Norman Sheun & Associates architects in Adelaide have protected Telstra Australia’s profits by using Cementaid ’s Caltite Concrete in their Telecom Tower project in Brighton, SA.
Constructed on the end of the 160 m long Brighton Jetty in 1995, the tower is exposed to strong prevailing winds, heavy salt spray and severe wet/dry cycling through all seasons , an extremely aggressive marine environment, especially during the long, hot summer months.
The Everdure Caltite, a hydrophobic pore-blocking ingredient (HPI) for waterproof concrete, has been used to protect it. This has a non-absorptive, hydrophobic matrix, making it permanently immune to salt water and weathering cycles. As it is waterproof it is also effectively corrosion-proof.
The cast-in-situ Caltite concrete was architecturally finished by a specialist contractor to produce a finely tooled granite-terrazzo effect, which has shown no sign of weathering.
The jetty’s concrete deck structure, constructed at the same time as the Tower, relied only on dense, low-permeability/low-diffusion plain concrete to prevent corrosion. After six years, crack-lines over steel reinforcement are visible in the jetty’s concrete deck, evidence that low permeability or diffusion alone may not be sufficient to provide long-term protection against corrosion under these extreme conditions.
