St. Kilda Beach

A major concern to engineers working on the St. Kilda Beach parkade is the structure's proximity to salt water, groundwater soluble contamination and the potential for rebar corrosion in the concrete. The parkade will accomodate 460 cars on two levels and is designed to be well below grade. The top side of the parkade will be covered with landscaping, which will include dirt, grass and gardens. Access to the positive side of the concrete will be impossible once construction is complete. The potential for waterproofing disaster is tremendous.

Recently, the county undertook extensive repairs to stop the leakage, preserve and protect the structure and return the basement levels to a useable condition. At first, the county planned to inject liquid bentonite to fill the holes and block water penetration. They soon realized, however, that the holes and damage were more extensive than originally estimated, and that this course of action would not solve the problem.

Solution

Kryton Australia was contracted in 2000 to supply 18,500 kg (40,785 lbs.) of Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) to meet the concrete waterproofing needs for approximately 3700 cubic meters (4,800 cubic yards) of concrete. KIM completely replaced any need for surface applied membranes and will provide permanent protection from water penetration and corrosion of the reinforcing steel.