Rocla® GPTs setthe standard

A P R I L 2 0 0 3

N E W S F R O M R O C L A P I P E L I N E P R O D U C T S

Big pipes secureirrigation supply

Fast earth retentionsystem beats deadline

Rocla – 80 years old andstronger than ever

Zealand is another country successfully

adopting Rocla CleansAll® GPT

technology.

Our Pipeline Precast products are

undergoing continual development to

provide our customers with fast, reliable

alternatives to in situ construction. A

number of innovative applications can

be seen in this issue.

The future is also very much about

responding to changing markets. At

Rocla we are looking forward to the

challenges of the future and to ensuring

that our company, like our concrete,

continues to gain strength and improve

with age.

Stephen T. BakerGeneral Manager,Rocla Pipeline Products

Rocla Piper

ISSN 1032-7282

Rocla Pipeline

Products is a

leading supplier

of precast

concrete

solutions for the

civil construction

industry

SRC PIPES

CULVERTS

HEADWALLS

ACCESS

SYSTEMS

PRECAST

BRIDGES

RETAINING

WALLS

CONCRETE

BOARDWALKS

RURAL

PRODUCTS

WATER

QUALITY

SOLUTIONS

Published byRocla Pipeline Products

6 Thomas Street,Chatswood, NSW 2067

A business unit of Rocla Pty LimitedABN 31000 032191

Member of the Amatek Group

In this issue we recognise Rocla’s

origins and our just completed

80th anniversary year. Eight

decades have seen much change

in the precast concrete industry,

as the stories in these pages show.

Rocla was founded on a spirit of

innovation that continues to drive the

development of new products and

processes.

Rocla Water Quality is one such

innovation that has seen a great deal

of Rocla’s resources focused on

sophisticated stormwater management

solutions. The challenge of overseas

licensing opportunities is now being

met with our environmental products,

such as the Rocla CleansAll® GPT

being used in KL for one of the world’s

largest urban developments. New

From the General Manager

Now.

Three

80 years old and stronger than everRocla has just passed a significant

milestone in its history: the 80th

anniversary of the formal registration

of the company in 1922 as Concrete

Specialties Co.

The partnership between friends

and engineering graduates Heaton

Clarke and Walter Robertson began

two years before that in a shed at

Sunshine in Melbourne. They produced

wash troughs, lintels and oval gutter

crossings, with a before tax profit of

£30 for the first six months.

Robertson and Clarke combined

the initial letters of their surnames to

form the Rocla trademark. The first

Rocla® pipes were produced in 1926

for a small order of 30-inch diameter,

3-foot lengths for Korumburra Shire in

Gippsland.

Despite the Great Depression,

Rocla expanded to Brisbane in 1930

and Mackay in 1931. A centrifugally

spun process was already in use, the

pipes being joined on site with lead.

In 1932 a radically new jointing method

was developed by Rocla, using rubber

sealing rings. This was for a 6000-foot

pipeline in Victoria’s Western District

which became the first rubber ring

jointed concrete pressure pipeline in

the world.

During World War II the revolutionary

roller suspension process was developed

in a shed at Springvale.

By the 1970s the roller suspension

process had been bought by

companies in countries such as India,

Pakistan, Europe, Japan and the US.

Rocla had become an international

leader in concrete pipe making

technology, with 31 countries taking

up its know how.

Continual improvement in design,

automation and quality control has

ensured that this Australian developed

technology has remained one of the

leading manufacturing processes in

the world.

Rocla is now much more than

a pipes company. Products such as

Rocla M-Lock® bridges and Rocla

MassBloc® retaining walls provide

complete civil construction solutions.

Rocla Water Quality products, including

Rocla CleansAll® Gross Pollutant

Traps, Downstream Defender* oil and

sediment separators, ecoTechnic®

oil/water separators, and now the

Rocla ecoRain® rainwater utilisation

system, provide long-term environmental

solutions.

Diversification has also seen the

emergence of dedicated businesses

such as Rocla Poles & Sleepers, Rocla

Pavers & Masonry and Rocla Concrete

Materials.

When Robertson and Clarke joined

the RO and CLA from their names,

they could hardly have imagined that

80 years later Rocla would be an

Australian icon and an international

leader in concrete technology.

1. Twin cell line under construction.2. Spinning 100mm pipe.3. Transporting large diameter pipe moulds.4. Spraying pre-stressed pipe with concrete.

4

3

2

1

* Downstream Defender is manufactured underlicence from Hydro International PLC.

Then.

The largest diameter pressure

pipe supplied by Rocla in the

Gippsland region of Victoria was

used to solve a problem with a

leaking weir and secure

irrigation water for farmers.

An old concrete and earth weir

beside the north bank of the Macalister

River, used to contain an upper level

irrigation channel, was leaking up to

two megalitres a day back into the river.

The 10-metre high dam, built in

the 1920s, channelled water from the

Glenmaggie Dam along a gully above

the river, between two tunnels. The

water supply is vital to the Macalister

irrigation district.

Southern Rural Water, which is

responsible for maintenance of the

structure, had only a 10-week window

to fix the problem before the irrigation

water was required for the farming

season. A design and construct tender

was let, which was won by Austral

Construction.

The project required joining the

existing tunnels with a pressure pipeline

and demolishing the weir.

A wetlands area would replace

the old channel, drained back into the

river via a culvert.

Big pipes secure irrigationwater for farmers

Four

Before: The old leaking weir above the Macalister Riverand the upper irrigation channel from Glenmaggie Dam.

Rocla supplied 83 metres of

2550mm diameter 50 kPa pressure

pipes to connect the two existing

tunnels, plus two pipe bends.

For the culvert, Rocla supplied

26 box culverts (2400 x 1200mm) and

base slabs.

The culvert had to pass under

the pipeline, so the crown units were

manufactured at Rocla’s Wodonga

plant and delivered first.

Once the culvert was constructed,

the pipes were delivered from Rocla’s

Sydney plant.

With the irrigation season fast

approaching and with space on site

restricted, the large pipes had to be

delivered on low loaders to a tight

schedule to permit construction of the

pipeline within a week.

Austral Construction laid all the

pipes in five days.

Alignment was critical to ensure

the pipelines from the two tunnels

met accurately in the centre, minimising

adjustment of the make-up piece.

Rocla remained in constant

communication with Austral and

Southern Rural Water to overcome the

logistics problems and ensure all

products were delivered on time.

ProjectIrrigation pressure

pipeline

LocationMaffra, Victoria

AuthoritySouthern Rural Water

Design & ConstructAustral Construction

EngineersQANTEC

Pressure Pipes & Culverts

Rocla PipelineProducts

After: Pipeline laid under new earthworks, with theriver on the right and new wetlands to the left.

A 2550mm pipeline was used to join twoexisting irrigation tunnels.

Aculvert drains the new wetlands into the river.

Five

Rocla® Gross Pollutant Traps are

being installed in Malaysia at a

landmark development that will

set the standard for water quality

in South-East Asia.

Rocla’s Malaysian licensee, Water

Engineering Technology Sdn Bhd (WET)

is supplying Rocla CleansAll® GPTs

to the ambitious Putrajaya project south

of Kuala Lumpur.

Putrajaya is a self-contained

“cyber city” that will become the new

administrative centre of the Malaysian

Government.

Described as an “intelligent garden

city” it is set on a 4500ha greenfield

site between Kuala Lumpur and the new

KL International Airport at Sepang.

About 40% of Putrajaya is natural,

with parks and gardens enhanced by

waterways and the largest constructed

wetlands in the tropics.

Infrastructure is designed to the

highest international standards. Water

quality standards are also among

the highest in the world and will set

the standard for future developments

in Malaysia. WET has installed some

30 Rocla CleansAll® units for the

stormwater infrastructure of Putrajaya,

with many more to come.

Representatives from WET and

government authorities in Malaysia visited

Australia to see the manufacture,

installation and maintenance of the

Rocla CleansAll® GPT on several

occasions.

Rocla established a technology

transfer agreement with WET for the

Rocla CleansAll® GPT in July 2002.

The agreement included technical

training, manufacturing and installation

support, as well as marketing assistance.

Rocla is continuing to support

its licensee with the technical,

manufacturing and marketing support

required to help WET become the

leading supplier of GPTs in Malaysia.

Rocla GPTsset the standard for futuristic garden city

1

1. Putrajaya Mosque.2. Group from Malaysia at Rocla’s Sydney facility3. Ministry of Finance.4. Prime Minister ’s office.

2

4

3

The Rocla CleansAll® GPT made

its debut in Canberra recently in

an unusual installation featuring

two back-to-back units.

Although proprietary GPTs are

only now being evaluated by the ACT,

the Territory in fact led the country in

the use of gross pollutant traps. Large,

open GPTs with concrete-lined wet

basins have been in use in the ACT for

more than 20 years to prevent the flow

of coarse sediment, trash and debris

into waterways, water quality control

ponds and urban lakes such as Lake

Burley Griffin and Lake Tuggeranong.

The twin Rocla CleansAll® CA750

GPTs were installed at Horse Park

Estate, a 470-lot residential development

at Gungahlin. The units treat stormwater

run-off from Stage 1 of the development,

which includes 150 lots.

The GPTs are connected to twin

low-flow stormwater pipes. Young

Consulting Engineers devised the twin

cell solution because of limitations on

the size of the stormwater pipe.

The site is relatively flat and using

a large diameter pipe would have

required raising the surface of a road

that crosses the pipes near the GPTs.

Cleansed water from the GPTs is

discharged first into a wetlands pond

that doubles as a detention basin, then

into the existing stormwater system

and ultimately into Yerrabi Pond.

Because the artificial wetlands

forms an important aesthetic feature

of the development, it was imperative

to keep it free of rubbish and debris.

The ACT Department of Urban

Services, which will inherit responsibility

for the stormwater system at Horse

Park Estate, is closely monitoring the

maintenance procedures, costs and

occupational safety aspects of the GPTs.

Concern over space limitations,

aesthetics and initial and ongoing costs

were major factors in the specification

of the Rocla CleansAll® GPT by Young

Consulting Engineers. Stainless steel

collection baskets with drop-away floors

make cleaning the Rocla® units much

easier and more cost-effective than traps

that rely solely on vacuum trucks.

These advantages plus the ease of

installation resulted in a Rocla CleansAll®

GPT CA1350 unit being installed in

Stage 3 of the development.

Getting into the ACT: First CleansAll for Canberra

Six

ProjectHorse Park Estate

LocationGungahlin, ACT

DeveloperCanberra Residential

Developments

Civil ConsultantsYoung Consulting Engineers

InstallerKenoss Contractors

Gross Pollutant TrapsRocla Water Quality

Seven

Run-off from the largest inland

marina in the Southern

Hemisphere is being released

into the Murray River free of oils

and sediment, thanks to Rocla®

Downstream Defender*

stormwater treatment units.

Hindmarsh Island, in the Murray

estuary in South Australia, has been

developed at a rapid pace since

completion of the controversial 1997

Hindmarsh Island Bridge.

The Marina Hindmarsh Island is a

400-hectare development on the island,

which sat in limbo during the 8-year debate

over whether the bridge should be built.

It is now experiencing a minor

boom. The bridge has made the island a

favourite anchorage for Adelaide boaties

and a popular location for holiday homes

as well as permanent residences.

The Marina Hindmarsh Island

development includes a 1200-berth

marina as well as 1000 home allotments

and a commercial development.

Almost half of the allotments have

already been sold.

From the beginning the developers

were committed to environmental best

practice and a desire to exceed EPA

standards.

The marina car park presented

particular problems because of the

refuelling and wash-down of boats.

Three Rocla® Downstream Defender

units were installed around the marina

to treat run-off from the land subdivision

and the marina car park.

One 1800mm diameter treatment

unit was installed next to the marina

slipway with a heavy duty concrete

surround.

Two 1200mm diameter units were

installed in the car park. These required

cast iron covers to handle loads from

boats, large towing vehicles and buses.

Consulting engineers Parsons

Brinckerhoff (formerly PPK) Specified

Rocla® Downstream Defender as the

most cost-effective means of removing

oils and fines from the stormwater.

Marina releases clean water to Murray

DevelopmentThe Marina Hindmarsh Island

LocationHindmarsh Island, SA

DeveloperHindmarsh Island Marina

Consulting EngineersParsons Brinckerhoff

ContractorSmith Bros Plumbing

Stormwater CleansingDevicesRocla Water Quality

Rocla® Downstream Defender units ensure only cleanwater enters the Murray River.

Heavy duty lids protect the Rocla®

units from heavy vehicle damage.

The Rocla® Downstream Defender*oil and sediment separator uses hydrodynamic

principles and has no moving parts.

*Trade mark of Hydro International PLC.

A combination of Rocla® Culverts

and clever design helped Delatite

Shire solve a tricky creek

crossing near Mansfield in

Victoria recently.

The challenge was to replace a

10-metre timber bridge that crossed a

creek at a 45-degree angle, with a long

drop to the water level.

The council and Bells Earthmoving

designed a culvert bridge, with two

cells offset to allow the road to cross at

the required angle. However, the 3.7m

drop to the creek bed was beyond the

“leg-reach” of the Rocla® 2100 x 2100

crown units.

Built-up reinforced footings were

cast, with rebates to take the crown

units.

Edge slabs were then formed at the

top to fill the gaps between the angled

culverts, with a concrete upstand for

the pavement and railings.

Existing concrete abutments were

retained and the old timber piles

supporting them were supplemented

with columns created from concrete-

filled Rocla® pipes.

Clever design solves tricky crossing

Eight

The occupants of an industrial

estate west of Melbourne are

enjoying the benefits of sealed

roads, kerbs and drainage - all

funded by the property owners

themselves under a community

contribution scheme.

Property owners at Pakenham

Industrial Estate solicited Cardinia Shire

Council to upgrade the gravel roads

and open drains on their estate.

However, with 1000km of unsealed

roads in its shire, the council was unable

to fund the $2 million works required.

The council proposed that, since

the owners would benefit from improved

access and increased property values,

they should pay the costs themselves

under a “special charges” scheme

authorised by the Local Government Act.

After four years of discussion,

agreement was finally reached without

the need for independent arbitration

and the works proceeded in 2002. Rocla supplied 1.6km of reinforced

concrete stormwater pipe in diameters from 225 to 750mm to the contractor

Quinn Civil Contractors, itself a property owner at Pakenham Estate.

Estate opts for self-funded upgrade

Nine

After consultation with the landscape

and bridge designers, contractors Hill

Brothers constructed two adjacent

Rocla M-Lock® Bridges each of 30

metres overall span. The specified finish

included texture coating on the sides

of the concrete deck together with

black powder-coated guard rails.

The bridge is also unique in being

the first transversely post-tensioned

Rocla M-Lock® Bridge constructed

in Australia. The stressing satisfies RTA

requirements for high traffic volume

bridges.

Construction of both bridges was

completed in less than eight weeks.

A 100-tonne crane was used to lift the

headstocks and planks. This reduced

the required set-up positions to two

locations.

ProjectRoad bridge

LocationBella Vista Estate, Sydney

DeveloperNorwest Limited

Design & ConstructHill Brothers Construction

Co. Pty Limited

Precast Bridge SystemRocla Pipeline Products

Split bridge an attractive and fauna friendly solution

Twin post-tensioned

Rocla M-Lock® Bridges provided

an aesthetically pleasing road

entrance to a new residential

development at Baulkham Hills

in northwest Sydney.

Developers Norwest opted for the

precast solution mainly for aesthetic

reasons.

Environmental considerations were

also a factor because the gully under

the bridges is a wildlife corridor used

by native fauna.

The original culvert proposal was

rejected over concerns that animals

would be reluctant to enter the dark

tunnel created by the culvert. The dual

carriageway option provides an open,

airy design that allows light to enter the

space between the bridges.

Rocla's Geoff Shadbolt presents amemento of the project to Hill Bros

managing director, Roger Hill.

Ten

Fast retention systemhelps meet deadline

Narrandera Shire Council in

southern NSW recently replaced

an ageing bridge over Sandy Creek,

near Sandigo, with a 30-metre,

triple-span Rocla M-Lock® Bridge.

Work commenced in November

2002 and the new bridge was completed

before Christmas.

Demolition took about one week

and construction less than four weeks.

Design and Project Engineer, Sarath

Premachandra, said the council opted

for a modular precast bridge, with a

preference for the Rocla M-Lock®

system. “They are a better quality

product because the components are

manufactured in a factory controlled

environment,” Sarath said.

“As well as being quick to build,

they only require a small construction

M-Lock speedsdelivery of bridge

The Rocla MassBloc® permeable

retaining wall system was used

recently to create two attractive

retaining walls behind a shopping

centre car park at Narooma on the

NSW South Coast.

Contractors Narooma Earthmoving

planned to use a gabion retention

system but time constraints demanded

a faster construction method.

The Rocla MassBloc® system

appealed because of the ease of

installation of the large precast blocks,

which are placed using a cast-in lifting

anchor and interlocked with a precast

nib. Narooma Earthmoving and

engineers Van Leeuwen & Associates

took advantage of the tapered sides of

the Rocla MassBloc® units to create

two curved walls.

One wall is concave, while the other

features a double curve. The contractors

and shopping centre management were

both impressed with the speed of

assembly and attractive finish of the

system.

crew and no surfacing of the deck is required.” Bridging Australia, who

won the contract, used a “span-over-span” construction technique, to

speed construction even further. Once the piles were driven, each span

was erected off the previously completed deck section.

One of the largest industrial sub-

divisions in the Riverina district

is attracting a mix of

manufacturing and transport

businesses to the town of Leeton

in southwest NSW.

Vance Industrial Estate is a 20-

hectare development with 43 lots from

3000 to 10,000 square metres.

The drainage lines on the site include

some 2.5 kilometres of Rocla® concrete

stormwater pipes.

Leeton Shire Council project

manager, Bret Lee, said a lot of thought

had gone into the drainage infrastructure

to allow maximum flexibility for occupants:

“All stormwater connections are direct

to the pipe system and the sewers are

all located at the front of the lots so that

no block is encumbered by easement,”

Bret said. Rocla’s Wodonga factory

supplied steel reinforced concrete pipes

in diameters from 300mm to 1350mm,

as well as some 20 precast sewer

access chambers, to contractors Turner’s

Excavations.

Eleven

New estate attractsindustry to Riverina

Rocla Concrete Poles in

Rockhampton recently

manufactured special spun

concrete lighting poles for

installation at an offshore coal

loading facility at Hay Point,

south of Mackay in Queensland.

The Hay Point Coal Terminal, which

is operated and supplied by BHP

Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, loads coal

from the mines of Central Queensland

on to ships via a rail-port network. The

wharves, located 1.8km offshore to allow

loading in deep water, are serviced by

a conveyor system supported on jetties.

The 18-metre poles were supplied

in three sections that could be easily

bolted together on the facility.

To cope with the harsh environment,

the poles were manufactured with

stainless steel and galvanised joint

sections, as well as corrosion inhibitor

on the mild steel reinforcement cages.

Despite constant sea spray and

salt water, the poles are expected to

provide a minimum 30-year life.

Concrete poles installed at sea

Rocla® stormwater pipes and sewer access chambers at Vance industrial Estate, Leeton, NSW.

18-metre Rocla® Lighting Poles were supplied in three boltedsections for ease of installation on this offshore coal loader

The contents of this publication are copyright and may not be reproduced in any form

without the prior written consent of Rocla Pty Limited. Product applications described in

this publication are to be taken as illustrations only, and are provided without liability on the

part of the company or its employees and agents. ®™ Trademarks of Rocla Pty Limited.

ABN 31 000 032 191. Trading as Rocla Pipeline Products. A member of the Amatek Group.

MassBloc trade mark used under exclusive licence from MassTec Industries Limited

and Fletcher Concrete and Infrastructure Limited. ©Rocla Pty Limited, April 2003.

For further information on products from

Rocla Pipeline Products and Rocla Water Quality

Call Rocla on 131 004

E-mail your inquiry to solutions@rocla.com.au

Visit our website www.pipe.rocla.com.au

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