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The surface team at our Beresford Square site earlier this month.
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Kia Ora
It’s been another busy month at Karanga-a-Hape Station (Karangahape) with our Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) departing the station tunnel on its drive to Te Waihorotiu Station (Aotea), it’s final drive for the project.
With the TBM departing one tunnel, work is full steam ahead in the other TBM tunnel with waterproofing, steelwork and concrete pours to the cross passages.
In both of our station boxes at Beresford Square and Mercury Lane, space is reducing as internal walls and columns rise up towards the slabs above. Read on to find out the work that’s taken place across the station over the past month.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns we can help you with, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email at Karangahape@linkalliance.co.nz or call 0800 CRL TALK (0800 275 8255) and press option 4.
Also don't forget our survey is still open until midnight tomorrow, 1 September. Follow the link to provide your feedback. Q3 2022 stakeholder satisfaction survey
Ngā mihi,
The Karanga-a-Hape Station team
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Our TBM prepares for its final journey
Our TBM is now well on its way to Te Waihorotiu Station, where the mega-machine is due to breakthrough into the station in September.
Before this final leg of the journey began, we managed to speak to some of the team who were critical to the TBM’s breakthrough at Karanga-a-Hape Station and the efforts to relaunch it. Watch the video above to hear, in their own words, about the breakthrough and the preparation works at Karanga-a-Hape Station.
You can follow the final leg of the TBM's journey at www.digCRL.co.nz, where the website is updated weekly.
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Flying the flag during September for suicide prevention
During the first week of September MATES in Construction will be raising awareness of the importance of talking about mental health and suicide prevention across our industry.
You will notice the pictured red and white flag across our sites in support of the amazing and significant work MATES in Construction do and the importance of raising awareness of these important topics.
Sadly, the construction industry has the highest rate of suicide when compared to all other industries in New Zealand. It loses at least one person every week to suicide - that’s more than 52 lives a year. We are a heavily male-dominated industry and 99% of those that we lose to suicide in our industry are our men.
To fly the flag is to display to the broader community that the construction industry is actively involved in the prevention of suicide. You can learn more about the preventative work carried out by MATES in Construction here or even donate to support them here.
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The mined tunnels team in adit 3 earlier this month.
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Works update - Mined Tunnels
With the TBM passing through the northbound tunnel for much of the month, work in the mined tunnels has been focused on the permanent lining in the southbound tunnel, adits and emergency cross passages. The picture below, taken from the northern end of the northbound tunnel, shows the light from the TBM shining brightly as it makes its way to Te Waihorotiu Station. Hanging from the top of the tunnel is a ventilation duct (yellow) and conveyor belt that takes spoil 1km back to Maungawhau / Mount Eden Station.
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The picture below shows the southbound tunnel in different stages of preparedness for the permanent concrete lining. The section closest to the camera has two waterproofing layers and reinforcing steel installed and is now ready for the formwork to be positioned and the concrete to be poured.
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Just as in the mined tunnels, the cross passages require bespoke formwork for the permanent lining. The two pictures below show the formwork in action between Maungawhau / Mt Eden and Karanga-a-Hape Stations.
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Permanent lining in the adit between platforms is taking shape. The image below is adit 3, which connects the north and southbound platforms under Beresford Square. The adit to the right, adit 4, takes commuters to and from the entrance at Beresford Square.
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Lighting the way around our site
Earlier this month, the team at Beresford Square installed a series of neon triangle lights along the south side of the square’s perimeter, adding some extra pop to the current colourful artwork.
The purpose of the lights is to draw people around the square to our local businesses, provide extra security through added lighting, and just more fun with shades of electric pink and blue after the sun goes down.
After the popularity of the ‘Shish-Ka-Buoys’ installation at Beresford site entrances earlier this year, the decision was made to bring in some permanent fluorescent lighting to the square.
The lights are proving a hit, so we intend to install more around the north side of the site’s perimeter so watch this space.
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The four design elements
Last month we shared how CRL’s design reflects the Māori creation story of Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatūānuku (the earth mother). This month, we find out more about how the station buildings share this central kōrero through architecture.
Four separate station design elements combine to tell the story...
- Earth Element – representing Papatūānuku. At Te Waihorotiu and Karanga-a-Hape Stations the earth element is represented by precast panels, the colour and texture of which mirrors Waitematā sandstone. At Maungawhau/Mount Eden Station the earth element is represented by basalt panels, in reference to the basalt of the local area.
- Sky Element – representing Ranginui and is depicted by the upper facade treatment. It is a hard working permeable, breathable, skin which responds to the functional and technical requirements of the station. The orientation of the sky element shingles, allows for air intake and exhaust for the louvres sitting behind. The sky elements at Te Waihorotiu and Maungawhau/Mount Eden Stations are different interpretations of ‘the tears of Ranginui’. The Mercury Lane sky element is an expression of Te Ika-whenua-o-te-rangi, the Milky Way constellation.
- Threshold Elements – these are unique to each station and represents an aspect and narrative relating to each station’s Māori deity (atua), or god. The threshold is the physical point between the outside streetscape, and inside the station. We’ll share more about this aspect of station design in upcoming newsletters.
- Fourth Element – represents Te Whaiao (the daylight or glimmer of dawn). It is a transitional element, providing layering, solidity and reflectivity to connect the earth element with the sky. A physical reminder of the act of Tāne Mahuta pushing apart his parents, Ranginui and Papatūānuku.
Next month we’ll share more about each station’s threshold element, that will welcome passengers to CRL’s world-class stations.
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The Mercury Lane station box team on the B7 slab earlier this month.
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Works update - Mercury Lane
Blink and you’ll miss it! The Mercury Lane superstructure is being erected at an impressive pace despite Covid continuing to beset the steel fabrication factory. The first image below is from the July newsletter, while the second image is from four weeks later. Assembled like a massive Meccano set the steel beams are bolted together using bolts, nuts and rattle guns. Two out of three sections of the superstructure being erected have now been completed, with the remainder scheduled for completion by October. With the first two phases of the frame up with have commenced the reinforced concrete walls and the floors to be poured in-situ.
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Meanwhile below ground, walls, floors and columns continue to be installed as the station builds upwards from B7.
With the floor for the smaller B3 ‘sub-floor’ above the TBM tunnel poured, work is now underway on the slabs for the much larger B4 floor.
A highlight in August was the pour of two ‘stadium columns’ situated the central area of the station box. The stadium columns, along with the other 14 columns in the station box, extend 27 metres from the lowest point of the station box (B7) to the street level slab (L0).
As the stadium columns are an oval shape, the team were not able to use standard square formwork. Therefore, bespoke formwork was designed by our temporary works team, which was then fabricated out of steel. You can see the brown forms in the second picture.
In the photo to the left below you can see the intricate steelwork – fixing reinforced steel in place to strengthen concrete – required before the concrete can be poured.
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Below: Looking east across the station box. The archway in the centre right of the picture is the main access point to and from southbound trains, with the platforms just beyond. Above the archway you can see finger shapes on the wall, which have been described as ‘theatre curtains’. These are actually artifacts the spinning blades of the hydrofraise machine left behind when excavating the perimeter wall.
This image is illustrative of the hive of activity underground in the Mercury Lane station box with the ever-changing scaffolding providing access for the crew to make formwork for columns and walls. The white arm, stretching across the image, is from the concrete pump above ground, reaching below to provide concrete for walls and columns.
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Station names open for public consultation
City Rail Link has an exciting development to share in its journey to officially name its four stations.
Public consultation is now open, meaning Kiwis across Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa can share their views on the names behind this important mahi (work).
As you may be aware, earlier in the year City Rail Link put forward a proposal to have four stations names, gifted by its Mana Whenua Forum, officially recognised by the national place naming authority.
Read more:
These te reo Māori names - Maungawhau, Karanga-a-Hape, Te Waihorotiu and Waitematā – are proposed to replace the pre-existing/interim names.
The names are inspired by the cultural heritage of the of the geographic locations these stations will serve, which will be reflected in the designs of the buildings themselves – further deepening the station’s connection to people and place.
The authority, the New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa, has considered these names and made minor adjustments to the grammatical presentation as below.
- Maungawhau/Mount Eden Station
- Karanga-a-Hape Station (Karangahape)
- Te Waihorotiu Station (Aotea)
- Waitematā Station (Britomart)
Find out more and ‘Meet Your Stations’ here or have your say by taking part in the public consultation.
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No.7 equals coffee heaven
If you like to start your day with a barista made coffee and a sweet treat, why not head down to No.7.
Open 7am-3pm and located at (you guessed it) 7/59 Pitt Street, it’s a lovely place to sit in and enjoy one of a number of tasty dishes for breakfast or lunch.
When the weekend rolls around, this cute café moonlights as a bar. On Fridays and Saturdays, from 5pm til late, you can choose from a selection of natural wines to go with a range of snacks as you wind down from the working week.
Head over to the No.7 Instagram page for the latest updates and events taking place.
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The Beresford Square station box team on the B7 slab earlier this month.
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Works update - Beresford Square
The Beresford team bade a final farewell to the Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine in August as she passed through the station box on her last leg to Te Waihorotiu. The image below shows the tail end of the gantry as it heads north; if conditions are perfect the TBM can travel 32-metres per day.
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