Laing O'Rourke

Challenge

Laing O’Rourke, as part of The Fremantle Bridges Alliance, is delivering the Swan River Crossings Project. The new extradosed, four-lane structure that will replace the Fremantle Traffic Bridge built in the 1930s. With tight programme pressures, large mass concrete elements, 35-metre towers, and a demanding precast segmental schedule, the team needed a way to keep construction moving without compromising compliance.

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Traditional concrete testing methods introduced friction at every stage. Cylinder crushing created 6–8 hour delays, and any failed result meant waiting even longer. Ensuring temperature compliance on mass pours was challenging, especially on a “tightly timed constrained project.”

To meet the schedule, Laing O’Rourke needed real-time visibility over when the concrete would be ready to act on, temperature, and compliance — across both in-situ and precast operations.

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Solution

Laing O’Rourke adopted Converge’s Signal sensors, real-time maturity monitoring, and cloud-based platform across the Fremantle project, giving engineers instant access to accurate, continuous concrete data, on and off site.

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Key Capabilities Delivered

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• Live maturity-based strength: No waiting for lab results. The team could instantly see when to strip formwork or jump the climbing system.
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• Real-time thermal compliance: Track temperature differentials continuously, and proactively adjust insulation before non-conformances arise.
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• Form finish: Sensors with no protruding wires meant no cutting of cables and patching were required throughout the project.

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• Quick & Easy Sensor Installation: Engineers placed sensors exactly where they were needed, and used connected thermal tails for multiple, deep, internal readings.
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• Remote access from any device: Check concrete performance from the office, from home, from wherever, with a click of a button.
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• Thermal reports in a single click: Hours of spreadsheet work were replaced with instant, export-ready documentation.

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Results

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Reduced risk of non-conformance: Real-time monitoring kept temperature differentials and maximum values within specification, eliminating the risk of late-stage surprises.

Meaningful daily time savings: Live maturity data removed the bottleneck of lab testing, saving 2 hours per day, over the conventional means of cylinder crushes in the precast factory. Across in-situ works, real-time data saved between 6–8 hours, often accelerating the programme by a full day.

Better control of cycle times: Strength thresholds for stripping and climbing could be hit with certainty, improving the rhythm of repetitive tower and segment tasks.

‍Reporting in seconds, not hours: Thermal insights were automatically compiled into clean, compliant reports — dramatically reducing admin time.

Remote visibility improved decision-making: From weekend monitoring to tower operations, engineers had full oversight without needing to be physically present.

Cleaner, smoother precast production: Embedded wireless sensors prevented wire exposure and streamlined strip-time decisions.

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