Our first locally fabricated, precast concrete SPELBasins have landed on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland – with two units placed to meet water quality and pollution removal objectives across one of the region’s newest aged care developments.
The sustainably designed 150-bed care facility, spread across 6,000 square metres and six storeys, will feature wellness areas, theatre, dining, and cafés. The development will be an integral part of the nearby thriving residential community.
With waterfront views and situated close to key Sunshine Coast waterways, these tertiary treatment assets will help protect the area’s iconic seaside.
On-site Biofiltration Requirements & Meeting Stormwater Standards
Meeting Sunshine Coast City Council’s stormwater treatment requirements, two SPELBasins will treat dual catchments on-site.
A modular bioretention system, these assets provide pollution removal capabilities for a range of contaminants, including gross pollutants, suspended solids (TSS), phosphorus (TP) & nitrogen (TN).
The innovative design of these systems helps meet constrained on-site footprints while retaining tertiary treatment capabilities and capture of gross pollutants. Often, they replace catch basin structures, rain gardens or bioretention cells.
SQIDEP-approved and WSUD-rated, the SPELBasin complies with environmental requirements and industry standards for effective stormwater treatment. Ideally suited for the urban environment, the multistage design ensures stormwater treatment can meet specifications on sites requiring compact, self-contained systems.
Installation occurred over two days with precast concrete design allowing the fabrication of assets off-site. Key benefits of this approach include enhanced construction efficiency and reductions in open excavation times. Across the project, this resulted in lower on-site costs and minimised costly third-party installation and contractors.
Easy to install and maintain, the compact design of these devices ensures minimal maintenance costs across the asset’s service life – with less planted area to actively manage compared to traditional bioretention basins.
The SPELBasin’s pre-treatment chamber will capture sediment and noxious weed seeds before entering the biofiltration media, extending its service life over a traditional system. This preserves the health and quality of biofiltration and reduces the long-term impacts of sedimentation build-up and establishment of weed species.
Requiring less maintenance than a traditional configuration, access lids allow technicians to clean out the device efficiently. Sediment can be removed directly from the pre-treatment area – lowering its impact on established plants in the bioretention chamber, particularly following heavy rainfall events.
The SPELBasin was immediately operational – with optimal treatment efficiency reached after three months as plants establish in the filter media. As the SPELBasin’s plants flourish, the result is an aesthetic, green asset with high-performance pollution removal capabilities.
