Pultron Composites (Gisborne, New Zealand) has opened a new warehouse facility in Geebung, North Brisbane, expanding its Australian operations to meet growing demand for corrosion-free glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement across Queensland’s infrastructure, marine and construction sectors. The facility will hold local stock of the company’s Mateenbar GFRP rebar line, with plans underway to begin local manufacturing.
Corrosion-related damage costs Australia an estimated $8 billion a year in infrastructure repair and replacement, much of it tied to steel reinforcement failing inside concrete, according to the Australasian Corrosion Association. Unlike steel, GFRP does not corrode, giving it a design life of 100 years or more with minimal maintenance; the material is also about 4X lighter than steel and unaffected by salt, moisture or chemical exposure, reports Pultron.
“Queensland is about to build a generation’s worth of infrastructure,” says Anna Holdsworth, head of growth opportunities at Pultron. “We don’t think ratepayers should have to pay for the same asset twice because it was built with a material that corrodes. That’s why we’re here.” Holdsworth adds that demand is being driven both by the cost of corrosion in projects using steel reinforcement and by construction efficiencies GFRP offers.
Queensland has an established pathway for corrosion-free reinforcement through the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ MRTS271 specification for GFRP reinforcement, and the Sunshine Coast Council has adopted coastal durability requirements incorporating corrosion-free reinforcement in specific coastal, marine and tidal zone applications. Pultron says this sets a precedent other coastal councils may follow as they look to improve infrastructure durability outcomes.
The Brisbane facility sits in an industrial precinct with access to Brisbane Airport, the Port of Brisbane and the M1 motorway, positioning it to supply projects across Queensland and Australia-wide. Pultron selected Australia’s east coast in part due to existing GFRP adoption in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.
“Corrosion is one of the biggest hidden costs in Australian infrastructure — asset owners want a material that solves it for good, not just manages it,” Holdsworth says. “Mateenbar is engineered for a 100-year design life, which means ratepayer and taxpayer money stops going back into fixing the same asset and starts going into the next school, road or park a community actually needs.”
Source | Pultron Composites
