Favourable weather has helped to ensure the Crown Street Mall refurbishment is on schedule for its October completion date.
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Wollongong City Council’s Director Infrastructure and Works Mike Hyde said the winter weather has co-operated with the construction work in the lower end of the mall.
‘‘The concrete pours have gone well, we’ve been blessed by very good weather and the winds haven’t affected us,’’ Mr Hyde said.
‘‘We’ve been really lucky with that - there have been other sites I’ve been where really heavy winds like that can knock things around and blow hoardings over.’’
Mr Hyde said the project was also on budget and the work on paving the centre section behind the hoardings would begin shortly.
‘‘By the end of September a lot of the hoardings will be gone and we’ll just have temporary moveable hoardings that will come in and move from shopfront to shopfront as we’re tiling in front of every shop,’’ he said.
Council had kept in contact with the store owners in the lower half of the mall and Mr Hyde said he understood the difficulties in trading during construction.
‘‘It’s a bit like a hospital visit - something you’ve got to do but you know in a year’s time you’ll be a lot better off,’’ he said.
‘‘The mall has been overdue for renovations for so long now, you can’t go about it in half measures. This is a major project and a major stage of development in our city and it fits in perfectly with the work you’re going to see come online with GPT.
‘‘We’ll have a city that we can be really proud of when this is all over.’’