The Brief
TKO Bollards were contacted by a building services company and requested to quote on 2 x in-ground stainless steel bollards. These bollards needed to be core filled (meaning concrete filled in the middle of the bollard) and on top of this a custom made a set of reinforced Rio steel bars were inserted along with the concrete to set in the drilled hole.
The end customer was Wesptac Banking Corporation Ipswich Branch.
Once our drawings had been refined and approved by our estimator and engineering team TKO Bollards set to work to research the job site and identified some small issues such as a potential for limited access for pedestrians and disability scooters, wheelchairs and the likes. Once we had communicated this to the building services company TKO Bollards set out to confirm installation date and time.
Due to the bank not wanting to interrupt its normal business hours TKO Bollards agreed to be on-site in Ipswich at 4:30 am. We are happy to do this for our installation jobs as it protects any pedestrians and their vehicles whilst also allowing our installation team easier access to their vehicles and reduces installation time.
The Expectation
Install In-Ground Stainless Steel Bollards with added ram raid protection
TKO Bollards the leading bollard manufacturer and installer recently completed a successful install of speciality custom made stainless steel Bollards at a Westpac branch located in Ipswich, Queensland.
Concrete Scanning
Once the installation morning had arrived our team arrived on-site to begin core drilling the stainless steel bollards, prior to our core drilling and in the early stages of the project we had a concrete scan performed on the site to minimize risk on pipes and anything that could be close to the concrete footpath.
The scan came back clean, however, once our installation team began core drilling, through experience and attention they identified an existing PVC pipe presumably carrying water, this wasn’t picked up on the concrete scan but our installation team was able to identify it by taking the extra time and by not rushing the job.
If our team had not taken the time to inspect the hole prior to installation of the stainless steel bollards the bollards would have cracked the pipe and caused water to instantly start flooding the site and more importantly the front of the business which could cause delays for the business.
Core Drilling Complete
Now the holes/footings for the bollards have been drilled and dugout, it’s time to place the stainless steel bollard into the core-drilled hole and make sure it’s footing is set, once this is done we simply drop the custom made rio-support beam into the middle of the bollard, fill the bollard with concrete which is called Core Filling and allow the bollard and concrete to set.
Now that the holes have been cut out we do our final checks of the site to make sure the stainless steel bollards will fit in without any issues now or into the future.
Installation Of The Stainless Steel Security Bollards
A crucial part of any security bollard installation is making sure the steel bollard has been installed correctly from the start, TKO Bollards achieves this through a number of ways, but mainly it's from experience and care. It's quite rare to get an installation area such as a concrete slab that is perfectly flat, most installation areas are on a slope, this means we need to have the footings dug right to begin with then make sure our installation is done with planning and attention.
The installation area at our Wesptac Ipswich job was on a slight lean, so our installer took care to mark the area with chalk prior to beginning any works, once he had determined the level of core drilling needed he moved on to setting the bollard. Setting the bollard is a method that consists of fast-acting cement which takes a few minutes to set.
Once the bollard(s) has been set we move onto core filling the bollard with cement. Filling a bollard with cement is a way to add further protection against ram raids and vehicle related damages, the intent maybe different but with a core filled bollard compared to a non-core filled the results can be very different. In this installation we went a step further by adding a custom welded piece of steel into the bollard which went all the way into the existing cement footing, adding yet another level of protection.
Last Checks
Before leaving the Westpac Bollard Installation job site we made sure that the stainless steel bollards were securely in place and had begun setting, with a final check of the angle and footing TKO Bollards cleared the site of any prep which had been done - this included removing chalk and drawing marks on the ground for core drilling, removing equipment such as hose and power cables. To have a final check we wet down the area and lightly brushed the floors so the bank could open and begin welcoming customers. At 8:30 - 1 hour before they opened the Westpac bank manager greeted us and inspected the site, impressed with the job TKO Bollards packed up and went onto our next job.
This is the level of service all our customers receive, from major national banks who trust us with asset protection to small businesses who need further protection - TKO Bollards is here to help protect your business.