Kia ora <<First Name>>,

We are now in our second full week back on site following the Alert Level 4 lockdown period. 

On the first day back, we had the privilege of being led in a site karakia by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Ngāti Te Ata, members of the CRL Mana Whenua Forum. The occasion was held entirely outdoors and mask use and physical distancing was in place, to ensure the safety of those involved. 

Since return to site, our immediate priority has been ensuring the safety of workers and the wider community. Enhanced health and safety protocols were reimplemented including physical distancing, health monitoring, cleaning, segregation between different work crews and wearing personal protective equipment including masks. 

We are now well into making strong progress with station construction. It is also good to see many of our community neighbours starting to re-open their businesses safely and contactlessly. 

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. 

Ngā mihi nui,
The Aotea Station team

Breakthrough milestone alert!

Last week the Aotea Station team exposed for the first time the existing running tunnels from Britomart Station. These tunnels were constructed several years ago and run from Britomart Station, beneath Commercial Bay, and up Albert Street to beneath Wyndham Street. Some may remember the “Walk the Tunnels” event held in 2019, when members of the public had the opportunity to experience being underground and in the tunnels.

Over the coming weeks, the Aotea Station team are preparing to “break-through” from our station structure into these tunnels (sometimes known as the "C2 tunnels"). This break-through is expected to take place during November. Take a look at the top of the running tunnel structure in the photo below, located approximately 10m underground. See if you can spot one of the team’s workers to give you an idea of scale! More to come on this exciting milestone over the coming weeks, and don't forgot to follow City Rail Link on Facebook and Instagram so you don't miss the moment! 

Ensuring a tidy and welcoming site

A large part of our team's work is ensuring the area surrounding the construction site is safe, tidy and welcoming for pedestrians, residents and local businesses operating nearby. 

During Alert Level 3 we have taken the opportunity to make some improvements across the site, many of which are now in place. These include additional lighting, updated wayfinding, colourful scrim across the site, and a new local business directory. 

Over the coming weeks we have even more to come, with a focus on walkways, more business promotion, and the re-opening of our public information centre. 

Archaeological update - another bluestone wall!

While many of you know the original bluestone wall on Albert Street (near Durham St) well, some may not be aware there was in fact two bluestone walls on Albert Street. While the original bluestone wall was the first of its kind in Auckland and built in 1880, the second one on Albert Street was constructed much later in the early 20th century. 

This second wall is located between Victoria and Wellesley Streets, near the current Crowne Plaza Hotel. Last week during our demolition work we exposed elements of this wall, set behind several layers of newer concrete and retaining structures (which retain Albert St above the service vehicle lane below). 

While not as archaeologically significant as the original bluestone wall, we have had an archaeologist on site to record these findings and will continue to monitor the ongoing demolition. 

We are also keeping a close look-out for the foundations of the old Albert Street fire bell tower, which we expect to locate near this area - watch this space for future updates! This tower not only housed a fire bell, it was also a great vantage point to view the surrounding area - look at the photo below!

Quarterly stakeholder survey results

We want to thank everyone who took the time to complete our quarter 3 stakeholder survey. Every piece of feedback we receive allows us to update our practices and improve our communication channels to better serve our neighbours.

In this survey we received comments that our communication channels are good quality, especially things like newsletters and other communication that contains imagery demonstrating construction progress. Thanks for sharing this positive feedback, and we'll do more of this! 

We'll also take a few other comments and suggestions forward - thank you for these too!

• Develop translated materials or tools for those who may wish to engage in other languages. Please do get in touch and let us know if you have any language preferences.
• Always keep the milestone tracker up-to-date (this can be found here on the CRL website)
• Follow-up with site staff to ensure noise protection is installed at all times during noisy works.

In addition, City Rail Link has recently setup a Targeted Hardship Fund for small businesses. More information can be found of the City Rail Link website and businesses can also contact C3hardship@cityraillink.govt.nz for further information or queries. 

Upcoming works at Aotea Station

We have made some great progress since returning to work at Alert Level 3!

South Zone - Mayoral Drive area

• Excavation of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) opening portal continues (this is where the head of the TBM will be removed when it completes its first drive from Mt Eden in early 2022)
• Construction of the first floor of the station superstructure (above-ground station entrance building) continues.
• Excavation of concourse level (B1) is complete, work will continue on the concrete slab floors.
• This week excavation begins beneath the completed concourse level B1 slabs down to the platform level. 

Central Zone - Albert Street from Wellesley to Victoria

• Underground excavation of the concourse level (B1) of the station platform continues.
• Removal of the road continues as roof slab construction progresses. This road will be re-aligned later in October. 
• Demolition of the redundant Albert Street retaining wall continues.

Victoria Street Zone

• Utilities upgrade and relocation on Victoria Street is almost complete.
• Preparations for a water treatment plant to be installed on site (by the President Hotel) continues, including construction of a sump.
• Station construction continues with piling and guide wall construction, and preparations for the arrival of the diaphragm wall plant in a few weeks. 
• Our information centre, Te Pūkaki, has arrived near Elliott Street and we will be preparing for opening to the public once it is safe to do so. 

North Zone - Albert Street from Victoria to Wyndham

• Roof slab construction continues north towards Kingston Street, with a large concrete pour last week. 
• Work to widen the road from the corner of Durham and Albert slip lane, up to the Finance Centre Wilson Carpark continues.
• A new loop road through site has been installed to allow materials to be delivered to the northern part of site.
• Underground excavation of the tunnels near Wyndham Street continues to make progress, with the top of the completed tunnels from Britomart being uncovered.
• Underground excavation of the tunnels begins this week by the Media Design building heading back towards Victoria Street.

Jargon Buster: Plant

Sometimes when our construction crew are discussing upcoming works on site they may start talking about plant location, set up, or people/plant interaction. This can be a bit confusing since a construction site is usually devoid of flora and greenery!

When construction workers are discussing plants on site they are generally referring to heavy machinery such as excavators (diggers), piling rigs, cranes, concrete pumps, and many other large pieces of equipment.

Working with and around plant (heavy machinery) is one of the biggest hazards on site, so our team has to have rigorous planning and mitigation measures in place to help keep everyone safe!