27th November - Moses Floats His Boat

In this together, all our couplets,

Nearly done, Hi Viz singlets

All over working, day and night

Its a magnificent sight.

The unfinished windows or scars

Insulate the building from cars

Wires hanging,

Carpenters banging.

The site is busy with hundreds of workers,

Tramping the lane with determined orders

Every trade a signature

Men, women, long and short, made to endure.

Rooms are locked, corridors waiting,

Spaces poised for music and singing,

The power and purpose of Machines

Calibrated, tested, ready and keen.

With Christmas and years end

A cohort swells and prepares to descend

From on high to the village below

To an arts precinct all set to grow.

When the Crane comes Down....

12th October 2018

Bumped into the architect in the Cafe this morning (Script), 
On the Dirty Boulevard (thank you Lou Reed-RiP), 
On a bright spring morning.

She too was in a bright mood with the important news that the Crane is to be deconstructed in the coming days. 
This of course is big as it means all the heavy awkward stuff is in and finishing touches to the facade can begin. 

Lend Lease crane at B880

Spare a thought for the ubiquitous crane, look skyward to see their presence, and wonder how it is they are removed. Do they lower a section at a time with or without the boom? Is the task completed with the aid or another crane or can it do it all by itself. Where do cranes go to rest? 

Earlier in the week I was with a plumber looking deeply into holes in the ground and wondering out loud about their condition. You can see by the pic the drain has seen better times. In a pile in the corner of the Lend Lease Ladies WC were these imported pebbles. Japanese made pebbles to be glued into the facade. See the background to this blog and you will notice recesses for oblong tiles such as those in the pic. 

Made In Japan 

Facade Inserts

Crane in Spring

Lovely new pipework

   

5th October 2018

Men and women of the Lend Lease crew. 

When the block was vacant a lone figure turned up to start planning the location for site sheds. Peter Clarke was the first of the Lend Lease crew to arrive and I suspect will be the last to leave. A hard working positive ambassador of the Lend Lease construction whirlwind. His best man Jim, the younger of the two, elevates with the building setting form work for concrete all the way to 'top out'. 

Front and Centre

Peter manages the foot of the building as 175+ workers come and go with a myriad of tasks.  The level of activity is astonishing. A nest of Lend Lease professionals work at solving the many, many installation issues. They work in B876, the old Telecom ablution block along Sturt St which is soon to become home to the Faculty technical support community.

I have a met a few of the young LL construction crew who work in a networked, digital and organised hive. Adrienne McGinnison heads installation of all services, Nat Gray has his head around the construction plan, not an insignificant task and Shaan from Prime electrical is all over the building like Spider Man. These men and women of the LL construction team and their contractors are working long hours and long shifts to ensure the schedule is met. Under great pressure from external factors such as the encroaching works on Southbank boulevard.

The Dirty Boulevard

Our very own (UoM) Emily Dixon, an extraordinary Project Manager juggling a mind boggling number of spreadsheets which list tasks from the past, present and future.  It is hard to imagine in that in high summer, January 2019 the building will be occupied.

October 1st RDO

1st October RDO-10.30am

James took me through on my request.
Signed on with my hat, gloves and hiviz.
Jamie took me to the top and we worked our way down.

Its been 3-4 weeks since I've been through 880 and the progress is noticeable.  I've avoided going near the site as it's been highly focused. One feels turning up as a tourist interrupts their flow and right now flow is essential.

The project is at the business end, with plant and equipment landing, sheets of plaster in doubles and triples are being fixed in place. The lifts are installed and duct work is lying around. Elevated work platforms are on each floor in groups of two and three.

Most impressive is the Oculus (gee I hope that's how it's spelt).
It presents like a planet and offers a great aspect to Sturt St looking south toward the Habitat Filter. 

The Habitat Filter

The room is cavernous, suspended on springs with a moat around the circumference where ventilation and services are ducted. The balcony is high and airy. The Sturt st walls have portholes and the whole room will be lined with strawberry blond timber panels.

Wheels on wheels in room G12.

 Since I was last out and about the windows were not in place. I believe there was frenzied activity to make it happen before the Southbank Boulevard project sopped the the flow of traffic in the street. On the exterior above the Occulus, around the Music studio the walls will be burnished with reflective copper laced glass. 

On the exterior roof above the Music workshop (room 313), reflecting South outside Studio 2-(room 513 on the 5th level.  

 Air handling units have been installed on the roof plant-room where the viewing is sensational. 

The Roof and the View

 On the west along Sturt street the 'eyebrow' hangs on its plinth, bolted in place from which a lidded view is possible.

The Eyebrow

The Lend Lease crane swings in the breeze on its rostered day off. It has been working hard, dawn to dusk when able to get trucks to feed its massive appetite for work.

Blowing in the Breeze

James explained for me the cost and pace of the build. The building sports comprehensive acoustic treatments before anyone plays a note in its many space interior. This is one reason the cost per square meter would keep me awash with beer for years to come. The other reason relates to how the spaces inter-relate through the nine layers making the build an incremental process with many set-ups and set-downs.

Adam Briscomb

The First Post

The Chimney

Ground Floor

This is one of many photographs showing the state of development as of August 20th 2018.

This is a matter of weeks before the LL team decided to start working at nights.

The South Bank Boulevard restructure has begun but at this stage (Aug) but will delay Sturte st activities in September  

Sturt St redevelopment September 2018

The next update will be from the building interior as I take my next walk through.

the landscape is changing rapidly and there is much more to come.

We are all sensing excitement as the changes will effect us all.