Effective lake liner for The Gables residential development

GCL proves an effective lake liner for The Gables residential development

4 hectare lake in the Hills Shire gets the Bentofix treatment

Project snapshot

The Gables is a masterplanned residential community in The Hills District NSW, covering 330 hectares. In addition to its own primary school, two sports fields and a town centre, at the heart of the development is a stunning 4-hectare lake.

This lake is considered the jewel in the crown of The Gables, spanning more than 9 acres and drawing comparisons to Darling Harbour’s Cockle Bay.

The challenges

With a complex engineering proposal and various government approvals to obtain, the construction of the lake required attention to detail and a thoroughly professional approach to ensure the successful completion of the project.

The client needed a cost-effective solution that met the project brief and could offer faster installation than traditional methods.

Our Solution: Bentofix Geosynthetic Clay Liner

Working with the contractor, developer and consultant the engineering team at Global Synthetics prepared a design utilising Bentofix® Geosynthetic Clay Liner.

This GCL is available in wide width rolls of bentonite sandwiched between layers of geotextile. Offering an engineered replacement for traditional clay lining in containment structures such as ponds and dams, the properties and performance of Bentofix® neatly suited this large lake project.

Global Synthetics’ range of GCL’s offer the designer an engineered equivalency to clay without the costly import and placement and quality control costs associated with this traditional method.

Additionally, the volume of containment can be significantly increased with the use of a GCL, as this product offers a more streamlined equivalent to very thick layers of compacted clay.

Our engineers selected a combination of Bentofix® X2NSP4900 and Bentofix® NSP4900, supplying 72,000m2 of material to fully line the 4-hectare lake. You can view a time-lapse of the construction process here.

This dual product approach tapped into the qualities of both standard Bentofix® and its sister product which includes a polyethylene coating. This PE coating offers extremely low permeability and increases the pull-out resistance as well as the internal shear strength. In applications with high hydraulic gradients over coarse soils, the additional multicomponent GCL Bentofix® X coating prevents bentonite piping and helps to act as a root barrier.

For complex projects, partner with Global Synthetics

The combination of Bentofix® products and the technical expertise of the Global Synthetics engineering team ensured this project was a success.

Global Synthetics is here to provide support and advice for complex engineered projects. Get in touch with our team for more information or to request a quote on our range of specialist geosynthetics.