take-a-break

calm
unwind

2008
thepublicdomain>

8
 thepublicdomain>
contents >

Public Domain Awards on again in 2009

Page 1 > Scenes from a mall Page 3 >
Scarborough Beach – the new jewel in
Perth’s crown Page 6 > Jacaranda
Square – more than just an everyday
experience Page 8 > A new life for
Barcom Park Page 10 > Formwork for
Off–form Concrete Page 12 >

Entries are now being accepted for the
2009 CCAA Public Domain Awards, the
pre-eminent awards for the innovative
use of concrete in the urban landscape.
The CCAA Public Domain Awards will again
shine a spotlight on Australia’s best examples
of concrete design and construction in 2009.
The Awards recognise outstanding and
innovative projects that feature concrete in any
of seven categories - Streets, Paths, Precincts,
Walls, Bridges, Public Artworks and
Sustainable Design.
One project is also named the overall national
winner, while the best project from each
State/Territory is also acknowledged.
Over the past decade, the biennial Public
Domain Awards have grown in stature and are
today highly prized by Australia’s architectural
fraternity.
This is confirmed by the quality of winning
entries from recent Awards.
In 2007, the overall national winner was the
Luciano Rossetti Mausoleum, at Springvale
near Melbourne, designed by Harmer
Architecture and constructed by Galvin
Constructions.
page 1 the public domain November 2008
Public Domain
Awards on again
in 2009 >
Designed around a triangular courtyard, the
Mausoleum features a series of semi-enclosed
galleries defined by dramatic black and white
precast concrete walls with cut-out profiles
that project light and shadows across the
interior spaces.
The 2007 Awards Jury described the project
as “a truly exciting example of the use of
standard precast concrete panels to maximum
dramatic effect - defining spaces, projecting
shadows and inviting reflection while,
simultaneously, suggesting vitality.”
In 2005, the major award went to the National
Emergency Services Memorial, in Canberra,
designed by Aspect Melbourne Pty Ltd for the
National Capital Authority.
The Memorial uses a mix of dramatic
sculptural forms, images and words to express
the values and professionalism of Australia’s
emergency services personnel. It features a
raised and folded concrete ‘blanket’ wall to
convey the sense of safety afforded by
emergency personnel.
The judging panel described the project as “an
almost perfect example of the flexibility of
(concrete) and its potential for integration with
any setting.”
Going back to the 2003 Awards, the overall
winner was another ACT project, the public
precinct of Canberra’s acclaimed National
Museum of Australia.
Landscape architects for this winning project
were Room 4.1.3, and contractor Urban
Contractors. Project architects were Ashton
Raggatt McDougall and Robert Peck von
Hartel Trethowan.
The Museum’s outdoor precinct features the
Garden of Australian Dreams, a giant map of
European and indigenous boundaries and
place names ‘written’ in coloured and multi-
textured concrete, as well the Uluru Axis, a
huge red ‘line’ that rises out of the ground and
curls back on itself as a symbol of a maturing
country that is able to draw strength from
within.
The wider precinct also showcases a range of
coloured and textured concrete surfaces
across its extensive paved and landscaped
areas.
The judges described the project as ‘an
extraordinary landscape work’.
Nominations for the 2009 Public Domain
Awards close on March 31, 2009. Projects
can be entered by anyone involved in the
project, including the architect, engineer,
contractor or asset owner.
To be eligible, nominated projects must have
been completed between June 1 2007 and
April 1 2009.
More information and/or nomination forms can
be downloaded at www.ccaa.com.au

page 2 the public domain November 2008

Scenes from
a mall >

Footscray’s Nicholson Street Mall is once

again a source of civic pride, thanks to a
unique and sensitive reworking of this
landmark community space.

page 3 the public domain November 2008

 It’s mid-morning in Nicholson Street Mall. A
calm
group of elderly Italian men stake their claim
to a bench, settling in to dissect and debate
the state of the world around them.
This scene, played out almost every day, is
evidence why the recent refurbishment of the
Mall has been so important to Footscray
locals.
The Mall is a hub, a natural meeting place for
a multi-cultural community that places great
value on having a central space where its
individual members can come together.
Opened in 1971, the original Nicholson Street
pedestrian mall was the first of its kind in
Australia.
Landscape architects Hassell have built on this
legacy of innovation, designing a vibrant,
dynamic and robust civic space that responds
to the current and future needs of the
community. Indeed, the project is an integral
part of the long-term strategy of Maribyrnong
City Council to transform Footscray into the
next transition suburb on the edge of the
Melbourne CBD.
Concrete pavers and precast furniture figure
prominently in the Mall makeover. Both dark
and light grey coloured pavers have been used
across the space – the darker ‘bluestone’
contrasting with the lighter grey. The latter
feature speckles of brown and quartz
page 4 the public domain November 2008
aggregate, providing texture and helping to
disguise day-to-day dirt and grime. All the
pavers have a milled finish.
Snaking through the centre of the mall is a
broken ‘ribbon’ of yellow rubber pebbled
screed. This ‘line of intensity’ represents and
reflects the vibrancy of local cultural life. On a
more practical scale, it also serves to group
together the functional elements of the mall –
the street furniture and fittings.
The modular precast concrete benches are, in
their careful design and execution, as much
artwork as seating. They were designed and
cast as modules that could stand alone or be
interlocked. This cost-effective approach
enabled the design team to create a variety of
seating configurations from just a couple of
moulds.
The geometric complexity of the designs
required careful planning and a close working
relationship between Hassell and the
precaster, SVC Products. The success of this
partnership is self-evident.
An almond-coloured concrete mix was used to
distinguish the seating from the ground plane.
The seats were lightly sandblasted to provide
a durable, textured finish and treated with an
anti-graffiti sealant.
The seats also feature sections of timber
slatwork, ‘floating’ on stainless steel framing
 fixed to the top of the concrete. These dark
timber slats provide another layer of contrast
to the overall tapestry of colour and texture in
the Mall.
The revitalised Nicholson Street Mall
represents a community of ideas, a successful
collaboration between the designers,
contractors and fabricators, Council,
engineers, artists and locals.
To quote the design team: ‘It’s a clear
example of how landscape architecture can
provide direct benefits to a community
through the enhancement of civic spaces at
the local level.’

Client – Maribyrnong City Council

Landscape Architect – Hassell Ltd
Collaborative Artist – Karen Casey
Civil, Structural and Electrical
Engineering – Irwin Consult
Principal Construction Contractor –
Multipro Civil (Stage 1), J A Dodd (Stage 2)
Concrete Seating Precaster – SVC
Products
Specialist Lighting – NDY Light
Photography – Dianna Snape Photography

page 5 the public domain November 2008

 Scarborough Beach, current home to the
unwind
Scarborough national Surf Lifesaving Championships, is
Beach – the new arguably as iconic to Perth residents as Bondi
is to Sydneysiders.
jewel in Perth’s Befitting its status and reputation, the
beachfront has in recent years undergone
crown > something of a rejuvenation, with concrete
playing a key role in the process.
Stage One of the Scarborough Environ Area
Strategy was completed in January 2007,
rejuvenating the declining public open space to
create a new destination and event precinct,
the centrepiece of which is a large, multi-
function amphitheatre.
The new amphitheatre, sheltered by an elegant
shade sail, provides a comfortable, shaded
viewing platform for national and international
sporting and cultural events hosted at the
beach.
The beachfront location, together with the
anticipated high usage of the site, made
concrete the natural choice for many of the
structural elements of the project.
Curvilinear, limestone-coloured off-form
concrete retaining walls form the structure of
the new amphitheatre seating, complemented
with exposed aggregate, grey-coloured insitu
concrete paving.
The colour palette for the amphitheatre was
influenced by nearby retaining walls
Photograph Blackwell & Associates
Perth’s landmark Scarborough Beach is
being reinvigorated and transformed
under a new Urban Design Plan, the first
stage of which successfully harnesses
the plasticity of concrete in the creation
of a magnificent public amphitheatre.
Photograph Rob Frith (Acorn Photo Agency)
recreation
constructed from reconstituted limestone
blocks. On the surface, these limestone blocks
might have seemed an obvious choice to use
for the amphitheatre. But according to Craig
Carpenter, of landscape architects Blackwell
and Associates, the blocks couldn’t deliver the
exacting, smooth radius for the curvilinear
seating walls as demanded by the design
team.
The formwork was critical to the execution and
delivery of these precise concrete curves. It
was Works Infrastructure that recommended
the fabrication of custom-rolled mild steel
reinforcement to produce the consistent radii
required across the project.
“The steel formwork was a great success. We
got a very clean, crisp off-form finish,”
Carpenter says.
The 400-mm-thick retaining walls are topped
with granite capping which injects another
colour contrast to the overall design. The
capping abuts the grey-coloured insitu
concrete paving that is laid behind each
seating wall.
Behind and immediately adjoining the
amphitheatre is a public promenade that
page 7 the public domain November 2008
continues along the beachfront in both
directions. The special premixed concrete used
in the construction of this promenade,
incorporated 16-mm quartz aggregate,
‘Cockburn Crème’ coloured cement and
sandstone oxide to give it its distinctive
limestone colouring.
This special exposed aggregate paving is
contrasted with areas of standard grey
exposed aggregate paving, primarily within the
amphitheatre, to provide variation and
differentiate the role of these paths within the
access hierarchy. Adjoining these paved areas
is a red asphalt bicycle path. The use of
different materials and colours delineates
these areas and helps to give the promenade
a human scale.
The paving areas have been constructed with
a 32-Mpa concrete to allow for large vehicle
access. The exposed aggregate finish of the
paving particularly suits the sandy beachside
location, providing a durable, non-slip surface
for beachgoers, the small aggregate size being
specifically chosen to be comfortable to bare
feet.
The success of the Stage One works at
Scarborough Beach is as much in the design
as in the delivery. The new amphitheatre is a
popular and successful piece of public
infrastructure that perfectly meets the function
for which it was built.
The use of concrete as the primary
construction material ensures that this
functionality is matched by a durability and
quality of finish that does absolute justice to
the design team’s vision.
Client – City of Stirling, WA
Landscape Architect – Blackwell and
Associates Pty Ltd
Engineering Consultants – GHD Pty Ltd
Consulting Engineers
Principal Contractor – Works Infrastructure
Concrete Seating Wall – Pinnacle Builders
Concrete Paving – Westcon
Photographs this page Blackwell & Associates
Jacaranda Square – more
than just an everyday
experience >
Modular precast concrete furniture, in
combination with precast and insitu
walling, have helped create a stylish
yet functional space in the heart of
Sydney’s famous Olympic precinct.
Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush Bay will
always be remembered as the ‘home’ of the
2000 Games. But over the last eight years a
bold vision has been at play to ensure this
expansive, much-loved site continues to evolve
to meet the needs of the community – both as
a centre of commerce and a home to
thousands of Sydneysiders.
Jacaranda Square is a new public park space
situated to the east of Sydney Olympic Park
Railway Station that is very much in keeping
with this vision.
It is part of a ‘green finger’ corridor that will
run through future residential and commercial
development on the site, in line with the
Sydney Olympic Park Authority’s 2030 master
plan for a vibrant, active and sustainable town
centre.
Jacaranda Square draws from the history of
the Homebush industrial site, combining man-
made and natural elements to create a public
domain that is as beautiful as it is functional.
The space has an alternative name that
perfectly sums up both its inspiration and
purpose – the Everyday Stadium.
page 8 the public domain November 2008
“It’s a bit of an ironic nod to the Olympic
legacy,” says Sacha Coles, Director of ASPECT
Studios, lead consultants of the design
consortium – also comprising McGregor
Westlake Architects and Deuce Design – that
won the competition to design the space.
“At the same time it says a lot about the
function of the space. We were trying to create
something for everyday experiences, such as
simply having a coffee or sitting under a tree.
Such opportunities have previously been hard
to find at Sydney Olympic Park because of the
overall scale of the place as an event venue.
“Our vision from day one was a beautifully
designed and built project that was inherently
simple and accessible.”
Concrete, both precast and insitu, has
provided some of the refined finishing and
definition that gives the space much of its
distinctive character.
The entire space is bounded by a low insitu
concrete wall, broken by a series of openings
to allow public access. The outside of this
concrete wall is clad in glazed, pixellated
bricks.
slow-down
Inside this wall, Jacaranda Square features a
large grassed area, dotted with eucalypts
along its northern edge, and a paved area
along the southern perimeter that sweeps
around the eastern and western edges of the
enclosed site.
These two areas are separated by a curved,
off-white precast concrete wall, 400 mm high.
This wall provides not just definition, but acts
as an informal seating bench for visitors.
The paved area uses locally sourced recycled
bricks, set in a random radial pattern. The use
of these recycled bricks creates a link to the
old brickworks that used to occupy the
Homebush industrial site.
Along the southern edge of Jacaranda Square,
a five-metre-high, 80-metre-long, steel-
framed canopy provides shading. This canopy
is clad in expanded metal mesh, powder-
coated in calibrated greens to mirror the hues
and tones of the trees and grass on the
opposite side of the Square.
The sweep of the canopy also picks up on the
familiar curving roofline of the Sydney Olympic
Park Railway Station just beyond.
Under this canopy is one of the outstanding
design features of the site – the off-white,
modular precast concrete benches
manufactured by Sydney Precast.
According to Coles, these elements were
designed to exude a casual, inviting feel – akin
to a favourite lounge.
“The robust and precise nature of concrete
makes it ideal for this application. At the same
time, the benches feature these beautiful
curved, soft edges that give them a real
human scale,” he says.
Visitors walking in from the Station can grab a
coffee from the kiosk situated in the south-
west corner of the Square before relaxing into
any one of the line of concrete lounges, or
sitting on the precast wall that separates the
Client – Sydney Olympic Park Authority
paved and grassed areas.
Design – ASPECT Studios in collaboration
It makes for a warm, comfortable experience with McGregor Westlake Architects and Deuce
in a space that has enriched this iconic Design
precinct. Specialist Concrete Contractor (benches)
– Sydney Precast
Builders – Kane Constructions
Photography – Simon Wood Photography

page 9 the public domain November 2008

 Simple, elegant precast concrete forms
punctuating an open grassy space have
helped transform this rundown inner
city park into a successful community
hub.

Photograph Ian Hobbs

A new life for Barcom Park > Barcom Park, in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, is a
prime example of successful urban

take-a breath
renewal.The ‘pocket park’ – once a tired and
under-utilised space next to St Vincent’s
Private Hospital – has been revitalised via a
landscape design that engages the
surrounding built elements and the natural
contours of the site to create an inviting
sanctuary for local residents, hospital staff and
visitors.
The rejuvenation of Barcom Park came about
from the closure of two bounding roads,
effectively doubling the park’s size. Landscape
architects Sue Barnsley Design were
commissioned to reinvent the space, working
closely with the local community and council
to ensure the new design ticked all the right
boxes.
The result is a public precinct that draws light,
soft lawns, seats and meet spaces into a new
and engaging composition.
Ten-metre road reservations have shrunk to a
four-metre path along West Street and a
shareway on Barcom Avenue, the latter
featuring honed, concrete pavers that pick up
the lustre of the adjoining terrazzo-clad
hospital wall.
A diagonal pathway crosses the centre of the
park, cutting through the broad and gently
falling grassed area to connect the perimeter
walkways. At the mid point of this diagonal
Photograph Eric Sieren

pathway are two small, shaded seating pods –

one either side of the path – featuring off-
white, arc-shaped precast concrete benches.
These benches deliberately draw the curve of
the nearby hospital into the composition and
language of the park.
 Photograph Eric Sieren
According to Sue Barnsley, concrete was
elemental to the project.
“Concrete features heavily in the surrounding
urban palette and we wanted to work with
that,” she says.
“Moreover, because it’s only a small park the
few elements that are in there needed to be
really high quality, and concrete offered a high
quality, robust finish.
“And from a design perspective, because it’s
such a plastic material we could sculpt it to
the shapes we wanted.”
The benches were made from two separate
moulds, each mould accommodating a
different radius. One of the moulds was
formed to accept a curved insert of timber
battens so as to introduce a contrast of
materials. The legs of each bench were cast
with the seats in a single pour. A special off-
white concrete mix with quartz aggregate was
Photograph Ian Hobbs
page 11 the public domain November 2008
used, giving the surface a distinctive sparkle.
Concealed lighting under the benches creates
an ethereal atmosphere at night, with the
seats appearing to glow and hover.
At the bottom of the park, a warping, 22-
metre-long, 700-mm-high precast concrete
wall – part retaining wall, part seating bench –
combines with a boardwalk of precast
concrete planks.
This wall/boardwalk delineates the edge of the
open, grassy space. Below it is a specially
designed bio purification basin – a gully of
tangled rushes and bracken that captures the
first flush of stormwater from the site.
The wall is made from two inverted moulds,
again using a special off-white concrete mix
with quartz aggregate. The western end of the
wall is protected and enhanced by a ‘hood’ of
bead blasted stainless steel. At this same end,
a constellation of small, white LED lights set
Photograph Ian Hobbs
into the precast planks illuminates the
underside of the wall.
The adjoining shareway on Barcom Avenue
features interlocking permeable concrete
pavers, designed to improve the flow of
stormwater run-off into the bio purification
basin.
Along the western side of the shareway,
adjoining the hospital wall, a series of
‘mounded islands’ of bamboo have been
established. A border of off-white, off-form
concrete provides a simple, elegant edging to
distinguish these bamboo islands from the
pavers.
The new Barcom Park has a decidedly ‘green’
bent in more ways than one. Aside from the
obvious grassy spaces, the park features an
important hidden environmental initiative - a
water capture and transfer system that
recycles stormwater from the hospital to
irrigate the space.
All these features combine to make Barcom
Park an urban treasure, a space that works at
a number of levels to breathe new life into
inner city Darlinghurst.
Client – City of Sydney
Landscape Architect – Sue Barnsley Design
Engineering Consultants – TLB Engineers
Principal Contractor – Regal Innovations
Specialist Concrete Subcontractor –
Hanson Precast

technical
Formwork
for Off–form
Concrete >
Formwork is critical to the final appearance of off-form
concrete. This excerpt from CCAA’s publication, Guide to Off-
form Concrete Finishes, looks at the key formwork factors that
influence results.
When it comes to the successful interpretation of a design idea in an
off-form concrete finish, formwork is an important consideration.
As fresh concrete is a plastic and malleable material that accurately
reflects the shape, texture and finish of the surface against which it is
cast, it makes sense that the formwork is a key determinant in the final
appearance of the hardened surface.
Any imperfection or inaccuracy in the formwork surface will be reflected
in the off-form concrete finish. Form-face materials must therefore be
chosen both to achieve the required surface finish and, in conjunction
with all the elements that support the form face, maintain tolerances and
stability under all the loads imposed during erection and concreting, and
until the concrete has gained adequate strength.
Failure to meet the required tolerance, stability and strength
requirements may lead to formwork failures such as bowing, warping
and misalignment, all of which will be reflected in the concrete finish.
As part of the formwork system, a number of materials can be used for
the form face against which the concrete is cast. In addition to its
texture, the absorbency and watertightness of the form face will also
affect the appearance of the concrete cast against it.
Formwork qualities
The requirements for formwork include:
Strength. All formwork components should be designed to carry the
loads imposed on the formwork.
Stiffness. Formwork should not bow, bulge, sag or otherwise
distort/deflect to an extent that the specified shape, tolerances or
appearance of the off-form surface cannot be achieved.
While the metal support system shown in Figure 1 may provide a rigid
frame to restrain movement, the deflection (within tolerance) of the
more-flexible timber form-face material during concrete placement
resulted in the off-form surface shown in Figure 2. Both the shape and
tolerance requirements have been satisfied, but the visual quality of the
surface has not met the expectation of a ‘flat’ surface. The deflection of
the timber formwork system used for the walls in Figure 3 has resulted
in the overall shape not being maintained.
A lack of stiffness leading to deflection and movement during concrete
placing and compaction may also contribute to a range of defects such
as colour variation or a mottled appearance, sometimes referred to as
aggregate transparency.
Tolerance. The tolerances on formwork should generally be tighter than
those desired in the finished concrete structure or element, and should
ensure shape, size and cover to reinforcement.
page 12 the public domain November 2008
Figure 1 Figure 2
The tolerance required may affect the selection of the material from
which the formwork is to be built, or govern its design. For example,
steel formwork will enable tighter tolerances to be maintained.
Absorbency. Variable absorbency of the form face will result in colour
variation, possibly even dark staining of the surface. This is caused by
changes in the water-cement ratio of the concrete at the surface.
While this typically affects only the surface layer, a sufficient depth may
be affected such that subsequent surface treatments (eg tooling of the
concrete) may not remove the staining. The colour variations are usually
most noticeable when adjacent form-face panels have different
absorbency. Note that the absorbency of ‘new’ formwork changes after a
number of uses. This should be taken into consideration when replacing
old or damaged formwork sheets with new ones. Also, the uniformity of
the release agent coating can affect the absorbency of the form face.
Watertightness. Loss of moisture and/or cement grout through lack of
watertightness can lead not only to ragged edges and colour variations
from hydration staining, but also to other problems, notably
honeycombing.
Robustness. Formwork should be robust enough to withstand repeated
stripping, storing and erection to enable reuse.
Ease of stripping. Formwork should be easy to remove to avoid
damage to the concrete surface and/or to the formwork itself.
Of the above properties, those with most impact on off-form finishes are
stiffness, absorbency and watertightness.
Many materials may be used for formwork. For small projects that
involve a great deal of cutting and fitting, and therefore increased
wastage, lower grade materials may be an option if the surface finish is
not critical.
For large projects, made-up elements such as table and wall forms
could provide economies. The quality of the finish required and the
overall cost of the formwork are likely to be the principal determinants.
The following table provides a brief overview of the characteristics of the
most common formwork materials.
Figure 3 Figure 4
Figure 5 Figure 6
Common formwork materials
Timber Form-face supports such as studs, bearers, joists
and whalers.
Steel Formwork framing and in precast factories,
particularly for repetitive work. (While strong and
robust, requires some standardisation and multiple
reuses to warrant the cost.)
Coated plywood Slabs, columns and beams. (Readily worked and
capable of multiple reuses.)
Cardboard Column forms, edge forms.
Normally for one-off use only.
Glass reinforced Permanent formwork (where it provides a decorative
cement (GRC) finish) or as the mould for intricate shapes
or plastic (particularly precast elements).
Concrete As permanent formwork for standard elements or
components produced in precast concrete factories.
Rubber, silicone, Formliners providing intricate effects and decorative
thermoplastic finishes. (Most materials are capable of multiple
and polystyrene reuses.)
The use of permanent formwork (ie formwork which is left in place)
could minimise subsequent finishing operations. While precast concrete
and GRC are commonly used for permanent formwork, materials such
as fibre cement sheet, polystyrene (Figure 4), and reinforced plaster
(Figure 5) are also used in various concrete walling systems.
Recent developments have seen new materials used in formwork
systems and the incorporation of various surface textures ranging from
rock faced to brick and block patterns Figure 6.
For some elements in a structure, it will often not be necessary to
provide the same quality of finish on all faces. Critical faces should be
identified and perhaps be specified as a higher class of finish, say Class
2, with other less critical parts of the structure that can not be viewed at
close range having a Class 3 finish. In this way, formwork materials can
be reused for lower quality (less critical) faces.
Design
All formwork design should comply with the provisions of AS 3610. The
formwork drawings should show the pattern of the form face, if any, and
typical joints between formwork panels.
Careful detailing of such joints is critical to the success of off-form
finishes. For example, all control and construction joints on vertical
surfaces should either be boldly expressed or disguised.
Release Agents
While generally regarded as a minor item, the selection of an
page 13 the public domain November 2008
Figure 7 Figure 8
appropriate release agent and application method may be critical to the
success of the project, affecting both the quality and colour of the
surface finish.
As concrete will bond to most form surfaces, release agents are
primarily used to allow the formwork to be cleanly released from the
concrete. Equally important is their role in protecting and extending the
life of the formwork, enabling a good quality off-form finish to be
maintained with each reuse of the formwork.
Release agents can also affect the colour of the surface and the
adhesion of subsequent finishes or coatings.
There are two main categories of release agent: barrier and reactive.
Barrier compounds form a physical barrier between the concrete and
formwork, while reactive compounds not only form a barrier, but also
contain ingredients that react with the calcium hydroxide in the concrete
to form a chemically inert metallic soap that helps minimise adhesion of
the form, keeps the form clean, and thus extends its life.
Barrier products commonly used include water-based or solvent-based
petroleum products, paraffin-based materials, or soap-type release
agents. They vary in ease of application and tend to build up on the form
surface, which will therefore require regular cleaning.
Reactive release agents generally contain a small percentage of fatty
acids. They can be either vegetable oils, or more commonly, petroleum-
based materials. They allow easy release of forms and assist with
minimising blowholes. As they will react with metals such as brass,
bronze, aluminium and steel, the use of appropriate application
(spraying) equipment is essential.
With the variety of products on the market, each contributing differently
to the off-form finish, care in the selection of a release agent is required.
Manufacturers’ recommendations should be sought for specific projects.
If colour control has been specified, once a release agent has been
chosen, it should not be changed during the course of the work without
due consideration to the effects on colour and finish. Figure 7 shows the
colour variation possible from a variety of different release agents, and
Figure 8 the effect of changing a release agent midway through a
project.
Test panels built prior to construction provide the best method for
assessing the suitability of a release agent for the given application.
Like every aspect of construction, the successful execution of off-form
concrete elements requires skill and care.
Understanding the nature of different formwork materials and systems,
their strengths and limitations, and the way they interact with the
materials and environments with which they come into contact, will help
ensure you achieve the level of finish you expect.
 SYDNEY OFFICE:
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repose
issue 8 november 2008
ADELAIDE OFFICE: EDITOR:
thepublicdomain>
Greenhill Executive Suites Carol Moir
213 Greenhill Road CONTRIBUTORS
Eastwood SA 5063 Komal Krishna
POSTAL ADDRESS: John Nichols
PO Box 229
DESIGN:
Fullarton SA 5063
H2O Creative Communication
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ISSN 1833-2870