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February's Britomart newsletter touches on upcoming Britomart Place works, the recent Community Liaison Group Meeting (including a link to the minutes and presentation slides), a Link Alliance update. It also features a note from the Chief Executive on Covid-19's impacts on the project, and an introduction to the newest member of the Britomart comms and engagement team - Martinus' Tania Reynolds.

Britomart Place Works

A new section of works on Britomart Place is now in it’s final stages of planning. Tunnel roof strengthening works and movement of a wall within the tunnels will require an excavation at street level on the eastern side of Britomart Place. These works will be completed by Martinus.

The diagrams below show the approximate location of the works, ensuring pedestrian and vehicle access through Scene Lane and Britomart Place will be maintained. The team is currently working to submit the Resource Consent application, with physical works intended to start on site from late April 2022.

Prior to construction starting, the team will be liaising with neighbouring businesses and apartments over the next two months. We want to ensure we understand access and business activities so that we can minimise impacts as much as possible.

We are also planning to undertake pre-condition surveys of some nearby properties. This is where an independent specialist company is employed to photograph and document internal and external walls, fittings and structures prior to the start of construction.

If you have any questions or queries, or haven’t heard from us and would like to, please do not hesitate to contact either Nicole Lawton (CRL) or Tania Reynolds (Martinus) through the CRL contact details below.

Email: info@cityraillink.govt.nz
Phone: 0800 CRL TALK (275 8255) - option 1

CLG off to a great start

With works about to ramp up in Britomart, we recently held our first Community Liaison Group (CLG) meeting online to inform neighbours and stakeholders of the upcoming project-related construction in the area.

These ongoing Britomart works differ from the previous CRL construction operating in the area, known as contract 1 or C1 (pictured below). C1 was concerned with the construction of the CRL tunnels under the Chief Post Office building and lower Queen Street - connecting with those built under the Commercial Bay mall and Albert Street (C2). The C1 CLG is now closed.

Ongoing Britomart works will include changing the station from a ‘terminating’ station to a ‘through’ station, renovating the station to accommodate longer nine-car trains that carry more people and includes the reconfiguration of underground equipment rooms to accommodate the CRL.

Most works will be underground at platform or track level, however, unavoidably, some of the works are required to be undertaken at surface level - particularly in Britomart Place at the eastern end of the station precinct. This CLG outlined these works, and included information about how neighbours could get in touch with the construction team.

Attendees included a cross section of the local Britomart community - including businesses, apartment dwellers, local government, emergency service and business associations.

The minutes and presentation for this CLG can be found online at this link: www.cityraillink.co.nz/clg-britomart

If you would like to find out more about our ongoing Britomart works, please find a link to our notifications here or become a member of our CLG by filling in this form.

Covid and CRL - a note from the Chief Executive

This month, CRL Ltd chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney (pictured below) shared his thoughts regarding the on-going impacts of Covid-19 on the project. As the presence of Omicron increases in the community, there continues to be both immediate impacts on the workers required to stand down, and more longer-term impacts on resourcing and supply chain.

“Politics plays a big role in the City Rail Link project. The Crown is one of our two sponsors – the other is Auckland Council – and it’s fair to say that we get a lot of positive support from all sides of the political spectrum. But there’s no escaping the fact that those in the ‘big house’ at Parliament in Wellington do like to keep an eye on how the funds we receive from both New Zealand taxpayers and Auckland ratepayers are being spent."

To continue reading, please click here.

Link Alliance Works

Last June, Link Alliance started working onsite at Britomart Place, starting utilities investigations to enable their relocation outside the Britomart Station footprint area. This work is almost complete. Well done team!

Works known as ‘Appendix 26’ continue at the Chief Post Office. This includes the reconfiguration of underground equipment rooms and construction back of house facilities, and it certainly keeps the team busy.

A ‘smoke curtain’, shown in the render above, will be installed to trap smoke and protect people in the event of fire. At the western end, the lower level platform will be raised, then extended to accommodate the longer 9-car trains the CRL will bring.

If you have any questions or comments relating to Link Alliance work be sure to contact the team: Britomart@LinkAlliance.co.nz.

Meet the team

Name: Tania Reynolds
Company: Martinus
Title: Stakeholder Engagement

Kia ora everyone, I have just joined with the Martinus team to support CRL Ltd and the project team in the works around Britomart Place and Scene Lane. As described above, our piece of the CRL project puzzle is expected to start construction at the end of April. I’ll be working with Nicole and the wider CRL team to ensure neighbours and the community know what is happening and when, as well as help with any issues that may arise for neighbours. I’ve been a part of projects similar to this for over 15 years and find the key is to listen – so please don’t hesitate to get in touch and share with us too.

Warm regards,
Tania

Find out more
For information about Britomart and Quay Park Yard work click here.

How to contact the Britomart Station team
If you have any questions or concerns about our works, please email the Britomart Station Team at info@cityraillink.govt.nz or phone us on
0800 CRL TALK (275 8255) and press option 1 for Britomart work.

Ngā mihi nui
Britomart Station Team

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Britomart Newsletter February 2022