required for these works.

5. St Kilda Road median works – North

You may have noticed the barrier free area between Dorcas and Park. It is looking very green in the northern end of the job. We will still be hanging around this area to finish a few things off. The pedestrian east / west crossing at Park and St Kilda Road will need to close for a few days sometime soon to allow the finishing touches.

6. Station box construction

The station works remain fairly consistent, with granite paving going down on the train platform and the fitout works for individual rooms continuing on the concourse level. A picture of the paving is below.

7. Shrine Entrance

Today we poured the first section of the stairs at the Shrine entrance! Below is a picture of the before, we will include an after shot in next weeks update.

8. Park Street to Albert Road

No new action in this area – We’ll provide an update when the trees are scheduled to be planted in this section of the job.

Have a great weekend
Rob and Remy

I called the 1800 number at 3am to get it stopped

Be aware that there will be some abseilers on the front of the building tomorrow. They are remediating the facade work that was done last year. It will may involve some cutting / caulking / painting.

Sorry for the short notice

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone has managed to stay dry today. The downpour has put a bit of a dent into progress today, but it has been a good week out on site generally.

Just a reminder that next Monday is an RDO – but once we return we head into a big week of construction.

Let’s dive into it.

1. Utility Works  – Bowen Lane to Bowen Crescent

It’s been a bit of a slog down in this section of the job, but we’re finally done with the water and we’re onto the installation of the new drainage through this area. Next week we’ll start the excavation for the drainage run and that will dominate activity during the week.

2. Albert Road Reserve Station entrance

Nothing new to report in the station entrance, it’s more of the same as the team continue the steel fixing and concrete pours for the station walls.

3. Albert Road legacy construction (Major Works)

This is where all the resources and action will be next week, with some big traffic changes put in place

• Overnight on the 22^rd of August, the traffic will be adjusted to allow you to once again exit Albert Road onto Kings Way. (I’ve included a shot of the asphalt going down yesterday, just beating the rain today)
• From 24^th August the exit from Albert Road to St Kilda Road will be closed

We’ll then commence the full rebuild of Albert Road (roughly from Kettle Black up to St Kilda Road)

As you’re walking around the site, please be aware that there will also be multiple stages of pedestrian detours as we work our way through each of the stages of work.

Two of the big changes you’ll see during the works are:

• The footpath alongside Albert Reserve will be opened to give us some flexibility to get everyone up to the Tram Stop.
• The footpath will be closed in front of 18 Albert Road (Domain Hill) while we rebuild the driveway and footpath here.

Keep an eye out for the updated signage as you make your way through the site.

In terms of the actual works – the work kicks off in earnest on Thursday next week, and includes:

• Excavation of the existing roadway
• Breaking out of the Domain Hill Driveway and footpath
• Installation of the final drainage connections
• Construction of the legacy kerb and separated bike lanes
• Laying of the asphalt along the length of the road

4. St Kilda Road median works – South

We’re now well underway in the section of outbound road between Bromby Street and Toorak Road, this week the team pulled up the pitchers in the kerb and started with some good progress on the trench excavation. Next week the drainage pipes will arrive and will be installed as the trench excavation advances.

On the city bound side of the road, it’s much of the same scope of works, however the trench is largely excavated and the team are already underway laying the new drainage pipes.

One development at this end of the job was the new turf installed in the median – a sure sign that we’re getting closer to the finish line for roadworks.

5. St Kilda Road median works – North (Nightworks reminder)

There is a bit of work going on overnight this week, but nothing that would be considered overly disruptive.

On Wednesday night the barriers will be removed from the outbound lane of St Kilda Road between Dorcas and Park Street some line marking will take place to return traffic and bikes to the outer lane.

On Thursday night we’ll then shift some of the barriers in the outbound lane next to the tram stop, this will allow us to get in and start the utilities work in this section of the site – which will ultimately lead to the construction of the second lane of traffic through this section.

The section of St Kilda Road between Park and Dorcas will have a whole new look, as for the first time there are no barriers separating one side of the road from the other.

6. Station box construction

The station works remain fairly consistent, with granite paving going down on the train platform and the fitout works for individual rooms continuing on the concourse level.

7. Shrine Entrance

The work on the pre-cast stairs for the Shrine entrance made some good progress this week and will continue in the following week. We’ll include a photo in the coming editions, as the completion of these stairs will be a nice mini-milestone.

8. Park Street to Albert Road

No new action in this area – We’ll provide an update when the trees are scheduled to be planted in this section of the job.

Have a great weekend
Rob and Remy

An owner in the building needs an extra bay – suitable for a Landcruiser.

If you can help call Jane on 0411 094 068

If you asked to have a free plumbing check, can you talk to Paul to lock in an approximate time.

The checks will happen next Tuesday and Wednesday August 22/23

They will take less than 30 minutes

If you didn’t request a check and have changed your mind, tell Paul and you can be on the backup list. They will do you at the end if they have time

If you asked to have a free plumbing check, can you talk to Paul to lock in an approximate time.

The checks will happen next Tuesday and Wednesday August 22/23

They will take less than 30 minutes

If you didn’t request a check and have changed your mind, tell Paul and you can be on the backup list. They will do you at the end if they have time

Currently there is an interruption to our water supply associated with works at Bowen Lane. Should be restored by 5.00-5.30pm 🤞

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone had a great week. It started off with a Rostered Day Off and a win for Australia in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. I am sad to say that there is no relation between Mary Fowler and I…

Below is a non-soccer related update on what is happening around site next week.

1. Utility Works  – Bowen Lane to Bowen Crescent

We’re working away in this area to complete the utilities by the end of August. It’s been an uphill battle for the crew out there, slowly but surely the services are progressing.

2. Albert Road Reserve Station entrance

As I write this email we are pouring our second wall for the Albert Road Reserve entrance. As mentioned last week, these are the slowest and trickiest pours on the job. The team expect to complete the pour by 10pm this evening. Next week will continue to work up to 10pm to prepare for the next wall pour.

3. Albert Road legacy construction

The reopening of Kings Way slow lane has been met with another bump in the road to reopening. It is likely that these works will not take place next Wednesday as planned and will be pushed back to sometime in the week commencing 21 August. We are still finalising the details here.

From 24 August to 7 September, Albert Road will be closed at the St Kilda Road end. This will enable us to rebuild Albert Road into its legacy alignment and construct the new kerbs, road islands and pedestrian crossings. We are investigating services in this area at the moment to prepare for the closure. We will continue to work on the linear park.

4. St Kilda Road median works – South

We shifted the traffic last night between Melbourne Grammar School and Toorak Road and reopened the pedestrian crossing at Toorak Road. Now that the site is set up, we will spend most of next week service investigating using sucker trucks. Once we have assessed what is in store for us under St Kilda Road we will begin the drainage works through here. You may have noticed some turf installed on this side of the road, landscaping will also continue through here.

Works on the city-bound side in this section continue, in the coming weeks we will also set up another small temporary site on the southern side of Kings Way to do a very small section of drainage and separated bike lanes.

5. St Kilda Road median works – North (Nightworks reminder)

Just a quick reminder that tonight we’ll be asphalting a short section of the road (on the southbound lane of St Kilda Road just before it gets to Park Street).

Next week we will be cleaning up the Shrine side of the road ready to open up the separated bike lanes.

6. Station box construction

The void closure that was mentioned last week, which creates the ‘bend’ in St Kilda Road is looking to be closed in the middle of next week. Once closed, we will have another night of barrier moving to set the site up for the next stage of works which includes everyone’s favourite – utility connections!

Train testing continues in the tunnel.

The glass on the tram shelter has been installed. Over the next few months you will start to see the hoarding on the tram platform start to be scaled back.

7. Shrine Entrance

The first pour for the Shrine Entrance stairs is scheduled to take place late next week.

These are the legacy entrance stairs, as well as the emergency fire egress stairs from concourse up to the surface. Each set of stairs are formed up and poured inside the box.

Just as at Albert Road, works will continue until 10pm in the station entrance.

8. Park Street to Albert Road

No update in this section, the next stages will be trees, irrigation, wall cladding and lower level planting.

Have a great weekend
Remy

A few things to note

• Our footpath / kerb area should be all done by end September
• Our trees may get done this planting season but more likely April/ October 2024