Seating removed as City Mall progresses

19 March 2008

Seating atHack Circle in City Mall is being removed this week as Project City Mall pushes through High Street.

The Hack Circle area has become congested and the seating needs to be removed to allow safe thoroughfare for construction vehicles and pedestrians.

Seating will also make way for construction buildings, which need to be moved because work is progressing along High Street. Street lighting was taken out yesterday, to allow the safe removal of the seats this week.

Seating for pedestrians and Central City workers is available further along Cashel Street and at the top of High Street in the completed stage of the City Mall revitalisation project. New seating and amenities for Hack Circle are included in the project design.

Work on Project City Mall is progressing to schedule along High Street, and Project Director Sean Whitaker says the team has been working closely with affected retailers to ensure as little disruption as possible.

Some retailers recently raised the issue of work timeframes along High Street. Mr Whitaker says he has reassured those retailers that work is progressing as quickly as possible and is running to schedule for Stage 1b – set to be completed as far as the Hallensteins building by June.

“The excavation and foundation work that has been carried out since January is the most time-consuming part of work. We have just starting paving the area and progress will be more visible in the coming weeks.

“We have as many staff on the ground as possible, working as quickly as they can. We acknowledge that retailers are affected while construction goes on, and we are committed to working as closely as possible with them,” he says

Weekly meetings are held with retailers to keep them up to date with progress and hear any concerns they raise. Construction compromises have already been made, including the stopping of noisy rock-breaking during busy lunch periods and the installation of signage to encourage pedestrians to keep using High Street.

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