Our $20 million road to more jobs

A new $20 million asphalt manufacturing plant being built in Brendale will be the most advanced in Australia, creating more jobs for the Moreton Bay Region.

Downer has begun work on 11.5 hectares, at Leitchs Rd, which will have an asphalt plant, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) processing plant and a Reconomy facility.

The site will eventually become a repurposing hub where recycled road material will be part of the production of new high-quality asphalt.

This will replace Downer’s 40-year-old plant two kilometres away at Kremzow Rd, securing jobs for more than 40 staff and creating more in the future.

Job opportunities

“Once operational, there will be a lot more activity than the existing operation so Downer will be looking to engage a bigger workforce which will grow as the business grows,” says Darryl Byrne, Downer’s Manager Queensland – Pavements.

“This will create ongoing employment opportunities within the local community.”

The current Kremzow Rd site is on 1.4ha with a production limit of 140 tonnes per hour and no room for a RAP granulator or recycling plant.

Downer’s new larger site will have an Ammann RAH100 High Recycled Technology facility which can produce more than 300 tonnes an hour.

Recycling roads

The RAP processor will crush asphalt reclaimed from roads as part of resurfacing or reconstruction and then be used with repurposed soft plastics, crushed glass and cartridge toner powder to produce new asphalt.

The Reconomy business will have a Detritus plant and collect street sweepings, gully waste and non-destructive digging material, otherwise heading for landfill and recycle it to make sand and aggregate.

Research centre

There will also be space at the Leitchs Rd site for an office, a research and development laboratory and further expansion.

Downer’s new plant should be finished by March 2021 and with a storage capacity of 600 tonnes of hot asphalt will be able to service any asphalt job in South East Queensland.

“This state-of-the-art plant is the most technically-advanced in Australia and can produce asphalt with virgin materials or recycled materials,” Darryl adds.

“The Ammann HRT plant is capable of producing a 100 per cent recycled asphalt mix. This flexibility opens the door to future innovation and raise the benchmark across the industry.”

Less landfill

The development has the backing of Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Peter Flannery.

“This next-generation recycling plant will ease the strain on our landfills by reprocessing waste materials to be use in road and construction projects,” the Mayor says.
“Moreton Bay Regional Council has already trialled recycled road base products and we are committed to the continued delivery of environmentally friendly roads right throughout our region.”

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Images courtesy of Amman