Jan and I met with CYP today to discuss the plans for 2023 – we knew it was going to be the last ugly time for us.
A brief summary
The last remaining part of the D Wall needs to be removed. This is the wall that was needed during the construction but must now be removed. It is right in front of us.
All work will be done in day times – no night works
It will be very noisy
It will go from late January for 3-4 months
Scaffolding will be erected out the front – the hoardings will hopefully have some nice artwork
Access to and from the lower car park will be maintained EXCEPT for a 3-4 week period towards the end of the period. We are working out a plan of how to manage that gap.
We have discussed footpath lighting, sightlines and other safety matters.
…more to come later
This is a photo to remind you how close the wall comes!!
It appears that CYP were testing the weatherproofing of the new canopy this morning. It seems that if it is one of those very occasional days when it is wet AND windy, the shelter may be a little lacking.
This update brings us to the end of the second week of the tram network shutdown and associated 24/7 works.
Once again, if you would like to unsubscribe to this weekly update during the works, just reply to let us know, and we’ll take you off the list.
We’ve put together an update below on the week that was, as well as a look ahead on some key activities – most anticipated is the reopening of St Kilda Road northbound
Evening works this week
At certain stages this week we’ve encountered a few unexpected scenarios that have required us to make much more noise than we would have liked during the evening period.
In the southern end of the site an auger was drilling the holes for one of the many, many tram poles that are being installed along the new alignment. This auger hit a significant amount of rock which had to be hammered out. At the northern end of the site a section of rail had to be broken out and re-welded after an issue was identified. Our apologies for these spikes in noise, we know it’s tough when you hear something like this and you don’t know if it’s going to continue for 30 minutes or 3 hours. If you hear any hammering during the evening, it won’t be a long term exercise and is generally associated with an unexpected underground impediment that we need to break out in order to continue. The good news is that all the footings for the tram poles have been drilled, which is one less underground activity. There are still a few trenches and pits across the site, but most of our underground activities are coming to an end.
Tree Removal
Those close to the corner of Park Street and St Kilda Road may have noticed that a tree was removed earlier today in front of the Hallmark building. This tree had been identified for removal as part of the final design and planning approvals were in place. The team were hoping to retain the tree and work around it, but we wouldn’t know until we’d carried out further investigations on its root zone. Once we opened up the pavement it quickly became apparent that the structure roots had grown out to areas that meant it couldn’t be retained and we had to remove it.
Even if planning approval has been granted for the removal of a tree, a review process needs to take place before every tree is removed. We will always delay any removal until it is required to continue construction. A replacement tree will be also be planted as part of the final landscaping.
St Kilda Road Northbound – Reopening
Plans are currently being finalised for the reopening of the northbound lane of St Kilda Road and the Albert Road North connection. To re-open the road we’ll need to do line-marking on the new lane and shift traffic barriers. This work will primarily be done inside the existing construction site, however between Bowen Crescent and Bowen Lane there will be some impact traffic while we make the shift.
On the night of the traffic shift there will be traffic management in place at Bowen Crescent from 8pm through to 5am the following morning. Access and egress to properties will be maintained, however we do expect some delays.
Access into Bowen Lane from St Kilda Road will be closed while we carry out the switch and access will need to be via Kings Way.
Residents accessing and egressing the Botanica’s carpark entrance on St Kilda Road will also be held up when the barrier connection is installed out to the new traffic lane. We’ll aim to do this in the early hours of the morning to minimise disruption, but if you’re coming home in the wee hours, we expect that there could be a delay in getting into the carpark. The traffic controllers on duty will advise. Early next week we’ll let everyone know exactly which night this switch will take place.
North
The northern section is coming along very well, with the bulk of the asphalting now complete and the final wearing course of asphalt to be applied on the Park Street tracks should be done by the weekend.
Works are currently underway on the road surface with the laying of the sub-base commencing and asphalting underway on the weekend.
In front of the Hallmark building there has been a flurry of work as we are relocating a valve connection on behalf of South East Water, removing some redundant electrical cabinets on the corner and also installing a new tram pole. These works will continue through to early next week.
Up in the far northern section the focus will be on building the trackside kerb adjacent to the new tram tracks, while kerb works and asphalting will start on the pedestrian crossing over St Kilda Road at Park Street.
South
Down in the southern section of the site asphalting commenced on Thursday night for the new sections of track. Kerb construction will kick off next week as well as the stringing of overheads next week in this section.
The new section of northbound lane of St Kilda Road starts at around the Bowen Crescent area, the sub-base prep work is largely complete from the southern section to the middle section, and on Sunday we expect to start asphalting this new section of road.
At the far-far southern extent of the site, at the intersection of Kings Way/Toorak Road/St Kilda Road, we have a redundant pole that needs to be removed and kerb that needs to be removed. Due to the proximity to the intersection, the pole needs to come down at night, however we’ll wait until daytime to break road-saw the kerb and break it out. The pole removal should not be too impactful as an oxy cutter is used to cut the pole off at the base and lower it onto a truck. The pole removal will take place on Saturday night and the kerb will be broken out on Sunday.
Middle
As mentioned in the southern section, asphalting of the road will take place over the weekend, which is a step closer to the reopening of St Kilda Road northbound.
Either side of the road we’ve started works on the future pedestrian crossing points to access the new tram stop.
Signals have been installed for the ped crossing on the Melbourne Grammar and kerb works will be finished off on this side next week
On the Albert Road side, the new crossing point is at the top of Albert Reserve. Next week we’ll kick off the kerb and road works on this side of the road to create the future connection. All for the inground conduits and connections for the pedestrian traffic lights have been installed already.
One section of conduit run that needs to be completed is the section running down the northern side of Albert Road, past Domain Hill Apartments and 22 Albert Road. The service investigation works were completed this week and next week the team will begin to open up a trench and lay conduits. This conduit run powers the future lights in the centre of St Kilda Road. Once the conduits have been trenched and installed, CitiPower will come to site and undertake the final works to connect them into the mains and power up the lights in the middle of St Kilda Road.
On the platform, the hoarding around the entrances to the future train station and kiosk started installation on Thursday and is nearly complete. This week we’ve included a look at the artwork that will feature on the hoarding.
Bluestone on the platform should be finished by Monday with the installation of platform furniture and associated tram operations underway next week.
Welcome to the first of our weekly look-ahead emails during the 24/7 works.
If you would like to unsubscribe to this update, just reply to let us know, and we’ll take you off the list.
While the progress outside on site has been good, we appreciate that the local impact has been significant, from the evening works through to the traffic changes in the precinct.
A huge thanks to everyone in the precinct for bearing with us while we embark on this enormous undertaking.
The good news is that works are progressing well and we are well and truly where we want to be with the program of works.
Below is a quick update on where we are in the North/South/Middle of the site.
North
The northern section has seen the bulk of the workforce over the first week of the occupation, this is due to the complexity of the Park Street intersection. You might have seen some of the cranes on site that have been lifting heavy sections of track into site, along with the heavy diamond crossover sections that have now been installed
In this area, we are well and truly underway with the track installation, in fact this weekend we’ll start concreting the tracks into place. Laying tracks generally involves placing the tracks before they are concreted into place, after this there is often an application of crushed rock, before the tracks are asphalted to create the finished surface. This concreting/asphalting combo will start to make its way from north to south.
One of the challenges we’ll face over the weekend is the heat. With the temperature set to rise above 30 degrees, there is a risk that the tracks will bend in the heat. As a result, we cant pour concrete until the temperature dips, this means we’ll likely be pouring the late afternoon and into the evening.
Yarra Tram Pole installation is also happening at key points around the track installation – and by the end of next week we’d expect to see Yarra Trams hanging wires in key sections.
South
With the bulk of the activity happening in the north, the south hasn’t had as much attention, but that will all change this weekend into next week. The teams out on site have today started the backfill at the southernmost end of site as they also finalise some of the conduit and drainage pit connections.
Once the backfill is in place, we’re looking to start laying track on Saturday. All going well, we’ll be concreting on Monday, followed by the crushed rock and asphalt. Unlike the north, the south features straight sections of track, which are significantly simpler (and faster) to lay – especially when compared to the intricate curves featuring specific cant requirements in the north.
Middle Through the middle of the site, roadworks will kick off next week on the new alignment for the northbound lane of St Kilda Road (the northbound lane will push further into the middle of site, starting just around Bowen Crescent, running adjacent to the new tram alignment and before re-joining its existing alignment just at Park Street. Today works started on the sub base, drainage and services underneath the road, with road construction ramping next week, as part of the backfilling works there will be use of the vibratory roller, which can be disruptive at times, depending on its location.
Right in the middle of site the works continue on the central platform – the bulk of the paving is complete with section to the east of the kiosk the final section of bulk paving to be completed, the more ‘fiddly’ sections of pavers will then be progressively laid to fill out the platform. Next week, infrastructure such as the tram shelter will be installed, followed by on-platform furniture and other platform infrastructure
At the end of these works the new tram platform will be open for public use – but we’ll still be down on the concourse level of Anzac Station. To separate tram users from these works, we’ll be installing wooden hoarding around the elevators and escalators down to concourse level. This wooden hoarding should start to be installed around the middle of next week.
Once again, we thank everyone for their patience during these works. I’ve attached today a picture of the site on Monday morning following the first night of works, followed by a photo from 730pm this evening showing the extent of track that has been laid. The jackhammering and demolition works were incredibly loud – and while the current works are a step down in decibel levels we do appreciate the impact these works are having on everyone’s day-to-day lives, the good news is that the works are progressing well and we hope to be out of everyone’s evenings (and road space) as soon as we possibly can.
I hope everyone took the opportunity to get out into yesterday’s glorious sunshine after what can only be described as a miserable week of weather.
That is a not-so-subtle segue into the impact that the rain has had on the work out on site. The team have lost a huge amount of time to the weather this week and the overnight works that have been happening last week will unfortunately need to roll into the following week. While we recognise that this will roll directly into the 24/7 works starting on the 27th November – unfortunately it is unavoidable, as it is critical that the tram track infrastructure within the site is ready to connect into the infrastructure that we will be constructing while trams are shut down from the 27 November to the 17 December.
I’ve included a copy of the notification will go out on Monday to local residents advising of the extension to the works.
Once again the table of activities is contained below, but it is essentially the same activities that we have notified previously, but were unable to complete due to the weather.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange
On the station platform, the works next week will continue to be focussed on the laying of bluestone pavers. The question has been raised with the team about the planting of the new trees that will be a feature of the new tram platform. On the advice of arborists, the trees will be planted in Autumn next year rather than during the hotter summer months (after the past week of weather we’ve had this doesn’t ring true, but the advice is that the warmer months ahead will impact on the long term health of the future trees) Works on the station kiosk will also continue, with the installation of cladding around the kiosk.
On the canopy itself, the skylight flashing and final works on the architectural finishes on the underside of the canopy will all be underway next week.
Surface Works
The new track continues to make its way out from the platform to both the north and the south. Next week will see more track laid and concrete poured to the north of the tram platform, especially now that the backfill around the ventilation structures has largely been completed.
On the north-west corner of Park Street works have begun to construct the final legacy design for a kerb outstand and tram pole installation. The future kerb line extends out further from the existing kerb and this extended kerb line is currently being constructed, along with one of the tram wire poles that will be required during for the new tram alignment. To construct this extended kerb the left turn from Park Street into St Kilda Road has now been temporarily closed, this left turn will reopen ahead of the closure of the northbound lane of St Kilda Road to ensure access is maintained to the buildings along this section of St Kilda Road.
Station box construction
Underground, the team have completed both the eastern and western sections of track slab adjacent to the new tram platform. On the platform itself, we’ll be pouring the concrete for the wearing slab of the platform, while also continuing with our steelwork in preparation for the future platform screen doors. Escalators 1 and 2 are being installed next week, these sit adjacent to the freshly poured stairs linking the concourse level to the platform.
Shrine Entrance
The Shrine entrance continues to work away over in the corner of the site – installation of formwork is ongoing next week as is the steel fixing for the capping beam on top of the piles, this all ahead of the final stage of excavation, which is expected to commence in early December.
Extended Hours Works:
The works listed below are those that will extend overnight next week. At this stage of the program, all these works are likely to extend for the duration of the week.
BOWEN CRESENT/ QUEENS LANE INTERSECTION TO ST KILDA ROAD/ BOWENS CRESENT INTERSECTION.
Date: 24/11/2022
These works are a component of the refurbishment at 412 St Kilda Road. The works involve the use of a mobile crane operating from 7am – 6pm and will result in a full road closure. The machinery will operate for 1 day – During normal construction hours.
In case of inclement weather or unforeseen delays, if we are not able to set up on this date, the set up may occur on 25/11/2022 or 26/11/2022
Although the works are substantial, every very effort will be made to minimize impact to businesses and the general public. The following treatments will apply:
• Pedestrian access will be maintained via opposite footpath(s)
• Access to building car parks are to be maintained
• Access to all properties will be maintained.
The refurbishment works for this site was never going to be an easy task however, the contractor will attempt to minimize the impact of these building works and apologises for any inconvenience that may be caused.
Although the works will be difficult for local traders and residents, your co-operation will be greatly appreciated.
The Botanica 
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