Giant Bunnings style shed to cover City Square during Melbourne Metro rail works

A GIANT Bunnings style shed will cover City Square for the next five years as work starts on the $10.9 billion Melbourne Metro rail tunnel.

• South Yarra station not ruled out of Melbourne Metro rail plan

A GIANT Bunnings style shed will cover City Square for the next five years as work starts on the $10.9 billion Melbourne Metro rail tunnel.

The Melbourne Metro Rail Authority will officially take possession of the Swanston St square on March 20.

Work is expected to start on the 9km cross-city tunnel as early as April.

A 20-metre high acoustic shed will cover most of City Square during the works to protect pedestrians and hotel guests from noise and dust from disruption underground.

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An artist’s impression of a big shed over City Square during Metro rail works.

It will be installed next year when major tunnelling and station construction begins.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said he hoped it would not distract people from enjoying the heart of the city.

“For about five years, this acoustic shed will be a main feature of our city,” Cr Doyle said.

Cr Jackie Watts said the MMRA had a responsibility to ensure that the hoardings and shed were “short-term assets and aesthetically pleasing to locals and visitors”.

“People are going to be confronted by this for a very long-time,” Cr Watts said.

“We have an opportunity to create something very beautiful around the hoardings, I hope the State Government is concerned with the lived experience of this big project”.

The last remaining tenant in the square, Brunetti Cafe, is due to cease trading at the end of March before moving to new location at 250 Flinders Lane in August.

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An indication of how the Metro rail works will progress at City Square. Picture: Supplied

Brunetti manager Damien Bonelli said the popular cafe had been a favourite for the past 11 years. “It’s a great location, you can’t get better than this,” Mr Bonelli said.

“The temporary shed won’t be the most appealing sight but it’s work that’s got to be done for the long-term vision of the city”.

Nineteen trees and six council-owned artworks will be removed to enable construction of the underground CBD South station.

Council has asked for most of the artworks, including the Burke and Wills statue, a bronze dog and the Collins St water wall, to be returned to the square.

It comes as new hope has been given to a future South Yarra station, with the three consortiums bidding to build the Melbourne Metro rail project told not to do anything that would stop one being built in the future.

MMRA spokesman Reid Sexton said City Square will be returned to the City of Melbourne when construction is complete.

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