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Mercury Lane temporary access shaft, inside the noise shed
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Kia ora koutou
We hope you are keeping well and have successfully seen through the second lockdown. Although the Link Alliance was fortunate enough to continue working through the lockdown to help ensure we continue hitting our key target milestones, we are all too aware of the personal impacts living through a pandemic has on individuals.
The health and safety of our team and the public is the number one priority of the Link Alliance and this includes people's mental health. That is why we place such importance on working with stakeholders throughout the project.
This is a journey that we are on together. As such, there are a number of ways to engage with the Alliance. If you have any questions or comments about Karangahape Station or related works, please call us on 0800 CRL Talk (275 8255) option 4 or email Karangahape@linkallinace.co.nz.
In addition, once we drop a level we will once again open our information hub on Beresford Square that will have a team member present and be an opportunity for people to ask questions first-hand.
We will also restart our site tours led by our project engineers.
Hei konā mai,
The Karangahape Station team
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Urban Jungle on Canada Street
Local and well known Auckland artist Paul Walsh has completed his work titled ‘Urban Jungle’ along the hoarding of Canada Street to transform them into a storytelling experience, connecting audiences with engaging narratives that reflect the place and people of Karangahape.
The style and characters may seem recognisable! That’s because Paul has painted large murals and utility boxes in the immediate Karangahape area – including the ‘musician memorial wall’ on the Rockshop.
In his own words Paul said “My goal with this design is to represent the ‘urban jungle’; the vibrant people, fashion, music and cultures that inhabit the teeming ecosystem we call K Road. A playful, light-hearted artwork, in what I guess would be my signature style.”
The piece is part of the Link Alliance’s Development Response programme which aims to mitigate the impacts of the large-scale development, and cumulative impacts of construction activity on people within the Karangahape road area, while also supporting the local arts community. It’s part of City Rail Link’s ambition to be ‘Auckland’s biggest art exhibition’.
Take a stroll or cycle past Canada Street to see the work!
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Developments at Beresford Square and Pitt Street
As our works notifications detailed, the next stage on Beresford Square has begun. This means a fixed walkway around the square and the arrival of cranes for plunge columns.
Plunge columns are temporary columns, up to 40-metres deep, that support floor slabs during the construction of the various levels of the station. They are removed from within the station once the permanent walls and columns are complete.
Vector, the gas and electricity service provider, are carrying out works on Pitt Street and in front of Hopetoun Alpha. The works in the pits in these locations will continue through to November.
You can find the detailed works notification here: https://www.cityraillink.co.nz/notifications-karangahape-station-area
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In wider project news - Our Tunnel Boring Machines progress
The tunnel boring machine (TBM) that will dig two tunnels from Mt Eden Station to Aotea Station via Karangahape Road is on its way to New Zealand!
Our TBM will be named Dame Whina Cooper following a national competition to name the machine after a ground-breaking New Zealander. Tunnel boring machines are traditionally named after a woman in honour of St Barbara who is the patron saint of miners and tunnellers.
The Dame Whina recently passed her factory acceptance test and has been declared ready to ship to New Zealand. She successfully underwent more than 500 tests to make sure everything will work as it should.
Dame Whina has been designed by German manufacturer Herrenknecht at its factory in Guangzhou, China. She will be shipped in separate pieces and reassembled at Mt Eden Station when she arrives later in the year.
After an official blessing she will start her first tunnel drive in April 2021. It will take around eight months to complete the first of the two 1.6 km drives from Mt Eden Station to Aotea Station via Karangahape Station. At Aotea Station the tunnel will break through beneath Mayoral Drive.
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Catching rain and upcycling bins
From the small to the large we are always looking at innovative ways to be more sustainable. It is a cornerstone of thinking in the building of the City Rail Link and thanks to a dose of creativity at Karangahape, two noteworthy implementations were set up this month.
A 31 thousand litre water tank has been given the green light to be installed on site which will collect, store and reuse water captured from the roof of the noise enclosure at Mercury Lane. A great win considering we are the midst of a drought and have limited space on site!
A smaller but just as notable development is the removal of bins from under desks in the office. This not only encourages people to use our main recycling and composting facilities but as it’s being rolled across the site it will stop 2200 plastic bin liners being used each year. And just to top it all off the site bins are being upcycled into plant pots for some green fingered staff members!
We aim to build New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project without using unnecessary resources or creating unnecessary waste. There is no New Zealand sustainability standard for infrastructure, so we have embraced and enhanced the ISCA framework, working with Mana Whenua to make it more appropriate for the New Zealand context.
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Flying the flag for Mates in Construction
City Rail Link Ltd and the Link Alliance are proud to support Mates in Construction’s “Fly the Flag” campaign to prevent suicides, particularly in the construction industry.
Mates in Construction is an organisation formed to combat a high rate of suicide among New Zealand construction workers.
More than 200 construction sites across New Zealand are flying special flags this week, to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.
Our project’s vision for health and safety is ‘Mahia te mahi, hei painga hei oranga mo tātou katoa’ – to do the work for the good of everyone.
In addition to proudly displaying the Mates flag there is a programme of events and talks to reinforce the message to all workers that help is available when the going gets tough.
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