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Fletcher Reinforcing's Stremaform Performs Well for the Memorial Park Alliance

Saturday 25 April 2020, 11:23PM

By Beckie Wright

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Wellington’s NZ Memorial Park has created additional space for significant days of remembrance. Numbers of people gathering on major ceremonial occasions like Anzac day is growing every year, and the immediate space around the National War Memorial is often at full capacity. The new Park has given those people wishing to commemorate New Zealand’s proud military history an appropriate place to do so.

During the build, the engineers looked to Stremaform  to speed up the construction of the new “cut and cover” trench slab, for their construction joints. The product’s performance allowed a higher speed of concrete pour than traditional methods.

Stremaform is used as lost formwork for working joints in floor slabs, ceilings and walls. Consisting of an expanded metal welded between steel bars, Stremaform is placed between the reinforcement bars providing a rough surface to the finished concrete. This surface forms an indented structure with the second concrete pour so that the working joint transfers shear forces identical to those obtained with monolithic concrete (proven by tests carried out at the IBMB Brunswick).

The Project Engineer from the Alliance contacted Fletcher Reinforcing to enquiry about the suitability of Stremaform for the trench slab. After several meetings, it was agreed to supply flat sheets of Stremaform for fabrication on site. The product offers the versatility to be supplied pre-fabricated ex-Germany in a full range of heights and configurations (with or without water stop holder), or as flat sheets ex-stock in New Zealand. Max Frank offers a full design service through Fletcher Reinforcing.

“Stremaform offered us the ability to set up our construction joints well ahead of schedule without having to return to the joint after a concrete pour to remove traditional formwork. The joint finish allowed us to fix steel continually, without any remedial work to the concrete or waiting for formwork to be removed. Stremaform is a great product which we will be looking at using on future projects.” Cole Meiring, Project Engineer, Memorial Park Alliance.

The Stremaform Construction Joint Formwork Systems consists of a special expanded metal mesh which replaces the traditional formwork. It stays in the concrete and eliminates any need for formwork removal or scabbling of the surface prior to the second pour. Tests carried out by the Technical University of Brunswick show that the resistance of these construction joints to shear forces is identical to that for monolithic concrete, so for more information on reinforcing mesh NZ, reinforcing mesh sizes NZ and Fletcher reinforcing Christchurch please go to https://www.fletcherreinforcing.co.nz/products/stremaform .