Cordina Farms runs one of Australia’s largest chicken processing plants in Girraween, Western Sydney. On 11/07/2022 the enquiry for concrete relevelling at the Girraween plant came through the website, in the client’s words: “The concrete slab in the loading area is moving. When the forklift drivers drive over it it moves. Some areas are cracked and it is very noticeable in wet weather.”

A slab that rocks under a wheel is a slab sitting over a void. The forklift drivers had found the problem before anyone with a laser did.

The assessment traced it to the ground. Insufficient drainage and shallow footings had let the foundation soils displace and wash out beneath the loading area, and the slab had followed them down — cracking where it dropped, and worst in the wet, when the voids filled with water.

Production at a food plant doesn’t pause for concrete. The loading docks are where the trucks are filled, and the trucks run to a schedule. Whatever the repair, it had to happen around a live operation, with forklifts working metres away.

Replacing the slab works, but it means breaking out the concrete, re-pouring and keeping trucks off it while it cures — days of a loading dock out of service. On the same washed-out ground, the new slab would start moving again.

The method had to do two jobs at once: lift the slab back to level, and firm up the ground beneath the footings beside it so the structure stopped moving too.

Our engineer assessed the site and issued the quote and structural repair detail on 19/07/2022: GeoPoly™ injection to raise the slab and underpin the structure, combining slab jacking with the Deep Lift method. Unlimited GeoPoly™ GER60 resin, fixed price, one-day estimate.

On 17/10/2022 the NSW crew set up on a wet morning. The work zone was taped off beside the dock and the Hilti PR30 laser and receivers positioned to watch the slab. Holes were drilled to around 300mm and aluminium injection pipes inserted. GeoPoly™ went in beneath the slab, expanded, filled the voids, compacted the washed-out soil and lifted the concrete from below — the receivers reading every millimetre.

Pipes out, holes patched. Trucks and crates never stopped moving on the other side of the tape.

Started at 9:00am, finished by 12:00pm — about 3 hours against a one-day estimate. 75kg of GeoPoly™ lifted the loading slab 10–25mm across every area and relevelled it.

The technician’s site note, in full: “Job went very well considering the obstacles we faced here. Prefer to leave area without any load driving on it. However they are adamant they need to continue operations.” The loading area went straight back to forklift and truck traffic.

Invoiced at exactly the quoted price and paid in full. The job carried a 10-year labour warranty, the Buildfix standard at the time; every GeoPoly™ treatment today is backed by a written 20-year product and workmanship warranty.

Got a loading dock, hardstand or plant floor that moves under traffic and can't be shut down? A free site assessment measures the levels and explains what concrete relevelling can do for sunken concrete while the site keeps running.