News & Insights

Geofabrics Australasia announces the launch of Maccaferri FlexMac® Temporary Flood Protection Barrier

Thank you for your support and wishing you a safe holiday season.

Our branches & warehouses will be closed from the 23rd December 2022 & reopen on the 3rd January 2023.

Elcorock® is used to construct a seawall at Nukufetau island. 

The Eton Range Realignment Project endeavoured to make the area safer by upgrading the existing range crossing.

Geofabrics provides robust solutions designed to reduce the effects of coastal erosion

Esperance Coast Road in Tasmania was developing several signs of deterioration including deformation, cracks, and edge failure.

Built in 1974, the approximately 145-metre-long timber and steel beam wall was deteriorating.

Geofabrics are securing land, sea & air infrastructure for safer defence operations

Verti-Block Concrete Block has officially joined the Geofabrics product portfolio

Geofabrics Australasia have joined Social Traders

Our client required assistance with the modelling and construction of a cost-effective and strong piling platform.

Environmental planning laws require the height of secondary storage bunds around storage tanks to be maintained, to protect the environment and the public from harm in case the storage tanks leak.

Geofabrics Australasia joins the Australian Made campaign

A slope supporting critical infrastructure became of concern to the Townsville City Council.

Geofabrics' winning strategy for the AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies award is featured in the AFR.

The Bruce Highway was earmarked to be upgraded to 6-lanes between Caloundra Road and the Sunshine Motorway.

Geofabrics Australasia Acquires 100% of Plascorp Group

The construction of the Queensland Country Bank Stadium, located in Townsville, began in August 2017. Geofabrics was engaged to supply and design a high strength drainage system for the multi-purpose venue, which has seating capacity for up to 25,000 people.

Geofabrics has partnered with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to create the Geofabrics Australasia John Bolton Civil Engineering prize, in honour of our late colleague John Bolton.

This private pond, overlooking Lake Hayes in the Queenstown Lakes District, was designed with a timber board walk through the pond, linking the house to an entertainment area.

Inland Rail is a once-in-a-generation project, building a railway line from Melbourne direct to Brisbane through Parkes NSW. It will allow double stacked containers to travel in a transit time of 24 hours or less, competing directly with road transport.

Waimakariri Bluff lies on the side of the SH73 State Highway which links Christchurch to the West Coast of New Zealand. These rock slopes are highly fractured and active with countless frittering rocks which would regularly fall on to the road surface.

Last week, the Honourable Glenn Butcher, Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing and Minister for Water joined Geofabrics Australasia to formally launch our latest innovation SORBSEAL; a next-generation, hybrid Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL), specifically designed to trap PFAS and other harmful emerging contaminants.

Flaxmill Bay is a popular holiday destination located within Mercury Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s north island.

A mine site in regional NSW, currently under care and maintenance, required a solution to cap an existing tailings storage facility (TSF) using fly ash.

The MMG Mine in Rosebery is located approximately 300 kilometres north-west of Hobart, Tasmania. The mine has been operating for nearly 80 years, with operations commencing in 1936.

Geofabrics is pleased to announce that Concrete Canvas® is the first Geosynthetic Cementitious Composite Mat (GCCM) manufacturer to comply with the new ASTM product standard for GCCMS in all categories of erosion control. Geofabrics Australasia Pty Ltd and Geofabrics New Zealand Ltd are the exclusive distributors of Concrete Canvas in Australia and New Zealand.

A private homeowner required a design for two very steep easterly facing banks on their property. The current banks were costly to maintain due to lost plants, maintenance and soil erosion.

In an industry with so much complexity, getting the most efficient result in a responsible way can be challenging.  

Geofabrics is proud to announce the extension of our mining portfolio with the Tensar Underground Mining Grid range. 

PROJECT LOCATION: Haughton River, North Queensland
DESIGNER/ HEAD CONTRACTOR/ INSTALLATION CONTRACTOR: The Infrastructure Group
END USE CLIENT: Department of Transport and Main Roads 

When storms hit the east coast of Australia last week, the impact was significant for the Byron Bay community. Beaches that were already experiencing coastal erosion were impacted further, as strong winds and rain swept away the coastline.

Businesses prepared for the worst but were relieved to find that the coastal protection system installed by the local council the month prior had reduced the amount of damage considerably.

Project Location: Helensville, Auckland
Designer: Beca
Head Contractor/Installation Contractor: HEB Construction Limited
End Use Client: Kiwi Rail

Australia’s largest manufacturer of geosynthetic products, Geofrabrics recently installed a low-pressure Kaeser ESD 245 rotary screw compressor at its Albury manufacturing plant in regional New South Wales. Replacing an ageing compressor, the new machine is assisting Geofabrics in continuing to meet its sustainability goals.

Australia’s states and territories have agreed to ban the export of waste by 2024, but what is next?

Geofabrics partners with Visy to drive a no waste circular economy for PET

Geofabrics recognised on the AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies list 2020

Project Location: Wacol, Queensland
Designer: Sheehy Partners
Head Contractor: Shadforth Civil Contractors

You can now check the status of your Geofabrics order - available on our website and mobile site. 

Recycled Australian bottles helping to resurface Australia’s roads

A service station was proposed to be built in Westphalen Drive, Riverview. 

The Bolivar Waste Water Treatment Plant, South Australia's largest; processes 60% of metropolitan Adelaide's raw sewage. 

In Opononi, WSP undertook a dynamic adaptive planning process to develop a suitable corridor to this important coastal roading link.

The embankment along Beechmont road was always getting eroded continuously during and after heavy rainfall events.

Recycled plastics now a base for major road, rail and landfill projects thanks to Regional NSW innovation.

A three-metre diameter stormwater pipe which runs from Black Street, Brisbane down to the discharge point in the Brisbane river had become blocked. The blockage threatened flooding of over 3,000 city residents. 

The Beijing National Stadium, known as Bird’s Nest Stadium, is a US$428 million, 91,000 seat Stadium that was used for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.  Since the Summer Olympics, it has hosted numerous Athletic, Football, Pop Concerts, Pageants, Sports and Cultural activities.

The Roydvale site was an old shingle quarry which was infilled with construction waste and later turned into a mini golf course and driving range. The site has now been turned into ten commercial lots. 

At the Pine Rivers Park site there was a concrete pipe which allowed the stormwater overflow to steadily stream down towards holding ponds in Strathpine.

Mud-spots are a common occurrence along sections of railway throughout New Zealand. These are areas where water accumulates and causes contamination and wear of the ballast by movement of the particles.

Geofabrics provides clients with effective options for wastewater capture, storage, distribution and treatment through an innovative range. One of the local water authorities had an issue with an existing water channel.

Following the 2018 flooding at the Northbrook ponds the council necessitated a design review for a one in 50 year flood event of the railway drain overflow.

In a residential subdivision in Boolaroo, a two-level cut slope reached maximum heights of approximately 8 m to 10 m. Due to the maximum height reached, the slope was excavated as two batters separated by a mid-level bench.

The ballast component was at the end of its lifecycle - contaminated and broken. The track had a mix of timber and concrete sleepers as well as a mix of dog spikes and screw spikes, so was due for renewal. 

Geologic time scales are on the order of tens of thousands of years. Rocks are known to be hard and durable. It is therefore tempting to think that a hydraulic structure made of rock should have no problem lasting an engineering service life of say, 50 years.

Clarence Valley Council required expansion works at the current Grafton landfill site to meet the wastage demands of the council. 

A site used by Kent Storage for container storage required an underground detention tank due to limited above ground space.

Good design is the first step towards the success of any civil engineering project, safe and efficient construction is the next.

The project came to fruition due to a section of Wyomi Beach losing approximately 25 m of dunes from recent storm events. Coastal protection measures were needed urgently to protect The Esplanade and adjacent residential properties. 

The Gold Coast City Council maintains an estimated 31.5 km of seawall known as the A-Line.

Gingin is one of the oldest towns in Western Australia and retains some important remnants of its pioneering days dating back to the 1850’s. However, The Shire of Gingin sports complex is a modern facility at the heart of community life.

Fiordland in the lower South Island of New Zealand is a very high rainfall intensity area with high landslide and rockfall hazards. 

In 1988 the Highways Department of South Australia requested Maccaferri to prepare a design suggestion for a bridge using a gabion type facing in combination with a large horseshoe culvert.

A well-maintained grassed area utilized by a school community for sport and recreation was selected as the most suitable location for a load bearing platform to support a fully loaded firetruck.

Commencing in October 2017, The Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre (LMWQCC) Dam Stabilisation project involved remedial works and preventative maintenance on crucial and active elements of the largest inland sewerage treatment plant in Australia.

The Christchurch Gondola in the Port Hills area is an iconic tourist attraction in the region. The gondola ride from the base to the top of Mt Cavendish Summit is a 1 km ride that goes through the crater rim of the Port Hills.

So, you’re in need of coastal protection…

An existing site comprising of a series of sludge lagoons were near impossible to get into and clean out. SA Water approached Geofabrics for a solution to be able to permanently access the ponds even after refilling and use.

Biotech Water is contracted to manage the wastewater emanating from a rural chicken processing plant in Queensland.  

Adelaide’s beaches are affected by a common phenomenon called longshore drift - the flow of water, in one direction, along a beach occurring as a result of winds and currents.

Geofabrics was announced the winner of the 2018 AusTrade Australian Export Awards for Environmental Solutions at a ceremony in Canberra on Tuesday 27 November 2018.

Geofabrics was approached by Brian Perry Civil Ltd for a material that would protect the fibreglass stormwater outfall pipe from being damaged by the rip-rap that is to be placed around the outer circumference.

Fishing from the shoreline of Munna Point has been a favorite past time of the holiday makers using the Noosa River Holiday Park which since the 1920’s. Recently the water’s edge at Munna Point has experienced severe erosion to the point in which the council had to fence off this part of the beach to ensure public safety.

The City of Rockingham upgraded and extended Mundijong Road in 2013 to form Kulija road. More than $6 million in Federal funding was secured by the City of Rockingham to help build the 5 kilometre extension connecting the Kwinana Freeway, at the Baldivis Road exit, to Mandurah and Dixon roads. 
This new road is a vital road corridor from the Kwinana Freeway to Rockingham’s city centre which will improve access to the region’s commercial and industrial areas.
Erosion problems started to occur soon after completion due to an uncontrolled flow from a piped outlet system that was washing sand and soils down an 80 m long slope of approximately 8.75% grade causing major channel erosion. More erosion was occurring on road side embankment slopes due to water runoff from the unkerbed road travelling down embankment slopes next to the road.
 

Anglesea Landfill, operating since 1974, is a Type 2 ‘valley fill’ landfill accepting approximately 20,000 tonnes of waste including putrescible waste, solid inert waste and fill material.

On the 30th of October 2018 Will Gates presented his paper Resilience of Australian polymer-modified powdered sodium bentonite geosynthetic clay liners to downslope bentonite erosion at the 8th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics in Hangzhou, Ch

Geofabrics was approached by Roadtek in Brisbane for some possible solutions regarding a problem at a site on Southern Cross Way, Brisbane. A stormwater drain had the issue of water being unable to drain away from the outlet.

In a time-constrained environment, when faced with many requests for product approvals, the key question then becomes what parameters should a designer consider when asked to approve alternatives presented by contractors, particularly when contractors are trying to optimise the product purchase cost and keep construction costs down?

Fouled or contaminated railway ballast is material recovered from the formation containing broken ballast particles, soil fines and other contaminants deposited during normal rail operations.  The disposal of this material is an issue for many rail authorities as it may contain hazardous hyd

Rail in NZ runs over a prepared subgrade with adequate subsoil drainage installed parallel to the line, this is then topped with a typical AP100mm broken face hard ballast rock.

The Saptashrungi gad is located in the East-West range of Shyadri mountains, approximately 65 km from Nashik. It is one of the most visited religious sites for pilgrims coming from neighbouring states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat.

In January of 2018 Concrete Canvas was used by Cowra Council in New South Wales to rectify a failed open drain following a substantial rainfall event.  The heavy rainfall event led to undercutting and eventual failure of the existing corrugated steel drain.

Traditional theories suggest that water ingress into soils under a pavement will over wet the natural subgrade to its soaked CBR state and therefore induce heaving or create a softened support for the pavement.

Kaikoura is a coastal town in the North Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is a popular tourist destination known for its abundant wildlife and its year round sperm whale population. The region was badly affected by an earthquake in the November 2016.  At the P1A site, the first of ten major slips north of Kaikoura, there was sufficient space to install a low maintenance landslide and rockfall protection solution in the form of a rockfilled face Green Terramesh Bund.

A gabion lined water course / wetland flow path was required for 1 in 100-year storm events for this new residential development. The channel is designed to cope with high water flow in heavy rain events hence the need for protection of the channels side walls using genuine Maccaferri gabion baskets.

The region was badly affected by an earthquake on November 2016. The magnitude 7.8(Mw) earthquake caused landslides and rockfall along the coastal road of State Highway, SH1. The state highway links the town north of Kaikoura to Blenheim and south to Christchurch and at the same time serves as a major tourist route with its scenic view along the coast. Rail corridor also sits along the side of the SH1 responsible as a major transportation mode to bring goods in from Picton.

Worldwide, it is estimated that there are an average of two tailings dam failures every year[i]. In Australia, the regulatory environment has made it extremely difficult to build a new dam. These are indications that current practice is not working to the level required. Not only can tailings storage work better, but it can also be done economically.

During the past 20 years there has been a great deal of interest in obsoleting the use of welded wire mesh for underground secondary roof support applications.

Welded wire mesh has inherent issues with material handling, related to unusable material loss, personal injuries and installed longevity.  Mines report that for every ten welded wire panels transported underground, one cannot be installed.  Injuries associated with welded wire mesh installation range from shoulder and back sprains to hand and facial punctures.

In April 2017 a consultant enquired about the use of a GCCM (Geosynthetic Cementitious Composite mat) in rehabilitating an eroding drainage channel for a local government authority, which they thought would be an economical solution to their problem. The channel was to be 3.2 m wide crest to crest and 100 m long. The objective was for the channel to be installed up stream of a new guardrail installation and to protect the new guardrail footings from being scoured in the event of a heavy rainfall event.

Fluid storage tanks have many applications within the mining industry including at well heads and fluid processing facilities, for irrigation water storage, dust suppression water storage, construction water, potable water and grey water at camps. They are also suitable for wash down bays.

Our client used bidim C Range conductive geotextile as part of its lining containment system on two double lined brine water storage tanks to deliver significant savings in design time, construction time, expenditure and environmental impacts compared with traditional regulated dam construction. 

A forestry access harvest road was required into a private block in Glengarry, Hawkes Bay.

WT Partnership’s report, Track Formation Rehabilitation Options (Geofabrics) – Cost Options and Whole of Life Comparisons (June 2016), was carried out comparing a range of different scenarios using Geosynthetics and comparing them to conventional track formation practices which do not utilise Geosynthetic solutions.

The study investigated a 200 metre long section of track renewal over a 40 year life span and made conservative assumptions around total replacement costs. The study investigated three capital works life span replacement intervals: 15, 20 and 25 years. These intervals can be considered conservative as geosynthetics have proven to contribute to the performance of rail lines for intervals in excess of these time frames.

In April 2015, Concrete Canvas GCCM was used to line a ditch next to the new Bexhill to Hastings link road.