I hope you all like the new electronic displays in the lifts. I’d like to thank Graeme for his efforts in making this all happen.
Luckily I’m on Level 7 and that gives me more time to read the various screens of information. I THINK that there is one with a free coffee offer, but I have not seen it yet??
Is that Simon from Level 3 in the Degraves Lane shot??
Lots happening underground this week and last
Good afternoon everyone,
We are writing today with our weekly construction lookahead.
As you would be aware, Anzac Day is this Sunday, 25th April. There will be no construction activities on site on Sunday, other than the minimum required to maintain safe operation of the one TBM still tunnelling towards Town Hall Station.
The Anzac Station and Edmund Herring Oval site lights will be switched off ahead of the Dawn Service to help support the respectful observance of Anzac Day.
ANZAC STATION WEEKLY LOOK AHEAD
Tunnelling and TBM support site
TBM Alice has completed 1.5 kilometres of the 1.8 kilometre journey to the Town Hall Station. Currently, she is now underneath the Yarra River on the approach to Town Hall Station.
The slurry treatment plant at Edmund Herring Oval continues to operate, treating the spoil coming from TBMs Millie and Alice. Trucks for spoil disposal will continue for the duration of tunnelling in the East.
The first rear gantry from TBM Mille will be pulled back through the tunnel to Anzac Station next week, over the coming weeks you’ll see sections of the TBM removed from the acoustic shed and stored to the side ahead of their removal from site via truck.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange
On Tuesday next week the team will pour the first section of the base slab for the tram interchange entrance. The section to be poured is the northern most section underneath the suspended slab. On the day two concrete pumps will be set up at the northern end with concrete trucks arriving to site throughout the day.
Waterproofing and steel fixing will continue in the remaining sections.
As we mentioned in last week’s look-ahead, steel fixing is one of the quieter activities as it is done largely by hand, in the coming weeks there may be some steel fixing carried out up until 10pm in the tram interchange. Any steel will be pre lowered into the box prior to 6pm to avoid unnecessary disruption. At this stage it’s unlikely any extended hour steel fixing will be required next week.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Shrine of Remembrance
Backfilling work is nearly complete at the Shrine Entrance, once this is done the area will be sealed ahead of the storage of the first gantry piece that will be stored on top. The first rear gantry is likely to be lifted up to surface at the back end of next week and stored. The completion of backfilling means that stage one of the Shrine entrance is now complete.
Station box construction
In the southern section of the station box we have this week removed the false work deck that we used to support the concourse level pour. The removal of the false work means that there is the room underneath the concourse to commence the second stage of excavation of the sacrificial tunnel. This will take the south box down to the base slab level.
The start of this excavation will also see the return of load-out works, with a long-reach excavators loading trucks that will drive from site. As was the case last time, the load out of excavated material will continue up until 10pm on nights. As with the underground excavation, the lessons learned from last time will be applied – with all light towers running off mains power and the excavator operators barred from using the bucket on concrete to scrape up loose material. Loadout from 6pm to 10pm will only be of softer materials with no load-out of concrete segments into truck beds.
As we mentioned last week, we will trial 24/7 excavation underground. Excavators will running under the concrete decks after 10pm and will closely monitor the noise during this time. A member of the environment team will be out on site conducting monitoring on the first night of works.
This week we’ve included a photo looking south down the station box across the newly poured concourse level. With the falsework deck removed from underneath concourse, you can see the team clearing out the area and running lighting in preparation for the start of excavation down to the base slab level (roughly an additional 2m), while up on the concourse level the team are preparing for the construction of the internal walls on what will be the ‘back of house’ concourse area of Anzac Station.
The second photo shows the remaining section of the sacrificial tunnel that we will begin excavating next week.
Over in the northern end of the station box underneath the acoustic shed, the team have now poured two sections of the concourse slab in the north and will next week pour the third section, in addition to continuing the work on the internal columns.
Thanks, Rob and Jordan
Good afternoon everyone,
Hope everyone has had a great week.
We are writing today with our next weekly construction lookahead.
Works this coming week are generally business as usual, with the major change being the return of excavation in the south box.
ANZAC STATION WEEKLY LOOK AHEAD
Tunnelling and TBM support site
TBM Alice has completed 1.3 kilometres of the 1.8 kilometre journey to the Town Hall Station. Currently, she has passed beneath the Queen Victoria Gardens opposite the National Gallery of Victoria and is now tunnelling beneath Alexandra Avenue as she makes her way closer to the Yarra River.
The slurry treatment plant at Edmund Herring Oval continues to operate, treating the spoil coming from TBMs Millie and Alice. Trucks for spoil disposal will continue for the duration of tunnelling in the East.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange
Works are largely the same as last week’s update, for those with a view over the site you’ll see the blue waterproofing being applied from north to south, in some areas it looks like we are building a series of swimming pools at the base of the interchange. These are in fact the pits for various parts of the station’s legacy infrastructure, including the base for lift wells and the base of the future escalators. We’ve attached a photo looking over the site for those without a balcony view of the works.
While the waterproofing moves forward, steel fixing for the first base slab pour is following close behind. As we mentioned in last week’s look-ahead, steel fixing is one of the quieter activities as it is done largely by hand, in the coming weeks there may be some steel fixing carried out up until 10pm in the tram interchange. Any steel will be pre lowered into the box prior to 6pm to avoid unnecessary disruption.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Shrine of Remembrance
Backfilling work continues at the Shrine of Remembrance station entrance site. This will continue for the next few weeks.
Breaking back of the retention piles down to their correct height began this week and will continue into next week, this may generate periods of high level noise.
Station box construction
In the southern section of the station box the large concrete pour that went ahead on Monday was very successful, it was over 1200m3 and was the largest concrete pour carried out on the entire project to date.
The pour is now covered and has been curing since Monday. Early next week the concourse will have cured and the team will start removing the falsework deck that supported the concourse as it was poured. Once the falsework deck is removed, work will then focus on the next stage of excavation of the sacrificial tunnel beneath the concourse slab. This excavation work is likely to start late next week.
As we mentioned in last week’s update, as part of this next stage, the team will also trial 24/7 excavation underground. During the first stage of excavation the 24/7 excavation was at times disruptive and had to be stopped on several occasions. We will conduct a trial of excavators running under the concrete decks after 10pm and will closely monitor the noise to ensure this is not repeated. The key difference between the last stage of excavation and this one is that we are now excavating below both the roof slab and the concourse slab, and are further away from the open void.
The start of this excavation will also see the return of load-out works, with a long-reach excavators loading trucks that will drive from site. As was the case last time, the load out of excavated material will continue up until 10pm on nights. As with the underground excavation, the lessons learned from last time will be applied – with all light towers running off mains power and the excavator operators barred from using the bucket on concrete to scrape up loose material. Loadout from 6pm to 10pm will only be of softer materials with no load-out of concrete segments into truck beds.
In the northern end of the station box underneath the acoustic shed, the team quietly achieved a major milestone on Tuesday with the pour of the first section of the concourse level underneath the acoustic shed. While somewhat overshadowed by the large pour in the south box, this pour is a major milestone as the station infrastructure starts to take shape, as tunnelling winds down.
Thanks, Rob and Jordan
I have been asked to clarify that the car bay previously noted as being for sale is now subject to an adverse possession claim.
The bay has been occupied for some years by an owner.
The OC fees have been being paid by someone else until late last year. Not the occupier of the car bay.
I’m sorry for any confusion and that I may have given the impression that the bay was being occupied illegally.
All in just half an hour last night – all heading out of the city
We have a car bay in the lower car park that is owned by the ASIC / Federal Government. It is the bay marked in the photo below.
There is a storeroom that can only be entered via the carbay. You would need to take this into account.
ASIC have a non-trivial process for anyone who wants to buy the car bay from them. Details are contained via the link below
Details you need to know
I have absolutely no idea if ASIC will sell or how it will work out. You are in uncharted territory for me and I wish you well. The OC cannot help and cannot guarantee your success!!
I understand that an owner may be interested in selling a car bay in the lower car park. Nothing confirmed but thought I’d give all a heads up.
What is a car bay worth in St Kilda Rd?? I found this one
149C/610 St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004 VIC 3004 – Parking Space For Sale | Commercial Real Estate
By the way, I think there are still 2 properties for rent in the building – unusual.
205/400 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Vic 3004 – Apartment for Rent – realestate.com.au
505/400 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Vic 3004 – Apartment for Rent – realestate.com.au
Be aware that several nearby buildings have had bikes stolen recently.
In most cases the intruder gained entry when a resident was leaving.
They may not look like the stereotypical bike thief, here is a photo of one of them.
Be aware but do not put yourself in danger.
More from Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) and my thoughts at the bottom…GB
When construction is complete in 2025, the area will be a heavily patronised transport hub with drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, train and tram passengers all needing to use the precinct safely.
Once completed in 2025, the Metro Tunnel section of St Kilda Road (between Dorcas Street and Toorak Road) will have:
· A fully accessible tram super-stop in the middle of the road, connecting passengers to the underground station below
· Protected kerbside bike lanes to allow cyclists to ride two abreast, protected from the risk of car dooring by a concrete separator
· A row of permanent parking spaces built along the concrete separator
· Two traffic lanes at all times.
An indicative cross-section of this layout is as below:
This layout is an update to the Metro Tunnel Project Domain Station Development Plan released in December 2017. Further detailed design work has been undertaken in consultation with traffic planning experts to determine that two traffic lanes, a parking lane and kerbside bike lanes at this location is a safe and effective solution. An updated Development Plan will be released for public comment later this year.
Further planning is underway that will provide options for safe cycle lanes along the rest of the St Kilda Road corridor, leveraging the new separated lanes delivered by the City of Melbourne. Major Road Projects Victoria is preparing a business case that will provide options for safe cycle lanes along the broader St Kilda Road corridor.
GB notes below
The great news it that we will only have two lanes of traffic in and two lanes of traffic out of the city. Plus the parking lanes each side will operate all day/night. The alternative was to make the parking lanes available as traffic lanes in peak hour, effectively having a 3 lane road.
I understand that Copenhagen bike lanes make our driveway entry/exit more difficult, but I could never see how they could fit central bike lanes into that corridor that has a train station and tram super stop. We will just have to work on them on the entry/exit issues.
The Botanica 
You must be logged in to post a comment.