Minchinbury Reservoir the Latest for Saunders International

Location:	Minchinbury, New South Wales
Country:	Australia
Client:	Sydney Water
Design and Construction:	Saunders International Pty Ltd
Products Used:	AS/NZS 3678 - 250 XLERPLATE®

A new 38 megalitre reservoir for Sydney Water will provide additional storage at Minchinbury for one of the fastest growing areas in the city’s west.

Saunders International Pty Ltd is constructing the new 58 metre diameter reservoir adjacent to a similar Sydney Water storage built in 1975. More than 715 tonnes of 250 Grade XLERPLATE® steel from BlueScope Steel has gone into the fabrication of the latest tank, which is scheduled for commissioning in August.

Saunders has more than half a century of experience in the design and construction of steel storage tanks. Innovations it has introduced at Minchinbury have shortened the construction schedule by 12 weeks and improved safety at the work site.

“As part of the contract we had the opportunity to optimise Sydney Water’s design and to suggest changes which allowed us to fast track the construction process,” project manager Imma Kathir said.

“You can’t do that unless you have complete confidence in your workforce, in the quality of the steel you are using and in the delivery performance of your supplier.”

BlueScope Steel delivered all XLERPLATE® steel for the project to the Saunders International steel fabrication workshop at Condell Park in Sydney, with first deliveries within four weeks of orders being placed.

Saunders has built reservoirs and storage tanks for customers in the petroleum, mining, mineral processing, cement, agribusiness and manufacturing industries and is also a specialist in the repair and refurbishment of large tanks and reservoirs.

Its workshop carries a full complement of specialist equipment including CNC machines for the prefabrication, surface preparation and painting of steel for tank construction and maintenance.

“Because the workshop is involved in steel fabrication for several projects at once, a delivery delay or a quality problem with steel for one project can affect others,” Imma said.

“We haven’t had a single delivery or quality problem with the XLERPLATE® steel supplied by BlueScope Steel. It has passed our own stringent quality control checks as well as the regular inspections by Sydney Water.”

Construction of the Minchinbury reservoir involved extensive use of automatic welding machines to do the bulk of the horizontal and vertical welding required.

“We have accumulated a lot of experience with single pass automatic welding machines for reservoirs and large storage tanks for the petroleum industry,” Imma said.

“The equipment we use delivers fast, consistent, high quality vertical welds on site and can handle vertical joint welding on plates from 12mm to 50mm in thickness.”

Saunders has conducted extensive non destructive and mechanical testing to confirm the quality of welding results and the suitability of XLERPLATE® steel for the process.

The Minchinbury reservoir design incorporates six strakes which vary from 3000mm in height at the base to 2240mm at the top. Thickness of the XLERPLATE® steel plates reduces in steps from 32mm on the bottom strake to 8mm at the top of the reservoir.

XLERPLATE® steel was also specified for the annular (12mm) and island (10mm) floor plates.

“For this project we managed to increase the pace of construction and reduce the amount of time our crew members are required to work at heights,” Imma said.

“Our company already had a very good safety record which this new construction technique will only improve. Sydney Water also has a vast amount of experience in the whole area of reservoir construction and its standards for construction and safety at every step of the project are very thorough."

“With the quality built into this reservoir it should provide water for the surrounding area for many years, without any major maintenance requirements.”

The main steelwork erection phase for the reservoir is now complete, but pipework, electrical work, surface treatment and inter connection with the existing reservoir are still to be carried out.

Completion of the new Minchinbury reservoir will allow Saunders to carry out maintenance on the existing 30 year old unit, without interruption to the water supply.