Recent Conventional Geotechnical Investigation and Design Projects
Office/Apartment
- Ryrie Street, Geelong. Four storey plus basement.
- Victoria Street, North Melbourne. Four storey plus basement.
Industrial and Civil Development
- Australian Paper - Maryvale Mill re-development including a number of storage tanks and other structures up to 53m high.
- Toyota Motor Corporation - Altona Plant. On-going geotechnical investigation for plant expansion.
- Australand - Building and pavement investigation and design for four 40 hectare industrial subdivisions at Derrimut including pavement design for duplication of Boundary Road.
- Vicroads - Burwood Highway light rail extension.
- Fiji - Reservoir and pipeline development
Slope Stability
- Cavehill Quarry residential development. Slope stability analysis of natural slopes and filled overburden dumps.
- Fyansford Green residential development. Slope stability analysis of 50m high slopes.
- Surf Coast. Numerous stability assessments of coastal cliffs including Bells Beach, Torquay, Jan Juc, Anglesea and Aireys Inlet.
- Nilldottie. 40m high sub-vertical cliff above Murray River potentially weakened by the proposed installation of seven 0.5m diameter closely spaced intake irrigation pipes on a 60° slope exiting near the base of the cliff.
- Olivers Hill. Three level luxury apartments on 50m, high 30° slope in known landslip area.
Residential
- Cavehill Quarry residential development. 28 Hectare subdivision.
- Fyansford Green Residential development. 40 Hectare subdivision.
- Six hectare site at Lilydale to be developed as a retirement village. Part of the site contains a backfilled quarry and the development includes a 6m boundary cut in variable rhyolite that was profiled using MASW.
- Twenty hectare site at Moe to be developed as a 'Senior Living Community'.
Bridges
Numerous geotechnical investigation and footing design for country bridge replacement in Victoria and southern NSW.
Recreational Projects
Otway Ranges. Geotechnical investigation and input into the positioning of viewing platforms for Triplett Falls, Little Aire Falls and Beauchamp Falls. This required assessment of steep slope stability as well as determining foundation conditions.
Black Geotechnical has performed many investigations for fire access and pedestrian bridges in Victoria's national parks.
High level footings in China
In the late 1990s/early 2000s, Black Geotechnical conducted many geotechnical investigations for Lend Lease and others along the eastern seaboard from Guangdong to Tianjin where there is deep compressible weak alluvial soil. The aim was to promote the construction of factories on high level footings rather than deep piled footings to avoid the problems created when services, external pavements and internal floor slabs settle and the piled structure does not. A better solution is for everything to settle together and to detail the building and services to accommodate the expected settlements. Success was achieved, and the methods adopted by local geotechnical engineers in China.
