Ten years of Primus Line Down Under

Establishing a branch in Australia at a time when few pressure pipe rehabilitations were being carried out using trenchless technologies may seem like a bold move.

But German company Rädlinger Primus Line GmbH took precisely this step in 2016.

This was preceded by more than two years of intensive preparation, persuasive work with network operators and the first commissioned rehabilitation projects.

Laying the groundwork

In September 2013, Andreas Gross, now Head of Primus Line’s Business Unit for International Water Projects, visited International No-Dig in Sydney.

He collected information about the Australian market, especially about construction companies and network operators.

Rädlinger Primus Line was already aware that water is a precious commodity and valuable resource in Australia with its many arid regions, deserts and semi-deserts.

The standards for the construction of pipelines are correspondingly high. The pressure ratings for water pipes are between PN12/1,200 kpa and PN16/1,600 kpa, which suits the Primus Line® technology product portfolio.

Trenchless technologies for the rehabilitation of gravity pipelines and lining with continuous HDPE pipes were already known and in use in Australia at the time, and the technology for cleaning and camera inspection prior to rehabilitation was also available.

These were the best prerequisites for establishing Primus Line Rehab as a trenchless system for the rehabilitation of pressure pipelines in Australia.

The visit to the trade fair brought immediate success – the first rehabilitation project was initiated there, although it was realised in New Zealand rather than Australia at the end of 2013.

The approval process for the drinking water hygiene certificate in accordance with AS/NZS 4020 for the Primus Line system was initiated and completed successfully at the end of 2014.

A year of firsts

The year 2014 was the year of firsts for Primus Line in Australia – the first appearance at the OzWater trade show with an Australian partner; the certification of the first local installation companies; and the discussion of the first project Down Under, which was put to tender in 2015 and realised in 2016.

For this project, Primus Line secured the rehabilitation of a 460m-long leaking uPVC drinking water pipe in Lismore, New South Wales.

At the time, Primus Line’s Australian operation was managed from the German headquarters.

Gross toured Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane several times a year for three weeks at a time to raise awareness of Primus Line Rehab among network operators.

This led him to Urban Utilities, one of Australia’s largest water suppliers, in 2014.

Its interest in the innovative product was so great that in the same year, a delegation visited IFAT – the world’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management – in Munich.

The delegation also visited a nearby construction site to evaluate Primus Line as a solution.

It turned out that the flanges of the connectors had to be customised specifically for the Australian AS4087 standard, which the Primus Line engineers implemented accordingly.

During these initial visits and return visits, a rehabilitation project on Ann Street in Brisbane was discussed, which was finally realised in 2020 following a trial project in 2018.

The installation work took place exclusively at night to minimise the impact on residents and traffic.

Urban Utilities carried out the installation itself after thorough training, with a Primus Line supervisor on site to provide support.

Branching out

Convinced by the successful market development, the promising discussions, and the first certified installation partners and installations, the Primus Line management team decided in 2016 to establish a branch in Australia. It also had the goal to be permanently on site with a local employee by the end of the same year.

Thanks to the support provided by the German Australian Chamber of Foreign Trade in initiating business and the employee’s broad network of operators, engineering firms and construction companies, the number of projects and operators with Primus Line Rehab qualifications increased.

After successfully completing the tests and two trial projects involving the rehabilitation of short pipe sections, Primus Line Rehab was added to Sydney Water’s list of approved pipeline rehabilitation products.

Operators from Sydney Water have been installing Primus Line solutions since 2017 following extensive training.

Partnerships and plans

German engineer Heiko Manzke has been responsible for Primus Line’s Australian and New Zealand operations since 2019.

After many years at Primus Line’s headquarters in Germany, he relocated to the east coast of Australia and is contributing his technical expertise to the network built up by his predecessor, expanding it further and acting in an advisory capacity.

In addition to many rehabilitated wastewater pressure pipes, Manzke has been to the forefront of a number of unusual projects – such as the rehabilitation of a vertical pipe and the first three-in-one project implemented in Australia with Hunter Water.

Projects were also realised in New Zealand and with mine operator Rio Tinto.

Primus Line celebrated a significant milestone during the Covid-19 pandemic, securing a partnership with Interflow, one of Australia’s market leaders for water and pipework infrastructure. Interflow took Primus Line products into stock to reduce delivery times for emergency projects. The exclusive contract ended in mid-2024.

In future, Primus Line will work with regional specialists in the water sector alongside their existing installation partners, which will continue to include Interflow.

Meanwhile, efforts to expand the use of Primus Line® Overland Piping as a temporary, above-ground pipeline in mining are showing initial success.

Pioneering product

Manzke said Australia and New Zealand are extremely interesting markets for a Primus Line’s products.

“The local network operators and engineering firms are highly qualified and therefore greatly appreciate a high-quality product made in Germany,” he said.

“At Primus Line, we offer a carefree all-in-one package – a first-class product with excellent customer support, combined with unrivalled expertise in the field of flexible piping.

“Nobody in the world can hold a candle to us in this area, and our customers in Australia and New Zealand recognise and appreciate that.”

Gross, who pioneered the work for Primus Line in Australia, said “as water is an increasingly scarce resource in Australia, awareness of efficient and resource-saving solutions is high”.

“There is a strong openness to innovative and trenchless technologies. This opens up excellent opportunities on the Australian market for companies that offer technological and environmentally friendly approaches,” he said.

Primus Line projects in Australia and New Zealand:

• More than 70 projects realised in total.
• Longest rehabilitated stretch: around 3000m on Ann Street in Brisbane with Urban Utilities.
• Longest single-shot installation: 1400m in one pull at Mt. Cole, Vic, for GWM Water.
• Preferred applications: Rehabilitation of pipes in sensitive environments such as cultural heritage sites, city centres, under railway tracks, roads or rivers

Awards:

• ASTT Trenchless Rehabilitation Project of the Year 2019 for an emergency rehabilitation under Biggera Creek on the Gold Coast. Thanks to the combined material and human resources of various Primus Line installation partners, the rehabilitation was completed in just one working day.
• Infrastructure Project Innovation at the AWA VIC Water Awards for the Mount Cole 2022 project in Victoria. This involved the rehabilitation of almost 1400m of raw water pipeline in a sensitive area that is difficult to access.

For more information, visit primusline.com.

This article featured in the December edition of Trenchless Australasia.