Commercial Plumbing Project Aether Brewing
Brisbane Plumbers | Commercial Plumbing
Commercial and Industrial Plumbing – Akins Plumbing was contracted by Aether Brewing in 2018.
We were to undertake the plumbing, drainage and gas works on a new beer brewing and distribution facility at 340 Melton Rd Northgate. The existing premises had over 500m2 of warehouse floor space and was previously used by a steel fabrication business. The site had little plumbing and drainage facilities that a brewing company required. This meant some high level planning and development was required before the commencement of works for commercial plumbing, drainage and gas works.
Having been a local plumbing service in Brisbane for over 40 years, we had the experience of past projects to get it done right.
Akins Plumbing surveyed the existing services onsite with our drain camera and pipe locator to determine condition and positioning of services. We contracted Acqualogical Hydraulic Consultants to design a plumbing and drainage system that incorporated Aether Brewing’s needs. This commercial design was then sent to Brisbane City Council for approval so work could commence.
New Plumbing and Gas for a Brewery
The new plumbing system required running two new cold water systems. Each with over 90m of copper pipework installed at high level through warehouse with droppers down to each fixture/appliance.
The two cold water systems, ‘Cold water process’ and ‘Cold water wash down’ were both clearly marked with pipe marker stickers. This was for identification and both had RPZ valves installed and commissioned at commencement of pipework to cover Urban Utilities water grid from cross contamination.
Connection of fixtures/appliances to the ‘Cold water process’ droppers included installing a water softener and an innovative UV light for disinfection of water, connection to a commercial boiler for water heating, connection to a keg washing machine and connection to tasting/testing taps.
Connection of fixtures/appliances to the ‘Cold water wash down’ droppers included installation of retractable hose reels for floor and equipment wash down.
Akins Plumbing was also required to retrofit 7L/min flow rate devices to existing fixtures to comply with approved plumbing design plan. These were installed inline on each plumbing fixture.
New Plumbing and Drainage
The new drainage system required cutting over 280 lineal meters of concrete to install 75m of ‘Class D’ strip drains, 50m of PVC drainage pipework and a 1000L silt trap.
The Halgan 1000L Silt Trap is a high density polyethylene tank. It was used for its light weight and manoeuvrability so existing surrounding concrete wasn’t damaged or compromised and for its compact design. The silt trap was installed in-ground with a riser to allow for connection to all strip drain outlets. The positioning of the silt trap was vital for connection back to building sewer drainage pipework and to not damage other existing services. These services being stormwater drainage pipework and electrical services.
Nine evenly spaced outlets were installed in strip drainage channels. All with innovative stainless steel bucket trap strainers installed to stop solid matter from washing into the drainage pipework and silt trap. Your local plumbing service in Brisbane should be using the very latest technologies when it comes to this. Drain blockages down the track can be very costly.
The drainage pipework connecting strip drain outlets to the silt trap was purposely run parallel under the strip drain channels as much as possible to minimise concrete cutting and pipework length.
Final Completion
Commercial and Industrial Plumbing Brisbane
After completion of works, a marked up plan by Brisbane City Council inspectors during construction was submitted to Aqualogical Hydraulic Consultants for drafting of an ‘As-constructed’ plan.
This along with a Reduced Pressure Zone valve commissioning certificated were lodged with BCC for final inspection and records for future works.
The plumbing and drainage works were approved with a final Brisbane City Council inspection in December 2018 with commencement of beer brewing shortly after.
The Aether Brewing Project earned Akins Plumbing a nomination at the 2019 MPAQ Plumbing and Gas Industry Awards Commercial and Industrial Technical Award.