Sovereign Concrete Products

Located in Ballarat, Sovereign Concrete provide a comprehensive range of concrete products. Our product range is diverse and includes:

Structural precast parapets, barriers, sound walls and abutments for freeways and bridges;

J-J Hooks temporary safety barriers for roadwork site protection manufactured under licence to Easi-Set Industries, Midland, Virginia, USA;

Safety barriers for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix;

Precast culverts ranging in size from 300 x 150 to 4500 x 3000 for stormwater drainage, stock crossings and pedestrian underpasses;

Precast pits of any size, shape or type. Pits can be supplied in standard sizes with generic block-outs but are generally manufactured “made to order” to the customer’s requirements;

Septic tanks manufactured under licence to Standards Australia.

Sovereign’s customer base includes construction companies ranging in size from single owner operators to the largest multinationals, as well as local governments, water authorities and government road authorities.

Sovereign operate primarily in the Victorian market but have in recent times extended our reach to include the supply of culverts, and parapets and barriers to bridges on the Murray River at Robinvale, Corowa and Cobram, and parapets to bridges on the Hume Highway in southern NSW. Through an association with Australian Road Barriers Pty Ltd, Sovereign has supplied J-J Hooks Safety Barriers to the Adelaide waterfront, projects on the Hume Highway and in the Snowy Mountains in southern NSW and into the Sydney and Brisbane metropolitan areas as well as over 5000 units to the Victorian market.

Our Capabilities

Like any successful business, Sovereign Concrete Product’s production capabilities are dependant on a combination of our own resources, those of our suppliers and on the services available to be called upon.

Production Areas and Cranage

The Ballarat site covers an area of approximately 18500 m2 (1.85 Ha) of which approximately 4000 m2 is under cover work areas and office space.

The plant has three major production areas under cover allowing continuous production in all weather. Each production area is serviced by an overhead bridge crane. The three covered production areas are:

– 5 Tonne Bay. Approx 450 m2 of usable production area serviced by a bridge crane with a SWL of 5 tonne;

– 30 Tonne Bay. Approx 600 m2 of usable production area serviced by a bridge crane with a SWL of 30 tonne;

– Pit Shed. Approx 750 m2 of usable production area serviced by a bridge crane with a SWL of 10 tonne;

A planning permit is in place for the installation of a bridge crane of 50 tonne SWL to be erected in the existing Pit Shed. The permit also covers the extension of the shed to take it from its existing 750 m2 of usable space to over 1500 m2

A 15 tonne all terrain mobile crane services the adjoining yard.

50 tonne and 100 tonne moblile cranes are hired as and when the need arises from Barry James Cranes in Ballarat.

Steam Curing

All three undercover production areas are serviced by a computer controlled steam curing system. A 1.0 MW Maxitherm unattended boiler provides low pressure piped steam to all production areas. Electronic controllers use thermocouples to measure curing temperature and to regulate the steam to maintain temperatures within strict specified limits. A separate computer system records temperature vs. time. The steam curing system allows daily turnaround of moulds and removes the need for secondary curing.

A Flexible Workforce

Sovereign maintains a permanent shop floor workforce of around 40 people which is supplemented through the employment of casual workers. The permanent workforce is a mix of skilled labourers, formwork carpenters, concrete finishers, an electrician, skilled welders and trade qualified boilermakers. Workers are rotated from time to time through the various production areas and most have forklift elevated work platform or crane licences. All permanent shop floor employees undergo “red card” safety training as well as in-house safety training programs.

Transport

Sovereign own and operate a new Freightliner prime mover and a number of 40 foot trailers. We provide regular work to four owner operated semi trailers and have access to as many trucks as required out of Melbourne. A recent loading operation used 15 semi trailers transporting barriers to Melbourne. There are a number of low loader and wide load trailers in Ballarat that can be accessed as and when required.