WET weather hasn’t dampened the work on Warrnambool’s city centre revitalisation.
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The $15-million upgrade is due to be completed in October, with stage one and two currently under way.
Warrnambool City Council’s renewal project manager Ben Storey said the upgrades were progressing well.
“Both stages will be finished by June,” Mr Storey said.
“What happens with large infrastructure projects, when you have tradesman all learning to work together, is that you find a lot of surprises in the overall project and learn how to deal with them in the first stage. It is always classically the longest. We have already seen an acceleration in terms that it took two weeks to get the drainage done up to Raglan Parade in stage two, as opposed to around 13 weeks in stage one.”
Mr Storey said stage three and four was on the opposite side of Liebig Street, between Koroit and Raglan Parade.
“Everything is starting to accelerate and when we jump across to stage three and four we will flip the construction site,” he said.
“The northbound lane will be open and parking will be on the west side of the street. We will start stage three and four at the end of June. Contractors are still confident of completion to program. They gave us that advice last week.”
He said some jobs were taking longer than expected, while others were being finished quicker than anticipated.
“We are still confident of an October finish,” he said.
“Kings Landscaping are running three crews and they are getting the bulk of the paving done pretty quick. It’s a little bit like a set of cattle yards out there at the moment, but predominantly people are not getting frustrated. The shoppers can see what we are trying to do. We are still being able to maintain access to all shops. At this point in time it’s really important that people keep supporting the shops in the main street. Everyone is still open.”
Mr Storey said there was also plenty of work happening off-site for the renewal.
“We are powder coating the light poles,” he said.
“We are starting to build furniture such as seats, bin enclosures, bike hoops and drinking fountains. Bamstone are hard at work cutting stone for us. We have a lot more stone coming in.”
Warrnambool residents are also encouraged to have their say on draft designs for the next stage of the city centre renewal project.
Stage two plans for the revitalization on Liebig Street between Timor and Koroit streets and Koroit Street between Liebig and Kepler streets are now out for public comment.
Mr Storey said potential features included a mid block pedestrian crossing, a kerb line extension for improved al-fresco dining opportunities, new street trees, line marking and street furniture, terraced level dining platforms and uplighting to the street and trees.
The feedback will be incorporated into the design.
City centre shoppers also have a chance to win $1 million by spending $30 or more in participating businesses. Shoppers need to keep their receipt and can enter online.
Schematic designs for the 2018 renewal work are on display at the city renewal project office at 142 Liebig Street, Warrnambool or go online at cbd.warrnambool.vic.gov.au to view the plans.