Te Waihorotiu Station
Community Liaison Group Meeting - Minutes
18 September 2023
DATE Monday 18 September 2023
TIME 4.00pm – 5.30pm
LOCATION Caffe Greco, Wyndham Street
ATTENDEES Link Alliance
Matt Sinclair – Station Manager
Shaun Sutton – Community Manager
Nicole Borland – Development Response Manager
Diana Toki-Hu – Senior Communications & Engagement Advisor
Patrick Gibbs – Project Engineer
Rachel Blundell – Head of Communications & Engagement
AECOM
Kate Symington - Principal Environmental and Urban Planner
Auckland Council
Richard Northey – Local Board Member (Waitematā Local Board)
Ben Maw – Programme Manager – Development Response
Auckland Transport
James Wickham
Attendees
Tania (Heart of the City)
Jugdish (Roma Blooms)
Shobhana (Roma Blooms)
Jaydee (Victoria Street Lotto & News agency)
Pratima (Victoria Street Lotto & News agency)
Vicky (Manhattan Apartments)
Agenda
1. Welcome (Shaun Sutton)
2. Te Waihorotiu Station construction progress (Matt Sinclair)
3. Streetscapes update (Patrick Gibbs)
4. Social Impact and Business Disruption (SIBD) review (Kate Symington)
Presentation
Presentations from Link Alliance and AECOM attached.
No Item Discussion
1. Welcome - Shaun Welcome, introductions and thanks to Caffe Greco for their venue in hosting CLG.
2. Te Waihorotiu - Significant progress has been achieved underground,
Station construction update – Matt and with building façade works.
- Wellesley Street entrance building sky element louvres and aluminium fins will start to be installed next month.
- The triple escalators connecting the Wellesley entrance foyer to concourse level are now installed as well as the lift glazing. All 11 escalators inside the station are now installed.
- There are several back of house plant rooms in the Wellesley Street end of the station as well as near the northern section of the station located under Albert Street near Victoria Street. Station fans and transformers are coming and will be installed there soon. Cable containment is happening in these areas with over 275km of cable to be pulled across the station.
- Early 2024 we plan to achieve “power on” for the station which will be a massive milestone.
- Then we will start livening the smaller units such as the fans etc.
- Internal ceilings on concourse level are progressing well and these have been installed to wrap around the station skylights as show in the photo. The glass shadow boxes on the sides are all finished. Next year, a lot of the architectural work will focus on flooring and tilling which will take around six months to complete.
- Last year in October we were still excavating dirt. Today, we are have installed rail, lifts, escalators, fitout facades and more.
- We will have 100% connected rail from Mt Eden to Britomart on one side of the station installed by this Thursday, and by early 2024 we will have achieved the same for the other station rail.
- Shobhana from Roma Blooms says that is it important for emergency services to work closely together so that the public can be made aware what to do in emergency situations when the station is operational. Matt says that emergency services have been actively involved in the relevant design aspects and site visits. There is significant CCTV coverage and speakers for announcements within the station which AT will eventually be managing once the station opens.
- Streetscapes works are also now well underway on Albert Street (section from Victoria to Wyndham
3. Streetscapes update – Patrick - Majority of the streetscape construction on Victoria Street is now focused on finishing the footpath paving and the road4. Social Impact and Business Disruption
(SIBD) review
- Kate Symington
Street and including Kingston Street)
- The lower slip lane area will also soon become a hive of activity with station substation installation and the reinstatement of the Bluestone Wall to kick off. A key priority is maintaining pedestrian access vehicle servicing to this area.
- The focus for streetscapes next year will be moving south along Albert St toward Wellesley St / Mayoral Drive. Our priority is to stage these works to deliver as best as we can despite constraints such as workforce supply, utility providers coordination as well as coordination with neighbouring projects.
- Shobana and Jugdish from Roma Blooms say that in their view some areas of the footpath are too steep and therefore may be a hazard. Patrick advised that the new drain channel installed to cater for stormwater has required parts of the footpath to be raised, and this is part of the design that Auckland Transport is expected to accept. At the corner there is a “pram crossing” that transitions from the footpath to the road and this gradient will be reviewed.
- Shobana continued to express her disappointment regarding the lack of loading zones considered in the design. James from AT says that there is currently work being done to add extra loading zones in the wider midtown area.
- Vicky from Manhattan Apartments suggested to contact the CEO of AT directly as this CEO is new and according to her had recently expressed that he thinks the city centre should have more loading zones.
- Tania asked about loading zones on Kingston Street, and Shaun confirmed that new loading zones will be installed there, which is an increase from when the new street layout was first designed.
- This review covers period of 1 April 2022- 31 March 2023.
- The review has observed a significant increase in Link Alliance collaboration with Police, Heart of the City, Auckland Council, and Maori Wardens to improve safety.
- There have also been a range of proactive activations, including the large support local neon sign, support local & win campaigns as well as being part of numerous arts and culture programmes.
- Noise & vibration, business disruption and lack of loading zones are the top three complaint themes.
- Once complaints are received, the Link Alliance team usually respond immediately and conduct monitoring to confirm that works are compliant. Mitigation
methods such as noise mats and dust suppression are also utilised.
- Shobhana says that it would have been good if a 3D model of the streetscapes design was presented during the design consultation phase so that stakeholders are able to get a better idea of what the finished streetscapes would look like. Shobhana mentions that the streetscapes are not looking as nice as how it was originally presented to them.
- Vicky is surprised at the width of the station entrance taking up so much of Victoria Street and believes that a huge station has been designed to cater for people who don’t exist (and thus taking space unnecessarily). Shaun commented the project is a 100+ year infrastructure project and has been future proofed to cater for population and public transport growth.
- Kate will include this feedback in the SIBD report.
Next Steps
- Minutes will be uploaded to CRL website and circulated to relevant organisations
- Feedback has also been directly passed onto Auckland Transport and Auckland Council
- The draft SIBD report will be circulated to the community for comment
- The team will continue to be in touch with stakeholders as soon as further information and details are received regarding the next stages of streetscape works
- Underground tours for stakeholders – all are invited and please contact the team if you wish to have a tour.
- William will continue to be in touch with stakeholders for the Small Business Support Programme which ends 31 October for application submissions