For councils around Australia, asset management is a crucial responsibility, one that is becoming increasingly difficult to manage as more climate-related issues arise. From extreme heat to devastating floods and severe storms, councils often spend significant time and resources recovering and replacing damaged assets, causing community and environmental disruption. To eliminate this, councils are turning to innovative solutions to manage assets proactively.

Mainmark – an internationally-recognised ground engineering and asset preservation specialist – provides non-invasive and low-impact solutions that remediate assets instead of replacing them, saving resources, costs and the environment.

Australia is known for its iconic beaches, with water access playing a major part in the country’s way of life. In many cities and suburbs, seawalls are a valuable asset for protecting low-lying waterfront infrastructure – creating a barrier between open water and its picturesque bordering environments; reducing erosion and protecting urban assets.

Vertical seawalls block waves from ocean-facing coastlines while sloped seawalls, or revetments, are designed to dissipate the energy from smaller waves to lower the risk of erosion. Left unprotected, natural foreshores can be at risk of flooding and weakened ground conditions, which can put waterfront structures in danger of collapse.

The city of Canada Bay in Sydney’s inner west is one of the handful of Council areas in Australia that have rigid pavements (concrete slab roadways). While concrete slabs make excellent long-lasting heavy-duty pavements they can become susceptible to deterioration due to water ingress.

As Australia’s suburbs and cities grow, it’s critical for local governments to prioritise the preservation of heritage listed buildings, to not only provide an opportunity for a community to ponder its history, but because these buildings play a significant role in society and offer many social, economic and sustainability benefits to locals.

Culverts are the hidden heroes of the infrastructure sector. While they rarely receive the same reverence as bridges, tunnels and road networks, they are vital in ensuring the safe operation of our roads, rail, buildings and structures, writes Steve Piscetek.

More time, planning for tunnel projects key to functional cities.

As traffic density continues to increase with population, keeping society from grinding to a halt often rests on tunnel infrastructure says Matt McLean, operations manager for the civil and mining decision at Mainmark.

Mainmark’s Toowoomba Bypass project has received a Good Design Award for its role in upgrading and repairing the $1.6 billion Toowoomba Bypass, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Queensland history. Good design Australia awarded Mainmark with the prestigious accolade in the Engineering Design category in recognition of outstanding design and innovation.

As traffic density continues to increase with population, keeping society from grinding to a halt often rests on our tunnel infrastructure.

Tunnels help to alleviate congestion, promote smoother traffic flow, and minimise disruption in built-up areas.

Mainmark’s Toowoomba Bypass project, as featured in the September issue of Council Leader, has received a Good Design Award for its role in upgrading and repairing the $1.6 billion Toowoomba Bypass, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Queensland history. Good Design Australia awarded Mainmark with the prestigious accolade in the Engineering Design category in recognition of outstanding design and innovation.

Without proper consideration and monitoring, tree roots can cause damage to buildings, paths, driveways, and underground infrastructure.

A tree’s influence starts, literally, at the roots. The roots will continue to grow as a tree matures, extending towards anything that will maintain the tree’s life. Roots typically seek out moist soil and will often find entry into old or damaged pipes including stormwater drains, sewage pipes and water mains.

Without proper consideration and monitoring, tree roots can cause damage to buildings, paths, driveways, and underground infrastructure.

A tree’s influence starts, literally, at the roots. The roots will continue to grow as a tree matures, extending towards anything that will maintain the tree’s life. Roots typically seek out moist soil and will often find entry into old or damaged pipes including stormwater drains, sewage pipes and water mains.

Sinkholes can appear suddenly, often with dramatic and serious consequences.

While the ground may seem to unexpectedly collapse, the reality is that sinkholes generally develop over a period of time until the ground above simply loses support and gives way, leaving a gaping hole.

Sinkholes have appeared around the world in all manner of locations – beaches and oceans, residential gardens, motorways, even shopping centre car parks.