Kia ora koutou

It's hard to believe it's less than 80 days to Christmas - what a year!  Everyone has had to weather challenges no one could have foreseen as we entered 2020.  We recognise this and are doing our best to progress with construction in a way that is conscious of our neighbours and minimises the impact of any disruptions.

Utilities work progresses, and construction of the station's diaphragm walls continues at pace and has now started on Albert Street.  Te Pūkaki, the name gifted by mana whenua for our bright green information centre on Wellesley Street West, will be open by November.  Te Pūkaki will provide an opportunity for people to learn more about Aotea Station, the City Rail Link project, and key project milestones.

Te Pūkaki opening hours will be Monday to Friday, 11am to 2pm.  Further information will be available via the City Rail Link website and the City Rail Link Facebook page.

You are also encouraged to email us or call 0800 CRL TALK (275 8255) then press 3 if you have any questions.

Ngā mihi nui

Aotea Station Team  

Aotea Station holds its first public tour! 

This month saw our first public site tour!  These regular tours cover everything from oversite development to our diaphragm wall construction to piling, to removing airbridges and bluestone walls!  To register for a future tour, click here.

Our second tour this month will be a one-off special art and site tour in partnership with Artweek Auckland.  This walking tour is free and open to all.  It will look at the artwork we are installing on our hoardings and give people an opportunity to learn more about how we engage with local artists.  To register for this tour, click here.

The City Rail Link project is designed with the community it serves front and centre of mind.  We encourage you to join us and learn more about the project and what we are doing! 

Artweek includes Aotea Station art! 

We are excited to announce that our hoardings, which will be covered in beautiful artwork by New Zealand artists will be ready and included in Artweek, which begins this weekend.  Multiple hoardings will be prominently displayed on site including a 50-metre hoarding running alongside Auckland Council on Albert Street. 

This artwork is called Urban Mesh and is a collaborative project between Link Alliance, Artweek and local artist Deborah Crowe.  Built from photographic imagery gathered during Crowe’s urban ‘wanderings’ in the city centre area of Tāmaki Makaurau, Urban Mesh fuses references to the past and present, and imagines potential future environmental factors in our urban landscape.

A key element embedded in this digitally woven artwork is the significance of experiencing ‘green in the city’, and the positive impact that flora and plant life have on people and people's well-being.

Dust control measures on site

As Auckland comes into warmer, dryer weather, one of the issues we are dealing with more frequently is the issue of dust.  Dust control measures on construction sites apply where there is the potential for pollution from dust travelling across the landscape or through the air.

Dust control measures include:

• Sweeping the site to contain dust and keep it away from the public
• Installing barriers to keep dust on site
• Hosing down dust piles
• Ensuring piles of dust remain within consented height limits; and 
• Placing sand mats around gutters to prevent pollution from entering waterways.

To help keep dust onsite we use mats and mesh coverings as seen on Albert Street near the Auckland Council building.  Managing dust on site is even more complex given the current water restrictions that Auckland has, and that the Link Alliance must work within.

Monitoring building movement 

To keep buildings safe while we construct Aotea Station, the Link Alliance monitors ground and building movement to ensure buildings remain stable.

One way we do this is by installing Automated Total Stations (ATS) on buildings.  ATS are integrated electronic / optical instruments that are used for surveying and building construction.  Generally, ATS are installed on the roof of a building to monitor prisms attached to surrounding buildings.  Instrumentation technicians and surveyors determine the optimum location of ATS following an initial site visit.  After installation, there are routine maintenance visits to recalibrate the equipment. 

At Aotea Station, ATS are installed at key points across the entire site.  They accurately measure horizontal and vertical angles, and the distance between a station and the prism points.  In the unlikely event building movement is detected, alerts are immediately sent to the relevant site team. 

Link Alliance award nomination 

We are excited to share that we have been chosen as a finalist in the AEC Excellence Awards for 2020!  Special congratulations must go to our design and engineering teams whose efforts are highlighted in this achievement.
 
The AEC Excellence Awards celebrate projects and individuals who stretch the limits of technology in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry.  The Link Alliance entered the Infrastructure Design category for Large Projects (over $500 million) and we are now in the running to be selected as the category winner.  

Our entry was one of 260 from 35 countries and one of only three selected as a finalist in our category.  We are also the only project from New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere to be selected as a finalist.
 
The winners will be announced next month!

Support for city centre businesses

Funded specialist support is available for businesses feeling the impacts of Covid-19.  Many city centre businesses have already accessed this fund, known as the "Business Advisory Fund" and brought in specialist professional expertise to help them through these challenging times. However, funding is still available.  

Heart of the City now has a business connector who is available to help businesses identify which areas of their business could benefit from this fully-funded support. 

Support areas include:

• Marketing strategy
• Wellbeing support
• Business mentoring
• Human resources
• Employee relations and legal
• Financial and cashflow management 
• Health and wellness
• Business continuity planning 
• Marketing strategy
• Digital enablement strategy 

To arrange an appointment with the Heart of the City business connector or for more information click here.