Water Filled Barriers for Victorian Prison Construction

The Project

John Holland has secured the contract to build Chisolm Road Prison in Victoria, a new maximum security facility that will accommodate over 1,200 prisoners.

Located in the vicinity of the existing Lara prison precinct, North of Geelong, this facility will provide expanded capacity for Victoria’s growing prison population. With a focus on community safety, the state-of-the-art facility will feature the highest and most stringent level of security, along with key features including new health, education and recreation facilities.

In October 2019 John Holland was appointed as the managing contractor for the prison. The Victorian Government has committed $689.5 million for this project, which is set to be operational in 2022.

The Challenge

Temporary access roads needed to be be built and the contractor required a strong and stable barrier to line these roads. Water field barriers presented an ideal solution due to their flexible nature – as the site needs changed and the construction work progressed, the barriers could be shifted as necessary.

The contractor sought a large quantity of water filled barriers that could be delivered to site quickly, along with a lightweight barrier that could be erected alongside the access roads to create safer walkways for workers.

The Solution

Fortress supplied approximately 300 of our rugged Trafix water filled barriers to John Holland, along with over 500 steel crowd control barriers, with hundreds more being utilised by other contractors on site.

Simple and lightweight to install when empty, each Trafix barrier weighs just 20kg empty. After being moved into position they are filled with water, bringing their weight to a hefty 327kg. This results in a stable and secure barrier that is ideal for carparks, worksites and pedestrian delineation.

With a simple interlocking pin and hole system that is moulded into each barrier, they are easy to link together to form long chains of barriers. 

Parallel to the water filled barriers are Fortress Fencing’s orange crowd control barriers, a lightweight tubular steel fence that is perfect for creating walkways.

Fortress crowd control barriers are fully welded, hard-wearing and lightweight, which makes them easy to transport and deploy. With low intrusion feet to minimise the chance of trips, these barriers are powder coated to ensure maximum life in the outdoors.

In total, over 2500 powder coated and galvanized crowd control barriers are being used throughout this sprawling site, ensuring workers and visitors to site follow designated pathways.