Good afternoon,

Welcome to the update on all things Metro Tunnel construction.

Overnight Works:

No overnight works planned.

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance

The DDA drop-off parking bay for the station is almost completely paved as I type, while up on the concourse level, you might have noticed a honeycomb of holes in the pavers – these are the installation points for the array of future bike hoops that will soon be installed adjacent to the station entrance.

Next week we’ll see more of the paving and landscaping works through this area.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road

Next week is concrete and asphalt week out on Domain Road. The concrete is being poured for the new dual tram/bus stops on Domain Road. The outbound raised stop was poured this week, while the inbound stop to be poured next week. Following on closely behind is the final layers of asphalt for Domain Road and both the new stops.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Reinstatement

Up at Edmund Herring Oval, it’s another week of strategically re-arranging dirt. (The lead engineer was away today – so I’ll have a slightly more technical update next week)

Rectification Works

I provided an update a few weeks back on the process for completing and opening sections of the job that are complete. It is a in-depth exercise, with each area and design element requiring walk-throughs and inspections with the future asset owners (e.g. councils and Department of Transport). As part of this process there are often minor rectification works that are identified, which the team progressively tick off and closes out with the future owner and the independent project auditor.

Next week as part of rectification works, we’ll be doing some repairs on the bluestone pavers at the top of Albert Road near St Kilda Road where local skating enthusiasts have caused quite a bit of damage to the bluestone.  The repair works will include spray cleaning the bluestone and installation of some skate deterrents on the bluestone to prevent further damage. There will be some very minor pedestrian detours while these works take place.

In future, if you’re looking to practice your back-side grinds – you’ll need to jump on the tram and head to RiverSlide skate park adjacent to the Yarra River for all your gnarly grinding needs.

The next rectification works of note are likely to be in mid-September in the garden bed opposite The Botanica (400 St Kilda Road) where we’ll be back in to adjust some of the gradients in the garden bed. We’ll take the opportunity to also do some weeding through this area.

Friday Flashback

This weeks Friday Flashback takes us back to February 2019, when the crews had to carefully transport the diaphragm wall (D-wall) excavating machinery from one side of St Kilda Road to the other. This took place in the middle of the night when trams weren’t running and the road was closed.

The team had to carefully navigated underneath the tram wires that you can see in the shot (As you can imagine – they had the power isolated for the duration)

Thanks, Rob

Good afternoon,

Welcome to this week’s update on all things Metro Tunnel construction in the Anzac Precinct.

Overnight Works:

No overnight works planned.

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance

The pavers at the base of the South African Soldiers Memorial are nearly done, and next week the team should move on to complete the footpaths through the reserve. All going well, we should also kick off some of the soft landscaping works around the memorial next week. The DDA parking bay adjacent to the passenger lift should also see some paving action next week.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road

Today we poured the concrete for the stairs that lead from the station forecourt, up towards the McPherson Robertson Fountain. Next week should see the last of the retaining walls poured around the forecourt – as well as the excavation of the second last strata vault for the project (the final one is further up Domain Road on the Melbourne Grammar side)

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Reinstatement

Out on the oval, trenching starts next week ahead of the laying of irrigation.

Smoke Testing at Anzac Station

The smoke testing at Anzac Station went very well on Monday night. To those on the tram stop it might have looked like our entire workforce had starting vaping on the concourse at once. Rest assured the station is a vape and smoking free zone – and all the extraction systems performed well on the day.

Friday Flashback

In this week’s Friday flashback we travel back in time precisely two years, to the day.

As you can see, St Kilda Road is entirely located on the west side of the canopy, which is still very much under construction. Both the eastern entrance and the Albert Road Reserve station entrance are still just plans on a page. A lot has taken place in the two years since this was taken!

Have a great weekend

Thanks, Rob

As you hopefully know by now, the AGM is on Tuesday September 10 at Flo.

We need a projector to use with my PC – does anyone have access to one that we can use for the night??

If you missed all the action…it took a lot of people a lot of time…and we are still not done

watch live here

It may be a treeful week….or maybe next week…getting close

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome to this week’s look ahead for everything Domain precinct related. Next week’s forecast is for a wet-week, but below is a snapshot of what we’re aiming to get stuck into next week.

Overnight Works:

We have come to the end of the two weeks of overnight works. The weather was not our friend, but we managed through the vast majority of works.

The next possible works on the horizon are tucked up Domain Road adjacent to the Melbourne Grammar to complete the footpath in front of the school entrance, however we’re still finalising this program.

Works next week

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

Next week we should see the scaffolding come down from around the South African Soldiers’ Memorial next week (possibly into the following week if the weather is unkind) It will be a welcome return to the precinct for the memorial. Elsewhere it will be the same story up on the concourse, while down in front of The Domain, we’ll be kicking off some of the final kerbing work on the Albert Road South future road connection.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

The western side of St Kilda Road has seen quite a lot of change over the last few weeks. The connection up to the Cobbers Memorial is having the first layer of asphalt applied today and we’ll reopen the connection, likely tomorrow, with the first of the new turf also going in adjacent to the new footpath shortly. The fencing will pull back just in time for the wreath laying at Cobbers Memorial to commemorate the Battle of Fromelles on Friday 19 July (https://www.shrine.org.au/battle-fromelles)

The fencing will scale back to surround the station entrance and lift entrance, as finishing works continue on the entrance forecourt and lift forecourt.  Up on Domain road the asphalt has been going for sections o the roadway and the tram stop.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

EHO continues at good pace and we’ll start next week putting the last of the subgrade soil out onto the oval before the subsoil drainage goes in during the upcoming weeks.

Friday Flashback

This week we travel back to February 2020 as the cutterhead for TBM Millie was being lowered underground inside the big green acoustic shed on St Kilda Road. The bright yellow cutterhead didn’t stay this vibrant for too long, as Mille tunnelled her way from the corner of St Kilda Road and Domain Road – out towards the eastern portal in South Yarra.

Have a great week

Thanks, Rob

Good morning everyone,

It’s that time of the week again where we dive into everything happening in the Domain Precinct.
For those of you without the RDO calendar up on your fridge – a reminder that Monday 8 July is a rostered day off – so no works.

Overnight Works:

One week down of the fortnight of night time asphalting and odd-job works. Next week is the start of asphalting week, and weather permitting, we’ll see the following activities take place:

• Asphalting the left turn from St Kilda Road into Domain Road (Tue Night + Bike Lane)
• Cutting and Installation of slots for car detector loops at traffic lights (Thursday night)
• NDD works at the corner of Bowen Crescent and St Kilda Road to lower a fire hydrant (Overnight on Thursday 11 July)
• Barrier removal on Northbound lanes (Inbound Barriers, Outbound barriers Thursday night)
• Installation of pedestrian crossing tactiles at St Kilda Road pedestrian crossing (Bowen Lane and Toorak Road)

Works next week

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

If you were walking past Albert Road Reserve at the right time this week you may have seen four lions suspended in mid air at various times. These are part of the South African Soldiers’ Memorial, and now take pride of place on  each corner of the monument. Next week will be some detailing work done on the memorial, before the following week the scaffolding comes down to reveal the entire monument.

Elsewhere, the paving continues up on the concourse level, along with the light poles within Albert Reserve. The retaining wall that will site alongside the new Albert Road South is coming along nicely and will see some work on it next week as well.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road (Works until 1am)

The landscaping and path construction adjacent to the Cobbers Memorial is progressing at a good pace, with asphalt also due next week for the legacy footpath that runs along the western edge of St Kilda Road, between Park Street and Domain Road. There will also be a new pedestrian connection leading up to Cobbers and the Shrine of Remembrance.
The asphalt for the pedestrian footpath is currently planned for day shift on Thursday, and we’ll also start putting down some turf in this area.

On Domain Road the drainage installation is nearly done and the tram stop construction is in the same boat. The drainage completion will allow works to start on the footpath on the northern side of Domain Road. We had hoped to complete the footpath on the southern side (adjacent to Melbourne Grammar School) the delayed relocation of one pesky overhead communications wire has scuppered those plans. The wire is now scheduled with its owner for this week, meaning the footpath completion will likely need to happen overnight outside school hours in the coming weeks.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Demolition

EHO is a story of two halves at the moment, the grading and surface preparation has just begun on one side of the oval, while the other side there is still some works to be done to remove all remnants of the previous site offices and support site for the tunnelling in the East. Next week will be much of the same up at EHO.

Sunday Snap

Now that we’re on the cusp of completion of the western footpath and connection into the Shrine of Remembrance, I thought this week I’d share a nice evening shot from 2018, when we had just begun the construction of the station walls in the northern section of the station box.

You can see St Kilda Road realigned to the west to allow the construction of the station box, as well as the Windsor Oak tree in Albert Reserve (bottom left of the shot), which is now adjacent to the new Albert Road Reserve Station entrance.

Have a great week

Thanks, Rob

Be aware that it is now truly one hour parking out the front. Be careful as City of Port Phillip will now enforce it

They were proposing it to be paid ticket parking until I informed them that there is nowhere to put a ticket machine 🙂

Bricklaying works are finished ahead of schedule and the lower carpark driveway is no longer obstructed.

Please mind your speed and positioning when using the driveway.