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Boral silo

Berrima

Boral’s Berrima plant produced around 60% of NSW and the ACT’s cement for the construction industry. This critical piece of infrastructure was extremely difficult to enter to clean and to undertake maintenance activities. As part of their 10 year plant shutdown, Boral decided to install an access hatch in the 0.5m thick silo wall, 16m off the ground, to allow for safer and easier access.

Boral engaged Buildcorp Asset Solutions under an Early Contractor Involvement arrangement. The project team assisted in the design process by providing construction consideration prior to commencing on site. Cost planning and risk mitigation followed to ensure optimal value was achieved for the client with minimal construction delay or disruption.

The silo was modelled by the consultant engineers, who devised a door frame. This would act as a stiffening frame against the forces in the wall once penetration was made for the opening. The silo wall was then scanned and the existing reinforcing bars were marked out in order for the project team to position our fixings around the three tightly packed layers of steel. The fixing positions were cored out and a laser survey was taken of these fixing positions. This survey data was emailed to the fabrication shop and a template was prepared to position the holes on the steel stiffening frame.

Core holes were then made in each corner of the penetration and the wall was cut using a diamond wire cutting machine. Sections of the demolished wall were lifted down with a crane. This was followed by the installation of the door frame and repair of the penetration edges to provide a smooth and watertight fit to the new frame.

Client

Boral

Contract sum

$270k

Completion

January 2015