A BRIGHT blue crane has towered over the southern end of Auburn St this week, as the Aldi supermarket extension slowly begins to take shape.
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By yesterday afternoon, a number of the tilt up pre-fabricated concrete walls, some weighing up to 24 tonnes, had already been lowered into place.
Some 28 panels will comprise the building when complete, which includes a lift shaft on the Astor Hotel side of the project.
ARW Multigroup Director David Anable said other onsite work included driving a series of one metre diameter piers four metres into the ground, before the walls could be erected.
“Today (Tuesday), we’ve been working on erecting the boundary and inter-tenancy walls.
Erecting the tilt up walls was a two day job, so it’s quite a rapid construction process,” Mr Anable said.
“Once walls are up, we’ll be installing the structural steel for the roof, which holds it all together.
After that is the ground slab, followed by the first floor slab.”
Mr Anable said the project was still on track for a Christmas lock up, prior to handover to Aldi for the fit out.
The current traffic management in place will continue for much of the construction process, while ARW Multigroup incorporates a facade into the building’s Auburn St side.
The new development will facilitate an extra 337 square metres of retail space, set 1.5 metres below the main street level.
It will also comprise 13 serviced apartments on the first floor, with a reception area on the ground level.
There will be a 164 sqm shop on the development’s Auburn St aspect, unrelated to Aldi.
The new construction is on the site of the former Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) building, which was demolished to make way for the extension.