After more than 30-years in construction one Victorian contractor challenged the status quo and up-skilled his team to be able to construct engineering projects from modern building materials thereby reducing business risk, seizing new opportunities and boosting business resilience.
Civilnow were principal contractors on the Twelve Apostles Trail, which included several kilometres of pedestrian bridges and boardwalks specified in Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP).
Having never constructed with FRP before Civilnow Managing Director, Jason Rodger set about partnering with people in the know and up-skilling his team to take on the challenge.
“The Twelve Apostles Trail started in February of 2021 and was finished just before Christmas in 2023. So there’s a bit of time on that project and all up it was about 20 kilometres and it started at Timboon and ended up at Port Campbell,” Jason Rodger said.
“And out of those multiple stages, the team and I were lucky enough to secure on the tender system, all but two stages so you can see that the yellow section is mainly a gravel pathway; that’s packages ABCD and E2,” Mr Rodger said.
“And within that is what’s called packages F, which are four cattle underpasses constructed out of FRP at various locations; and that was to facilitate farmer’s movements two times a day to get cattle to and from the dairy without having to cross the road. So that was our first venture into FRP,” he said.
“E1 and E3 in the red section on the map; that’s about a 1.5 kilometre section that was by far the most difficult and challenging construction activities to perform. It started on the cliff top near a car park and consisted of pedestrian boardwalks, bridges and a concrete footpath.”
Having never used FRP before, Civilnow sought to upskill their team and partner with people who had extensive experience constructing with the modern building material.
“I’d never used FRP before until this project and packages E and F were full of it. So, consequently I had to engage a subcontractor to perform these works, and I was lucky enough to come across Cope Ag out of Melbourne and we partnered with them because they had the experience and know how to construct the FRP elements,” Jason Rodger said.
“We had a really good team and were able to work through many design issues at all levels with Cope Ag and Council’s Senior Engineer who was very experienced; and although it wasn’t a design and construct job, sometimes things happen that necessitate having to delve into design issues and get them signed off,” Mr Rodger said.
“With section F we had some FRP girder bridges that Cope Ag actually put together in their factory, which was great; not that the weather was a problem at this time of year, but if you’re doing this in the middle of winter the ability, with the material because it’s so lightweight, to be able to assemble a bridge undercover and crane it on site is a game changer,” he said.
“I reckon that was installed within three or four hours which has ongoing positive implications on the entire job; less traffic control, less interruption to local roads, reduced costs associated with hiring equipment and the list goes on.”
Pictured – FRP Girder bridges were assembled off site and craned into position.
“At this stage our responsibility was to provide the concrete abutments for Cope Ag and we actually learned a lot from this because as much as we measured it with steel tape measures and all that, we were really paranoid that when it turned up, it wasn’t going to fit; they had to be to the millimetre because we couldn’t have the gap being too big between the back of the seat and the bridge otherwise it would be a trip hazard.”
“The first bridge went off without a hitch, but if it came to site and hadn’t fit we’d be in a bit of trouble because with truck movements and things like that, we didn’t have anywhere to put it except straight onto the abutments.”
“So after that we decided to leave the back off the seat and use cement sheet as form ply between the rio rods and the bridge itself to pour the concrete because the gap would only be 10 or 15 millimetres. It just gave us more comfort.”
Pictured – The back of the seat of the concrete abutments the bridges sat on were eventually installed after the bridge installation to reduce risk of tripping hazards.
As the job progressed the Civilnow team were able to observe the tricks and techniques Cope Ag used to work with FRP.
“It was the Civilnow team observing how Cope Ag and their team went about installing these underpasses that would make us less nervous about moving onto the other FRP stages which were still at tender and I was lucky enough to get. Because what was to come was nowhere near as simple as the cattle underpasses,” Jason Rodger said.
“So this leads me onto package E1, E2 and E3 ; one was a concrete footpath that was DDA compliant with ramps and landings. E2 was a little bit more traditional because we were basically in a National Park, but then E3 was the bit that Tony and the Cope Ag crew did, which was the FRP structures, which consisted of the cantilevered boardwalk and three other miscellaneous smaller boardwalks,” Mr Rodger said.
“This was a further level up for the team at Civil Now, as these works were more complex and there were more moving parts than what we’ve done previously leading into this work. The other thing that complicated it further was that we’d been hidden away from the public eye, but now we’re moving into more populated areas. Now we were actually on the Great Ocean Road, so there were challenges that we faced there that we just had to be all over with traffic management plans and things like that,” he said.
“The cantilevered boardwalk is well over 100 meters long and there were some safety issues, traffic management complexities and the like to project manage during installation, so we took the vehicle egress back to one lane on the Great Ocean Road to reduce risk.”
Pictured – Ladders were constructed off site and craned into position for efficiency.
The 117 metre long cantilevered pedestrian boardwalk was the jewel in the crown of the project and the team watched Cope Ag quickly and efficiently install what was technically a tricky structure with speed and ease.
“You can see the truck and the escalator lifting what Tony Cope and the boys from Cope Ag referred to as ladders so it was this point in time that we witnessed the benefit of the lightweight FRP material and its nature not only helping to improve installation and constructability, but improve safety and manual handling; only a small excavator was required to lift materials into place,” Jason Rodger said.
“There were many instances where materials were being moved by hand, which you wouldn’t have been able to do with traditional materials and the excavator was only required to lift what Tony and James referred to as ‘ladders’ into place; these are prefabricated segments made by Cope Ag in their factory and trucked to site. So once the cross members were down, they brought the ladders in and just lifted them into place.”
As the project moved along there were some holdups relating to the location and best solution for pile foundations nearby Telstra cables.
“We went back to the drawing board with Council’s senior engineer, Cope Ag and Wagners CFT and came up with a solution that would make us all rest easier not knowing 100% where the location of the Telstra cable was,” Jason Rodger said.
“There was a bit of a hold up when we got to this point because we had to do redesign work.
Council then decided we needed to have some more controls in place for the Telstra cable because it was up to six metres deep at one location heading up the hill where we had to do the other structures and we couldn’t find it at that depth. We we’re pretty sure it was there, but we weren’t certain so we developed a Telstra Protection plan which we put in place as an extra level of protection for all stakeholders,” Mr Rodger said.
“So at this point we started to observe Cope Ag’s construction technique and how efficient and effective it was. I’ve learned a lot from Cope Ag regarding working with FRP, the tools that were required, and a few little tricks along the way and the connection details and how they carried those works out because we were around them a lot of the time and what sort of started as a pretty daunting project became a lot simpler once you see everything in action,” he said.
“We became more confident working with FRP and took over the installation of some of the aspects of the FRP build, specifically the handrail system. They showed us a lot of tips and tricks to do with materials and the tools.”
“I remember the day that James told me that he used a tile drill which is like a little teardrop tip instead of using something that is highly abrasive. So little tricks like that, we learnt the whole notion of making these ladders in their factory and not being weather dependent. It’s just those little tricks they showed us, which were great.”
Pictured – Tools and techniques used to install FRP are similar to traditional materials.
Civilnow also took advantage of Wagners CFT’s Installation Partners program to pick up additional tips regarding FRP installation.
“The other thing we did was take a visit to the Wagners factory, which was great. We went up there and got the full tour; we talked to some of Wagners’ inhouse installers and got some tips as well about the best brand of rivet gun we should be using because we had a heap of rivets to do on that FRP, I think there was 1.5 kilometer of it we did in the end,” Jason Rodger said.
“Our tools included diamond tipped hole saws and circular blade saws. Other than that, the equipment required to install FRP is very standard and the techniques for installation, similar to traditional materials,” Mr Rodger said.
“The only thing I’d suggest is that you spend a bit more money getting better quality diamond tip blades than the cheaper ones because they just lasted longer. And I know you hear that a lot, but in this case it was true. So I think ours came from Wurth and they were lasting up to four times as long as one you get from your local hardware store down the road.” he said.
“We tapped into the opportunities offered through Wagner CFT’s Installation partners program including the factory tour that they insisted we come up and have a look; and I’m so glad we did because we really got a lot out of it.”
Pictured – The team from Civilnow visiting the Wagners CFT manufacturing facility and speaking to the Supervisor of the Customer Build Fabrication team, Ted Fechner.
Civilnow, having taken the time to understand the benefits and nature of FRP, is now well poised to take advantage of the increased use of these modern building materials on projects right throughout Victoria.
“Civilnow is now confident to take on FRP projects by ourselves and we’re actually currently building a DDA compliant beach access ramp for Warnambool City Council. And this structure has been designed to be future proof which allows for the movement of sand over many years,” Jason Rodger said.
“These FRP structures are everywhere up in Queensland, but I’m seeing more and more FRP structures being designed in Victoria as clients are starting to specify the product in their projects and I can only put it down to the ease of construction and I think a big bonus is this 50 year plus design life, that I think in Victoria it’s still a relatively early technology,” Mr Rodger said.
“But our team at Civilnow is well placed to tender for these jobs and hopefully there’s more and more coming up which I’ve got no doubt there will be. Being able and confident to construct with FRP has meant that risk to our business has been reduced, it has opened up new opportunities for us and enhanced our overall business resilience,” he said.
“When we finished building this Twelve Apostles Trail, we ended up in Port Campbell and on the open tender market, we tended the redevelopment of the Main Street of Port Campbell and the foreshore area, which we are still currently working on and will proudly deliver in a month or so time.”
“When I run into people and they’re like, what do you do for a living? I used to say I’m a builder in civil construction. And they’d ask what sort of things do you specialise in? I would say I move dirt, I lay pipes and I build roads and a lot of jobs consist of all three facets. And until recently I use to say the only thing I don’t touch are bridges…but now I’ve got another string to my bow and with the work I have been doing with Wagners CFT and Cope Ag as a subcontractor, I’m very pleased to say that Civilnow are also bridge builders.”
To watch the full webinar on Twelve Apostles Trail with Civilnow Managing Director, Jason Rodger.
To find out about Wagners CFT’s Installation Partners program
To discuss your next project with Wagners CFT talk to your local Business Development Manager
