Freyssinet developed and delivered a comprehensive repair and strengthening program for Golden Bay Cement’s heavily deteriorated storage silos, restoring their capacity while extending their service life by at least 25 years. Through concrete repairs, external post-tensioning, and innovative remediation techniques, our team successfully kept the silos operational and cement production running throughout the multi-year project.
Golden Bay Cement is New Zealand’s only cement manufacturer and was established in the 1870s in Portland, two hours north of Auckland. Cement has been produced on site since 1917, with the plant delivering an annual production capacity exceeding 850,000 tons.
The manufacturing complex included five silos in such poor condition that previously consulted designers and contractors had concluded that no remedial solution could save them. In contrast to their competitors, Freyssinet teams proposed a solution that would not only reinstate the silos’ capacity but also extend their service life by at least 25 years.
To address the full scope of the project, Freyssinet New Zealand’s teams developed a comprehensive repair strategy, from concrete investigations of the silos to the implementation of a remediation plan for the entire facility.
Remediation of Silo 2 was successfully completed within one year, between 2016 and 2017. Based on this achievement, we were awarded a design-build contract to restore the storage capacity of Silos 3 and 4 to 1,300 tons of cement and extend their service life by at least 25 years.
After completion of this new phase, demonstrating the effectiveness of the repair methodology, we were eventually awarded the final stage of the scheme to conduct the same repair and life extension works on Silos 5 and 6.
Over nearly five years of continuous work at Golden Bay Cement, Freyssinet New Zealand’s teams demonstrated their expertise and repair capabilities and technologies.
The work included the removal of all existing surface coatings using ultra-high-pressure water blasting, completion of defect mapping, and removal of defective concrete and corroded reinforcement, based on technical specifications covering three specific scenarios: corrosion-deteriorated concrete repair, non-corrosion-deteriorated concrete repair, and the filling of blowholes and surface imperfections.
The silos were strengthened using additional external post-tensioning with Freyssinet anchored tendons (European Technical Approval ETA 06/2026), with grout injection before stressing to ensure complete strand encapsulation and the application of uniform pressure to the concrete surface.
Reinstatement of the reinforcement and concrete was performed with dry shotcrete to achieve excellent bond between the substrate and the new materials.
Despite the extensive scope of work and demanding remediation plan, the teams’ strategy also made it possible to keep the storage silos operational, which was a true challenge given their deteriorated initial condition. One of our major achievements was keeping the production process and the supply of cement to the New Zealand market up and running.
The Golden Bay Cement life extension work has been a milestone in the development of Freyssinet New Zealand.
This project is a perfect example of collaboration between our cross-border teams. Freyssinet Australia was heavily involved in the first stages of the project, and Freyssinet New Zealand managed to take over and complete the works successfully.
Thank you for your interest in Freyssinet, Inc. To discuss a specific project, sign up for our newsletter, schedule a presentation, or request other information, please fill out the form below and we will contact you shortly.
🚨 Fraud alert: fake recruitment account on Facebook🚨
We have identified a Facebook page titled “Freysinnet Sustainable Tech”, that is fraudulently using a misspelled version of our company name, a copy of our logo and visual assets from several of our subsidiaries.
⚠️ This page is not affiliated with Freyssinet in any way.⚠️
The account advertises fake job opening, primarily targeting candidates from Mexico and the Philippines, for positions in Canada and the USA. Its goal is to collect personal information and requesting payments for fraudulent visa applications.
For your safety:
If you have any doubts about a job offer claiming to be from Freyssinet, please verify it directly through our official websites, our Careers/Join Us pages, or by contacting us through the contact form on your local Freyssinet website.
Freyssinet will never request payment, banking information or confidential personal data as part of our recruitment process.
We’ve reported this account and are working to have it removed. Similar fraudulent accounts may appear in the future, so please stay alert.
Thank you for helping us protect our community.
🔒 Stay safe online.
