Thursday, 24 February 2022
|
|
|
Our teams all across the site enjoyed a Valentine's surprise from Link Alliance and local florist, Roma Blooms. Many took their roses back home to gift to loved ones.
|
|
|
Kia ora ,
We hope everyone managed to stay cool over a very hot and humid February!
This month we celebrated Valentine's day with our site teams and a selection of gorgeous roses from one of our local businesses, Roma Blooms Florist on Albert Street. We hope you were able to enjoy this special day with family and loved ones ❤️
The impacts of COVID continue to be felt on our construction site, in line with the growing outbreak across the country. There are both immediate impacts as crew members are required to stand down, and more longer term impacts on resourcing and supply chains. Dr Sean Sweeney, CEO of CRL Ltd, shared more about this at Parliament this week. Find out more here >>
The government announced a new targeted COVID Support Payment for businesses -- applications open on Monday, 28 February. Find out more information here >>
As always, to contact us you can email us at: aotea@linkalliance.co.nz or call 0800 CRL TALK (0800 275 8255 and press option 3) to speak to us.
Kia kaha,
The Aotea Station team
|
|
|
|
Fon, our office manager, takes care of everyone in the office with her Valentine's rose.
|
|
|
Singa, one of our traffic and logistics controllers, looks after vehicle movements on Mayoral Drive with her rose.
|
|
Community Liaison Group Meeting
4pm, Tuesday 29 March
|
|
|
You are warmly invited to our Community Liaison Meeting next month, 4pm Tuesday 29 March. These are open to all our neighbours around the construction site, and are an opportunity for you to hear about the Aotea Station construction in more detail and provide feedback on project progress.
When: Tuesday, 29 March | 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Where: Online via Microsoft Teams Live, click here to join the meeting >>
Click here for more information on how to participate in a Microsoft Teams live event >>
Agenda: A detailed agenda will be provided closer to the date but will include a preview of 2022 milestones and the construction year ahead, information about environmental impact monitoring, and an announcement about the City Rail Link's station names.
|
|
Avelina Vaisima
Digging the "Mighty North"
|
|
|
|
Avelina Vaisima our graduate engineer leading the team to complete the prop and waler installation, and bulk excavation beneath Albert Street between Wyndham Street and Victoria Street.
|
|
|
Our North zone team (working below Albert St between Victoria and Wyndham Sts) completed two major milestones this month.
They not only completed the installation of all permanent props and walers (see our Jargon Buster below to learn more about what props and walers are!), but also completed bulk excavation in this area. These props and walers have allowed us to safely excavate down 16m below street level and remove a whooping 8600m3 amount of spoil! The completion of this work is a big win for our northern team who can now focus on the construction of the running tunnel and concourse level.
Avelina, Graduate Engineer, helped lead the team to the finish line, completing these works ahead of schedule. Avelina originally joined us at Aotea Station back in November 2020 as part of the Downer Summer Internship Programme before heading off to complete the final year of her engineering degree at university. She returned to the team late last year and we are so delighted to have her back!
|
|
Dame Whina Cooper returns to Mt Eden
|
|
|
Last month we shared about the process of removing the large sections of the TBM shield from our underground tunnels with the help of two 450 tonne cranes. Now we can share with you the process of transporting these massive pieces of equipment by truck back to Mt Eden.
Their huge size means an equally huge effort. You can see in the video above the front shield on a 104-wheel trailer, being towed by the lead truck. Another truck is supporting the move from behind. These deliveries must take place overnight so as to not impact commuter traffic.
And what of the TBM's long gantries? Well, they move themselves back to Mt Eden through the completed tunnel - not dissimilar to how a caterpillar moves!
Once all the parts have returned to Mt Eden, they will be reassembled for the second tunnel drive beginning in a few months. Follow the TBM's progress at www.digCRL.co.nz
|
|
|
|
A big thank you to our mates at Coffix for supplying staff and the public with refreshing beverages at our sellout TBM Thursday events!
|
|
|
|
A selection of the incredible work created at the Big Draw event at Aotea Station by the Auckland Urban Sketchers community.
|
|
|
We partnered with Urban Sketchers Auckland to host their January Big Draw event around the Aotea Station construction site. Local artists met with Abigail from our communications & engagement team to learn more about the project and to capture this moment in midtown's history. Check out some of the incredible work!
|
|
|
|
Looking across the staff "dome" area towards the Wellesley superstructure and Crowne Plaza / Council buildings. Artist: Murray Dewhurst
|
|
One of our telehandlers currently working on Victoria Street to transfer materials around site.
Artist: Murray Dewhurst
|
|
|
An excavator working at the surge pile on Mayoral Drive, looking towards Crowne Plaza.
Artist: Mark Whippy
|
|
Victoria Street looking down towards Queen Street from our info hub, Te Pukaki.
Artist: Charlotte Esser
|
|
|
A snippet of our Water Treatment Plant which cleans water collected from site, for reuse on site.
Artist: Dianne Johnson
|
|
Urban Sketchers working from the Aotea Centre balcony on Mayoral Drive by the Herald Theatre.
Artist: Maya Cotter
|
|
Exploring Midtown's Heritage
|
|
|
To mark Auckland Anniversary Weekend we presented a tour of the history of Auckland's midtown area.
The guided walk, with local historian Edward Bennett, took people around the area where Aotea Station is being constructed. It was full of interesting tales of the area’s past and how it all came to be.
The tour covered Auckland's original Civic Centre projects, the Queen Street river - Waihorotiu, the fire which destroyed the Auckland Opera House -- and visits to Auckland by 19th century legends, French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova, and French artist Paul Gauguin.
|
|
|
|
Learning about the Auckland Town Hall and the market history of Aotea Square
|
|
|
Learning about the history of The Strand Arcade and one of New Zealand's original Pizza Huts!
|
|
Aotea Station construction progress
|
|
|
South Zone - Mayoral Drive area
- Our TBM, Dame Whina Cooper, has almost completed her trip back to Mt Eden where she will be reassembled to begin her second tunnel run beginning in around April.
- Above ground we have almost completed the column and floors of the second level of the super-structure (Wellesley St entrance building). Steel reinforcing and concrete pours for the second floor columns continues. Third floor columns are also now up.
- Excavation continues beneath the completed B1 concourse level slabs down to the B2 platform and B3 track levels.
|
|
|
|
Steel reinforcing is a large and meticulous job across site at the moment. Here you can see some of our reinforcing for the level 3 columns, level 2 beams, and level 2 floor slabs of the super structure.
|
|
|
|
Steel fixers working on one of the level 3 columns of the super structure.
|
|
|
The internal station walls have started to appear on the concourse level (B1).
|
|
|
Central Zone - Albert Street from Wellesley to Victoria
- The station roof slabs have just been completed in the section outside Crowne Plaza Hotel
- The completion of the roof slabs in this area allows us to now re-install the airbridge between Albert Street and the Crowne Plaza, above the lower Albert Street service lane
- The completion of the roof slabs on Albert Street also means that station excavation and underground works will now continue to progress towards Victoria Street.
- In the area closest to Victoria Street, the upstand wall has been completed and the roof slabs in this section are starting to be built alongside the service lane.
|
|
|
|
Steel reinforcing being installed prior to a concrete pour for a roof slab opposite the Wilson Carpark on Albert Street.
|
|
|
Victoria Street Zone (from Federal to Elliott)
- Construction of the station roof panels is underway with concrete pours to follow the formwork and steel reinforcing. Once the roof slabs are complete we will continue excavating beneath the intersection.
- Another storm water relocation and upgrade was completed this month.
- Construction of a retaining wall was completed near Elliott St to allow for excavation of the eastern Victoria Street station entrance.
|
|
|
|
You can see the steel reinforcing being installed for one of the roof slabs in the lower right of the image. And by the AA building we are constructing a retaining wall and completing a storm water diversion.
|
|
|
|
Pile break back to bring the piles down to the station roof level. Many of these works are completed by hand to reduce noise disruption.
|
|
|
Separating different plant and machinery and ensuring each has enough space to safely work is a crucial part of working in these busy zones.
|
|
|
North Zone - Albert Street from Victoria to Wyndham
- The final props and walers have been installed in our northern excavation
- Excavation down to track level was also fully completed this month with 8600m3 of spoil removed
- Work to extend the running tunnels continues to progress south from Wyndham Street. This includes formwork and steel reinforcing for base slabs and walls, followed by concrete pours.
|
|
|
|
Cranes are needed to bring in and remove materials and equipment, due to how deep the excavation is. You can also see the steel reinforcing for the running tunnel progressing.
|
|
|
|
Mexican Cafe offers a wide selection of mouth watering Mexican dishes; situated upstairs at 67 Victoria Street West, they offer a cozy hideaway from the bustle of the city - and with their $10 lunch special it's the perfect place to relax over your lunch break!
|
|
Props (struts) and Walers
|
|
This month we celebrated the final props and walers being installed in our Northern excavation (between Wyndham Street and Victoria Street) -- but what are props and walers and why do we need them?
Props are temporary supports that reinforce our horizontal and vertical platforms during construction. This includes our permanent props (more formally known as struts) which span across our excavations to further support our retaining walls and piles.
Walers are beams that are temporarily installed across our retaining walls to spread the load across a wider area, which means the excavation is secured during construction to allow us to safely dig down deeper. Walers support our retaining walls until the rest of the structures are complete and we can then backfill back up to street level.
|
|
|
|
