SecuraTop® fencing supplied in specialist corrosion resistant finish for near marine environment

The primary drivers for the fencing was to act as school perimeter security fencing to prevent unauthorised access to the school site. The combination of the fence height, design and gauge of steel sections used make the fence difficult to scale, penetrate or get under. This has the effect of deterring and delaying access that is normally opportunistic. The school is situated close to Robina Hospital and Robina train station. It was reported in October 2015 that more than 100 windows had been smashed in up to 15 break-ins in the year to date, costing the school more than $100,000 in repairs and believed to have occurred outside school hours.The fencing also provides a safety function by way of allowing the control of access and egress to the site of students and vehicles using a series of manual swing gates that can be secured in the open and closed position. The school backs on to Mudgeereba Creek that is tidal. This results in a significant portion of the fence being regularly inundated with salty water that is obviously corrosive of steel based material. The school site itself is only set back a few kilometres from the coast. For these reasons DETA wanted a perimeter fence in its standard tubular steel style but with additional corrosion resistance. We supplied fencing that went through the following process to meet this requirement:

• the fencing and gates fabricated in 'black' (ungalvanised) steel;
• the materials are then hot dip galvanised after fabrication to AS 4680 that coats the material inside and out (immersed in a molten bath of zinc that provides sacrificial corrosion protection);
• the materials lightly abraded (to remove any oxidisation on the exterior surface to be painted and 'key' (increase the surface area) of the  surface for dramatically improved powder coating film adhesion);
• a epoxy primer powder coat applied to the external surface (the epoxy provides barrier corrosion protection by way of being non-porous and preventing salts and pollutants coming into contact with the zinc);
• a polyester powder coat applied to epoxy primer (the polyester provides a UV resistant and highly durable finish).

The process should result in extended corrosion resistance of the base tubular steel material and the film adhesion of the powder coating.

Some of the other features of the Bluedog fence system supplied were:

• Bluedog Eternity® hinges were fitted to the gates with a greasable tapered roller bearing arrangement at the bottom and adjustable sealed bearing arrangement at top. This heavy duty and long lasting hinge assembly will give many years of smooth and trouble free operation.Bluedog SmartaBrackets® were used to secure the panels to the posts. These are a heavy duty 3mm steel security bracket that is far more vandal and corrosion resistant than light weight zinc plated shrouds.
• Bluedog Bolt’nLock® locking hardware arrangement with a 20mm slide bolt and twin Broadhurst lockboxes into which shackleless locks are inserted for greater vandal resistance.