Geofabrics opens Qld R&D facility

Opening the Geosynthetic Centre of Excellence, in Molendinar on the Gold Coast, Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry Richard Marles, said Geofabrics had already developed a reputation for innovation and customer focus.
“Geofabrics’ products have become essential in the civil engineering, construction and mining industries, providing drainage solutions, paving, erosion prevention and embankment reinforcement for a range of applications, from storing water to draining golf courses.”
Marles said the $2.4m Geofabrics spent developing the centre was an investment in the company’s future. It will allow research to continue into this highly innovative product, he said. As well Geofabrics will be able to better collaborate with its customers to develop unique and site specific solutions “and ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of world-wide geosynthetic knowledge and development.”
Geofabrics MD Brendan Swifte, said the centre was part of a $6m investment in research and development, across the business. “It will improve our understanding of geosynthetics and their performance in critical applications.”
What makes this facility unique is that it is open to regulators, consulting engineers, contractors and academics to carry out application based research and testing, to develop site-specific solutions.
“In the past, we had to export some testing to specialist laboratories in the US, which was expensive, slow and difficult, because we had to export hazardous liquors,” Swifte said.
Geofabrics established in Australia 30 years ago, and has been manufacturing here for 20 years. Its products include bidim, which is part of most major Queensland roads, and contains 75% recycled materials (PET bottles). Another is Megaflo, recently selected as the drainage system for six FIFA World Cup soccer venues in South Africa.
Geofabrics is the only Australian manufacturer of geotextiles and geosynthetic clay liners and it exports to New Zealand, Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, South Africa and South America. It has factories in Molendinar, Queensland, and Albury, NSW.