XLERPLATE® steel Stores Melbourne Water

Location:	Frankston, Victoria
Country:	Australia
Client:	Melbourne Water
Fabricator:	E Brockman and Sons
Products Used:	AS/NZS 3678 - 250 XLERPLATE®

One of Victoria's most experienced fabrication companies is working on the simultaneous construction of two major steel water tanks for Melbourne Water.

E Brockman and Sons won separate tenders to design and construct a 33 megalitre storage tank at Mornington and a 53 megalitre storage at Frankston.

The two huge steel tanks are part of an ongoing program by Melbourne Water to improve water quality and upgrade storage capacity. The 70 metre diameter Mornington tank is due for completion in November this year, with the 95 metre diameter Frankston tank to be commissioned in April 2006.

Both tanks, which are being fabricated from XLERPLATE® steel, will replace open reservoirs and provide more effective storage and water quality for surrounding areas. The Mornington storage tank will be 10.5 metres high when completed and the Frankston tank will be 8.7 metres high.

In 1989 current E Brockman and Sons managing director, Don Forbes, put together a team which purchased a major shareholding in the company, which had already established a strong reputation for the quality of its general fabrication work, covering everything from bridge girders to crane jibs and metals processing vessels.

This team was instrumental in introducing the design and construction of steel storage tanks for the chemical, oil and water supply industries, which is now a core activity for the 84 year old Corio based company.

"Since 1988 we've designed and constructed almost 100 storage tanks," project manager Max Goddard said. "Most have been in Victoria, but we've also tackled projects in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia."

Mr Goddard said that the company had developed specialised skills and access equipment to tackle increasingly larger and more complex design and construction tasks. The Frankston and Mornington contracts involve siteworks, foundations, tank fabrication, electrical works and piping.

"Our original plan for the Mornington and Frankston tanks involved fabrication one after the other," he said. "Because of site challenges with the foundations at Frankston we modified our schedule and have now have extended our program for that tank.

"The change to the construction schedules flowed on to all companies involved in the projects, including suppliers and sub-contractors, but we've had good service, particularly from BlueScope Steel."

The Frankston and Mornington tanks will incorporate more than 2,100 tonnes of XLERPLATE® steel from BlueScope Steel when completed.

Both tanks, which are the largest designed and constructed by E. Brockman and Sons, are being fabricated from 250 Grade XLERPLATE® steel. Tank Wall thicknesses vary from 22mm at the base to 10mm at the top. Floors and roofs will be fabricated from 6mm XLERPLATE® steel.

Existing Melbourne Water tanks have roofs clad with aluminium profiles. The Frankston and Mornington tanks will incorporate roofs fabricated from 6mm XLERPLATE® steel. Internal surfaces of the tanks will be coated with a special "high-build" epoxy layer developed for contact with drinking water.

"These have been projects where the flexibility of suppliers has been crucial to success," Max Goddard said. "Melbourne Water have particularly high engineering standards which presented their own challenges. Both tanks are built to an American standard which has tighter tolerances than the Australian standard. The American standard calls for tolerances of less than 0.25mm on plate thickness."

The specifications of the water tanks and their production schedule involved the supply of non-standard XLERPLATE® steel, sometimes with short lead times.

"We've had extremely close co-operation from BlueScope Steel, not just on specification, but also on delivery scheduling," Max Goddard said. They got together with us to organise delivery of steel to our premises, to Smorgon Steel for profiling and some direct to the two construction sites.

"We set up a program with BlueScope Steel to order steel for delivery in a sequence that gave us time to fabricate the shell of the tanks and the roof of the tanks before the floor was delivered. It's been working well.

"These are very large projects. In the case of Mornington the construction period is 18 months and for Frankston it will be two years. You have to have confidence in your suppliers. That's something we've established with BlueScope Steel over a number of years.

"We've looked at imported steels at various times, but we have always gone with the Australian product and marketed that. Australian steel is some of the best steel in the world and we've never had any problems with it."

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