The challenging facility contains an excavated 8 m deep looping pit retained with precast panels, gantry cranes operational in unison along the entire 190 m length of the building across 23 m clear span bays, jointless fibre reinforced slabs supporting multi-high stacked steel coils weighing up to 16t each, plus CFA piling to support a future high-bay designed for racking post loads of up to 100t each.

Ground conditions further complicated the project with contaminated fill overlying complex geology comprising floodplain sediments and duricrusted land surfaces. A conventional ‘remove and replace’ approach was estimated at over $4 million.

Arcos undertook a detailed geotechnical investigation to inform ground preparation and high-bay pile design. Through this process, Arcos developed a tailored ground improvement strategy using High Energy Impact Compaction (HEIC), delivering cost savings in excess of $3 million while avoiding disturbance of contaminated soil.