Construction Efficiencies Blitz Industry Average

Project Name     Capral Aluminium Bremer Park Manufacturing Plant
Location              Ashburn Road, Bundamba
Client                  Capral Aluminium
Civil Engineer     Wade Consulting Group
Civil Contractor  Christopher Contracting Pty Ltd
Project Cost       $50m
Completed          August 2004

James Hardie Products Used
2km of 300mm – 750mm rubber ring jointed pipe, and custom-made pits

Continuing market growth has been the driving force behind construction of the new Capral Aluminium extrusion plant at Bundamba west of Brisbane. The 17-hectare site is currently being developed to provide operations for three press lines, anodising, and paint and packaging lines.

The construction contract was awarded to Christopher Contracting in December 2003, with a planned delivery of August 2004. This relatively short timeframe increased the focus for contractors to achieve a high level of operational efficiency. Stormwater drainage has been one area that has successfully provided additional time and cost savings for the project.

Christopher Contracting elected to use FRC™ pipes for the stormwater drainage (300mm – 750mm), because of the numerous ways in which they could contribute to the project’s efficiencies, most notably:

• Increased installation efficiencies – 4 metre pipe lengths means that there are less pipe laying movements for the drainage line – in this project only 500 lengths of FRC™ pipes are required for a 2km line, which would alternatively require 820 lengths of SRC pipes (2.44 metres each).
  
• Competitively priced drainage materials.
  
• Good supply and availability - James Hardie work closely with Christopher Contracting to ensure their ongoing stock and delivery needs are met.
• 
  Onsite versatility – the flexibility of FRC™ pipes means that saddles can be cut into the line at any point without worrying about steel reinforcement and corrodible parts.

Christopher Contracting has taken their efficiency focus one step further and elected to utilise a tracked pipeline trencher. This powerful machine combined with the 4 metre lengths of FRC™ pipe, considerably increases the daily pipe laying rate from an industry average of 80m a day - trenched, to an average of 160m a day – trenched, laid and backfilled.

The project drainage also utilises a combination of custom-made pre-cast concrete pits from James Hardie. These pits provide additional efficiencies as the units are manufactured to specific project levels and pipe penetrations.

Contact James Hardie to obtain a comparison on the installation savings FRC™ pipes can provide for your project, or try out the new Installation Cost Comparison Calculator online. For more information on FRC™ pipes click here or for information on our custom-made pits please click here.