Background
Founded in 1886 in Perth by Robert Bunning and has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994 – Bunnings chain of hardware and garden centres has blossomed to more than 500+ stores across Australia and New Zealand.
Challenge
In 2017, Bunnings required the casting of more than 150 × 600 mm columns for their newest location in Smithfield, in the outer suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The project required the construction of 150 pylons, which normally require 150 individual sacrificial forms.
Solution
After an initial consultation with Form Doctors, Allcon recommended lightweight Geoplast Geotub Round components for 15 × 600 mm round column forms.
Outcomes
The no-tool setup columns could be quickly set up (and stripped down) to be reused 10 times each, which not only aligned with Bunnings sustainability commitments, but also led to reductions in project material costs, site waste/clean-up costs, reliance on specialty form workers, additional bracing requirements from alternate formwork options, and costs of cranes or heavy lifting apparatus.
The lightweight ABS construction (less than 11 kg per piece) made the Geotub Round plastic formwork system easy to store compactly on-site between stages, reducing transport costs between the multi-site project setups.
