Dream takes shape at Britomart

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The first length of track is down at Britomart as work on the $211 million transport project enters the final phase.

Structural work is all but complete at the state-of-the-art railway station, which is due to open in July. A total of 48,000cu m of concrete has been poured around a giant hole the length of two rugby fields at the back of the old Chief Post Office in downtown Auckland.

The first of five tracks has been laid and the project builders, Downers, are starting the fun bit of installing the architectural features. The platforms will have a bluestone and white quartz terrazzo finish.

The old post office is being refurbished as a grand entranceway to the underground station. Behind safety tarpaulins, the Oamaru stone has been cleaned and an English stonemason, Jerry Smith, has recreated many of the original carvings and repaired gargoyle-type faces.

Tarpaulins draping the 1911 building will start coming down in the New Year to reveal the cleaned surfaces - the top three storeys made of soft Oamaru stone and the bottom-floor facade of harder Coromandel granite.

Jackhammers and heavy machinery are ripping up QEII Square and surrounding streets for a spruce-up in the same materials used at the nearby Viaduct Harbour. Part of this work involves an underground concourse linking the station to the square.

A separate covered walkway above ground across the square to link Queen St with the Ferry Building is being built. A road will also run through the square from Quay St to Customs St West for buses, which will be based in the streets around the post office building.

On one of the platforms, electrical supervisor Kevin Wheeler stands under one of 11 volcanic cones along the length of the underground station that will let in natural light.

They rise above ground level alongside a new walkway, known as Ta Huhu St, which runs from the back of the old post office towards Britomart Place.

In the background, workers are getting ready to install a giant, light-drenched glass canopy that will connect the station with the post office.

At the back of the post office, escalators, lifts and stairs will take commuters down one level to the train station with a curved waterfall and native plants on either side. The waterfall will be backed with dark, fine-grained basalt volcanic rock.

Stainless steel mesh that will cover the inside of the concrete shell has arrived from Spain and is being draped in a wavy curve the length of the station.

Meanwhile, the Auckland City Council has received 14 bids to redevelop 17 historic buildings in various states of disrepair and vacant development sites around Britomart.

The buildings, valued at around $25 million, and development sites cover about 84,000sq m - about double the size of St Lukes shopping centre - with extra space for about 700 carparks.

Council officers, architects and independent planners are evaluating the bids and will select a shortlist by January 31. Successful bidders will have until March 31 to prepare final, binding proposals.

Herald feature: Getting Auckland moving