NEWS FROM ROCLA PIPELINE PRODUCTS

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4

Precast speeds
massive motorway

Turning OSD tanks

into a water supply

Rocla ® GPTs clean

up in Malaysia
Rocla Piper

ISSN 1032-7282
Market continues to
Rocla Pipeline
embrace system solutions
Products is a Welcome to this last edition of The Piper our customers of our new invoicing system.

leading supplier for 2004. In this issue we again focus on As part of our ongoing process of improving

of precast the ability of Rocla Pipeline Products to
supply system solutions that save time
concrete
and money for civil contractors,
solutions for the
developers, local governments and other
civil construction
authorities.
industry
You will find a range of applications in these
pages for Rocla ® products, from residential
SRC PIPES developments to Sydney’s Westlink M7 motorway,
the largest urban infrastructure project in Australia.
information flow, we have streamlined our
document despatch procedures and I encourage
all customers to request that their Order
Acknowledgements, Invoices and Statements
be delivered by email or fax, rather than by post.
Apart from the efficiency of delivering
documents instantly, we hope to save some
trees by cutting back on printing paper and
envelopes.

CULVERTS As well as our pipeline products - pipes, box
culverts, headwalls and gross pollutant traps,
the Westlink M7 project also made use of
HEADWALLS
Rocla Duraspun® concrete power poles. Rocla
Concrete Poles designs, manufactures and
ACCESS
supplies a range of pole, building columns and
SYSTEMS
piling products including concrete piles for marinas
and for our M-Lock® bridge system.
PRECAST On the subject of M-Lock® bridges, we are
BRIDGES pleased to announce the sale of our 100th bridge,
to Mudgee Shire in western NSW. The passing
On a sombre note, it is my sad duty to
report the death of Jim Carney. It was only in the
last issue of The Piper that we announced Jim’s
appointment as a sales representative for our
Murray-Riverina branch at Wodonga in Victoria.
Shortly after taking up his new job, Jim was
killed in a car accident.
Jim was well known and widely respected
by our customers in the Riverina, having been
our despatch co-ordinator at Wodonga for
several years. He is much missed.

RETAINING of this landmark in August demonstrates the This tragic incident is a timely reminder of
acceptance of the M-Lock® system. the terrible toll taken by road accidents, particularly
WALLS
Our CleansAll® gross pollutant trap is being on our young people. Please drive carefully
manufactured under licence in Malaysia and we during the holiday period and have a safe, happy
CONCRETE
take a look at its amazing success there, where Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
BOARDWALKS
it is setting the standard for water quality at
Malaysia’s new purpose-built administrative centre,
RURAL Putrajaya.
PRODUCTS The ecoRain® rainwater utilisation system
continues to go from strength to strength and

WATER we highlight an installation at a Gold Coast

residential development that features groups of
QUALITY
four tanks for maximum utilisation of rainwater
SOLUTIONS
runoff.
The PermaTrak® concrete walkway system
Published by
Rocla Pipeline Products is also proving popular with councils and we
Level 5, 821 Pacific Hwy
Chatswood, NSW 2067 show two applications, one that protects the
A business unit of root system of heritage fig trees and an interesting
Rocla Pty Limited Stephen T. Baker
ABN 31 000 032191 elevated walkway that uses our pipes as piers.
General Manager,
Member of the
Amatek Group I want to take this opportunity to remind Rocla Pipeline Products
Partnership
approach
means better
service for all 1

Rocla Pipeline Products in Perth is

currently supplying precast drainage
products to civil contractor Ertech for
two new residential developments by
Peet & Company.
Peet is a household name in WA and Perth’s
oldest property developer. It was established in
1895 and has been involved in everything from
broad-acre residential land estates to medium-
density and boutique developments and retail
property sales.
Rocla is supplying drainage products for
Carramar Golf Course Estate in Perth’s northern
suburbs and The Ridge Estate at Baldivis,
south of the city, just two of Peet’s many lifestyle
residential developments in Perth and Victoria.
Ertech is another WA success story,
a small company established in 1981 that
has grown to become a significant player in 2
the civil construction industry, with more than
150 employees in city and regional locations,
including its own engineers, and its own plant
and equipment.
Ertech and Rocla have worked together
since the commencement of Ertech’s contracts
on both projects, with Rocla supplying a broad
variety of precast concrete stormwater pipes,
stormwater pits, side entry pits, gullies and
precast concrete sewer access chambers.
The relationship between Ertech and
Rocla is based on establishing and maintaining
consistent standards of quality, cost and time,
to provide the best level of service to all parties.

1. Large storm drainage system at Carramar development,

with 600mm RRJ pipe and 1050mm gully pits.

2&3.1050mm sewer access chambers with precast bases at

The Ridge, Baldivis. 3

Three
Precast products help speed
massive motorway
Rocla is supplying a range of precast
components to Australia’s largest urban
infrastructure project, the Westlink M7
motorway in Sydney. Rocla products
®
include concrete pipes, box culverts,
headwalls, gross pollutant traps and
concrete power poles.
Westlink M7 is designed to improve
transport in western Sydney by providing a
north-south link between the three main
motorways radiating from the city - the M5 in
the southwest, the M4 in the west and the
M2 in the northwest.
1 2
The 40km two-lane dual carriageway
M7 motorway is scheduled for completion
in late 2006. Seventeen interchanges along
the motorway will provide access to local
communities, improving transport options in
these areas.
The motorway will provide safe travel at
variable speeds up to 110 km/h, with 38
1&2.Rocla® large diameter pipe culverts
underpasses and overpasses to maintain and headwalls provide transverse
drainage on the Westlink M7.
local traffic access, as well as a total of 144
3. Rocla CleansAll® gross pollutant
bridges. The shared cycle/pedestrian pathway trap ready for installation on M7
feeder road.
is 4 metres wide and follows the motorway
4. Large span Rocla® box culverts on
from Preston to Baulkham Hills, connecting M7 approach road.
Four
3 4

with the Sydney Cycleway network. Two of
Australia’s leading construction contractors,
Leighton Contractors and Abigroup Contractors,
formed a joint venture (Abigroup Leighton Joint
Venture or ALJV) to design and construct the
motorway. Major construction commenced in
mid-2003 at several locations and is now
occurring along most of the 40km corridor.
Work is also progressing on upgrading a
number of existing local roads that will be
linked to the motorway.
Rocla Pipeline Products is supplying large
diameter pipes (from 825mm to 1800mm) for
transverse drainage culverts along most of
the M7, as well as smaller diameter pipes
(375mm to 750mm) for under-road applications
on the southern half of the project.
Precast box culverts were also supplied
for approach roads, including large span
culverts near Hoxton Park airport and smaller
box culverts for the cycleway.
Rocla Water Quality is also supplying
Rocla CleansAll ® gross pollutant traps for
some of the upgraded local roads adjoining
the M7, as part of the project’s stormwater
management plan.

Concrete poles provide quick

solution for power line lift
Rocla Concrete Poles supplied 16 Duraspun® concrete
power poles to Enerserve (a division of Energy Australia) to
raise existing 132kV power lines along the southern part of
the Westlink M7. The existing lines, which cross over the M7
route, had to be raised to statutory clearances above the
new M7 to allow for safe construction. The pre-stressed
transmission poles ranged in size and from 35 metres to 40
metres with 80kN ultimate strength. All poles were supplied
in three sections and assembled on site using Rocla’s bolted
jointing system. Most of the poles were mounted in 2-metre
diameter, 6-metre deep piled footings, however some were
installed in 4-metre square, 4-metre deep mass concrete
footings for additional height. One set of poles, installed in
soft soil adjacent to a creek bed, required additional depth
and more than 100 cubic metres of mass concrete for each
pole. These tall, high-strength "monopoles" offer an
economical, attractive alternative to steel lattice towers in
many situations. The use of monopoles also allowed the two
132kV circuits to be raised separately, allowing one circuit to
continue supplying customers. Michael Taylor of Enerserve
said the Rocla® poles were specified for this project because
of their fast lead time, lower cost and ease of construction,
compared to steel lattice towers.

Five
Elevated pathway a walkover ®

with PermaTrak boardwalk

Gosford City Council recently installed a the project by supplying and installing its own handrail system based on Rocla’s
73-metre long elevated concrete specifications. Council works manager, John Howick, said the PermaTrak ®
pathway in just two weeks using the system was significantly more economical than the elevated timber alternative, as
Rocla PermaTrak precast boardwalk
®
well as being attactive, economical, durable and quick to install. “We were
system. impressed with the ease of installation and the simplicity of the pipe support
The pathway, which forms part of a solution,” John said. “We are very happy with the end result and we’re planning to
cycleway through a wetland area at Kincumber, use the system again for a marine boardwalk.”
was raised to a height of 1.2 metres to clear
a watercourse.
Normally the PermaTrak ® system is
mounted on 150mm high precast concrete
stumps, which can be elevated with inter-
locking precast risers to bring the height of
the deck to 850mm. For heights above
850mm Rocla recommends the use of Rocla®
spun concrete pipes as support piers. On the
Kincumber project the pipe piers were set
into augured holes, with concrete footings.
Rocla ® concrete pipes make ideal piers
for the PermaTrak ® system because they are
compatible with the PermaTrak® stumps. The
stumps in turn are connected to bearers,
then the planks are fastened to the bearers,
as well as interlocking with each other via
tongue and groove connections.
The Kincumber boardwalk includes a
curved section at one end comprising 50
tapered treads. Gosford Council completed

Multi-cell headwalls
a Rocla record
Rocla Pipeline Products in Dubbo supplied this multi-cell headwall for a rail siding at Yethra,
560km west of Sydney.
The two headwalls (one on each side of the rail embankment) feature 25 cells with 750mm
diameter pipes. This is the most cells ever manufactured in one headwall by Rocla, and the last
project constructed in western NSW by the Rail Infrastructure Corporation before it was taken over
by Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Six
Quick earth Rocla’s M-Lock
bridge crosses
®

retention the 100 barrier

Rocla Pipeline Products

solution for
has sold its 100th M-Lock®
bridge, to Mudgee Shire in
western NSW. The two-
span structure is Mudgee

sloping site Shire’s 4th M-Lock® bridge.

The Rocla M-Lock ® bridge
system is a fast, simple way
of bridging small to medium
spans using precast,
Rocla’s MassBloc® earth retention reinforced concrete
system provided two quick, permanent components. The system is
ideal for single or multi-span
retaining walls at Long Beach Estate, a
bridges, providing an
residential development at Batemans economical replacement for
Bay on the NSW south coast. ageing timber bridges. It is
widely used on rural roads,
The walls were built to retain earth on a
in new sub-divisions, for
steep slope in a council reserve and were temporary bridges or as a
constructed easily using an excavator to pedestrian walkway.
Rocla’s M-Lock® Bridge
place the MassBloc® permeable concrete units.
Product Manager, Bob Druitt,
One of the walls supports a road through said: “We launched the
the reserve and is constructed above a system initially in New South
Wales and refined the manu-
600mm diameter stormwater drainage line.
facturing process at our Dubbo
The other wall, further down the slope, retains precast facility, so I’m pleased
earth around a sewer pump station. the hundredth bridge was sold
out of our Dubbo office.”
The retaining walls were designed by
Following the success of
Peter Smith Surveyors using a combination the M-Lock ® bridge system in
of full and half-height MassBloc units, and NSW, approvals were
obtained from roads
installed by civil contractor R. Miller Pty Ltd,
authorities in Victoria,
who were also responsible for earthworks and Queensland, SA and WA. The
drainage, using Rocla® SRC pipes, stormwater system is now sold nationally
and bridges have been built in
pits, headwalls, sewer access chambers and
each of these States.
a Rocla ® sewer pump station.

Seven
Industrial OSD system
with storage to spare
This massive 105,000 litre twin-tank
detention system is one of three similar
installations at a new industrial
development that will store stormwater
for reuse.
Developer ING is constructing office and
factory facilities on a 16.5-hectare site at
Rosehill Industrial Estate in western Sydney.
The total stormwater storage volume of more
than 300,000 litres will be reused for landscape
irrigation, as well as being pumped back to
plumbing for non-potable uses such as toilet
flushing.
The trafficable 3-metre diameter Rocla
steel-reinforced concrete OSD tanks were
PermaTrak steps lightly over
heritage tree roots
Perth’s Robertson Park, a forgotten
public space tucked away on the fringe
of Northbridge, had fallen into neglect
over recent decades.
The Council of the Town of Vincent,
recognising the park’s potential, recently
embarked on a major redevelopment to return
it to its former glory. One of the key elements
of the redevelopment is the extensive network
of paths that crosses the park diagonally from
the four corners.
The master plan called for the path to
pass between the buttresses of two majestic
Moreton Bay fig trees, which are only 5 metres
apart. To protect the interlocking root systems,
it was decided that a boardwalk should span
the most sensitive area.
A conventional timber boardwalk was
rejected because the piers would have to be
driven into the ground using heavy equipment,
ideal for these installations, as two of them
were located under a carpark and a forklift
hardstand, respectively. Rocla® on-site detention
systems provide a durable and trafficable
solution for industrial and residential develop-
ments.
Because the tanks are assembled from
standard components, Rocla ® OSD systems
provide known storage volumes, while the high
strength and durability of the factory-manufac-
tured components provide a permanent asset
with low whole of life costs.
The OSD system was designed by
®
consultants Hughes Trueman and installed
by John R. Burton Contractors.
®
which could potentially damage the trees. The Town of Vincent’s Technical Services
Division was aware of Rocla’s PermaTrak ® precast boardwalk system and sought
assistance from Rocla’s Perth office.
The PermaTrak ® precast boardwalk system proved ideal because the concrete
components could be lifted into place by a rubber-tyred skid-steer excavator. No
footings or heavy equipment were required, thus minimising impact on the site.
The system also easily accommodated changes in the vertical alignment.
As a result, Rocla supplied 18 metres of PermaTrak ® boardwalk, which was
installed by PCS Precast Concrete Solutions.
Craig Wilson, engineering design services manager for the Town of Vincent,
said the system enabled a fast, smooth installation. “The PermaTrak system made
a minimal impact on the root systems and provided us with a durable, low
maintenance, vandal-resistant and termite-proof solution,” he said.
Eight

Malaysia’s big rains mean big
sales for Rocla GPTs
Rocla CleansAll® gross pollutant traps
are setting the standard for water quality
at Malaysia’s huge Putrajaya development.
Putrajaya, the new administrative centre
of the Malaysian Government, is a
“green” city with 40% devoted to parks,
waterways and wetlands.
Putrajaya is designed to the highest
international standards, including water quality
standards. Rocla’s Malaysian licensee, Water
Engineering Technology (WET) is supplying
Rocla CleansAll gross pollutant traps (GPTs)
®
to this ambitious project. Recently, Rocla’s
Water Quality Manager, Nicole Bartels and
Product Design Manager, Stephen D. Baker
went to Malaysia to conduct internal training
with WET engineers in open channel design
for GPTs, as well as to audit Rocla CleansAll
1
®
GPT production and installation procedures
and to assist WET in developing strategies for
increasing sales in Malaysia. Rainfall events in
Malaysia are big and frequent (as Nicole and
Steve soon found out) and Malaysian authorities
are becoming increasingly aware of the need 2
for GPTs to clean up their waterways. 1. Executive Director of WET, Lee Bing, with
Nicole Bartels and Stephen D. Baker from Rocla.
The majority of all GPTs in Malaysia have
2. For big rains, you need a big GPT collection
been installed in the Putrajaya development. basket.
The Rocla® product has more than 50% of the
market in Putrajaya and the quality of the
CleansAll® installations is far superior to the
other installations in the city, according to
Nicole and Steve. This is a testament to both
WET and Rocla Water Quality’s commitment to
producing and selling the best GPT on the
market. WET is now focusing on developing
®
the market outside Putrajaya.
Nine
ecoRain turns stormwater tanks
®

into free water supply Project

Rainwater harvesting
Location
Coomera, Qld
Residents of the Ellington residential
Developer
development on the Gold Coast will keep Sunland Group

their gardens green with rainwater Consultant

Birchell Partners
stored in a complex of underground
Contractor
concrete tanks holding 160,000 litres. TANACROSS
Gold Coast based developer, the Sunland Rainwater Utilisation
Group, is taking advantage of the Rocla System
Rocla Water Quality
ecoRain® rainwater utilisation system to reuse
the stormwater it was already planning to
detain on site.
Sunland’s Kevin Morse said the stormwater
had to be detained to reduce discharge flows:
“As part of our stormwater management plan,
we were required to hold some of the
stormwater on site, with the best method of
disposal of the water being irrigation of the
landscaped areas of the site.”
“We looked for an off-the-shelf solution
that could store rainwater underground and
pump it back through a landscape irrigation
system, and the ecoRain system seemed to fit
the bill,” Kevin said.
The installation includes four groups of
four ecoRain® tanks, each tank holding 10,000
litres. The tanks gather rainwater from the
roofs of some 70 townhouses and duplexes
plus three single dwellings.
Tanks in each group of four are connected
by balancing pipes top and bottom to ensure
they are filled and emptied at a uniform rate.
Rainwater entering each cluster of tanks
passes through an industrial-volume filter that
is self-cleansing and can filter water at a rate
of 50 litres per second.
The Rocla ecoRain® system is a self-
contained water supply comprising under-
ground concrete tank storage, filter, electric
pump and automated control system. If the
water level in the storage tank drops below 10
per cent, mains water is used to top up the
system. Back-flow controls and air gaps prevent
contamination of the potable water supply. Large-capacity stainless steel filters remove debris and wash it into the stormwater system.

Ten
 VIDEOS:
Latest Releases
M-LOCK® Watch Blayney Council
build the ultimate Rocla M-Lock® bridge
system - bridge, piles, retaining walls
and all.
ECORAIN® Collect, filter, store, pump
back - the Rocla ecoRain ® rainwater
utilisation system is a complete on-site
water supply.
Available now from your
local Rocla branch.
New faces at Rocla
Adrian Emer joined Rocla's Wodonga
branch at the end of September as a Sales
Representative. Adrian has many years of sales
experience in the paint industry with Dulux and
Solver. His focus is south of the Murray River,
covering the central north and northeast regions
of Victoria.
Adrian Emer
Simon Rourke joined the Perth sales
team in August. Simon previously worked for
Road & Traffic Services, providing sales support
for safe roads products such as guide posts and

New Rocla
barriers. He is now providing sales support for
Rocla's local government and sub-division
customers in WA. Simon Rourke

electronic
document Lifting the lid on
service Rocla ingenuity
Rocla now offers electronic supply of
sales documents. This service covers Archimedes said: “Give me a place to stand and a long enough lever,

order acknowledgements, invoices and and I will lift the whole world.” In Perth all they wanted to lift was the

statements and hopefully will replace concrete lids on Rocla® gross pollutant traps, while carrying out regular

manually printed documents. Documents inspection and reporting programs.

can either be faxed or emailed The lids are usually lifted using a SwiftLift clutch (for lids fitted with a SwiftLift

depending on customer preference. anchor) or a hand-held tee-piece for lids with a lifting slot. Rocla Sales

The emailed documents will be supplied in Representative, Robin Chappell, thought that the old method was inviting back

Adobe Acrobat portable document format and injury, so he suggested lever devices, which have been dubbed the “Uplifter” and

will include our terms and conditions. These terms the “Downlifter.”

and conditions will also be faxed if that delivery The levers give the operator a two-times mechanical advantage, with the

method is preferred. This service will provide choice of lifting up or pushing down. The Uplifter and the Downlifter have been

customers with a number of benefits, including: designed to fold in half to fit in the boot of a car. They're also available with a set

Speed: Removes the need to handle and post of wheels, useful for shifting lids around on site.

documents. They will be made immediately Now you know why Rocla is known as the “solutions company.”

available to the right person in the business.

Certainty: Eliminates the cost in time and effort
of arranging couriers to collect documents and the
possibility of them being lost in the mail. Rocla
hopes all customers will take advantage of this
service. Please contact your local Rocla office at
your earliest convenience to arrange your preferred
method of document delivery or to ask for further
information.

Eleven
 Sydney
•
Dapto
•
Dubbo
•
Newcastle
For further information on products from
Rocla Pipeline Products and Rocla Water Quality •
Glen Innes
Call Rocla on 131 004 •
Grafton
E-mail your inquiry to solutions @rocla.com.au
•
Visit our website www.pipe.rocla.com.au
Canberra
•
Melbourne
•
Avoca
•
Traralgon
•
Wodonga
•
Brisbane
•
Cairns
Subscribe to The Piper online by filling out
the registration form on our website •
Mackay
•
Toowoomba
•
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 Adelaide
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, December 2004. Perth