Largest Single Vitreous Enamel Tunnel Order

Omeras, Europe's leading supplier of vitreous enamel (VE) for architectural cladding signs and murals, has secured the contract for Kallang/Paya Lebar Expressway in Singapore.

This road tunnel is some 8.7 km long and is the longest tunnel of its type in South East Asia.

Omeras is supplying 145000 square metres of heavy gauge flanged 1.5 mm thick VE cladding for the project - believed to be the largest single order for its type anywhere in the world to date.

Omeras, based in the UK near Wellingborough and with its head office in Saxony in Germany, is working with contractor Lam Hong Leong Aluminium Pte who would be responsible for the overall design, installation and project management.

LHL has been an established aluminium fabricator in Singapore for more than 30 years, having undertaken numerous projects in the private and public sector.

The KPE project is also LHL's largest infrastructure contract to date.

The client is the Singapore Land Transport Authority, an organisation with many years experience in VE cladding, having specified it for its metro system, and they are a long standing user of Omeras cladding.

Omeras secured the contract amidst worldwide competition from all the major VE cladding manufacturers.

The VE panels are designed to a 1.2 m wide module and are two modules high within the tunnel.

The first is fixed vertically to height of 2.1 m and the second 1.4 m high panel is angled towards the tunnel's roof.

The panels are bonded to a 12 mm thick aluminium honeycomb and painted galvanised steel balancer for durability.

All edges are fully waterproof sealed.

This design produces a super flat effect and a reduced weight panel.

For ultimate light reflectance they will be enamelled off-white and will feature special screen printed murals with text graphics for exits, fire points and other essential signage within the tunnel.

In conjunction with contractor Lam Hong Leong Aluminium, a quick special hook-on fixing system, which hangs on a specially designed grid, has been developed.

This will speed up installation when it commences in September 2004.

Omeras will be manufacturing the cladding from July 2004 at their state-of-the-art factory in Lauter, Germany.

Dirt resistance, easy to clean surfaces, high reflectance, temperature resistance, non-flammability, crash resistance and interchangeability are some of the major advantages cited by the customer in its use of Omeras VE cladding in tunnel applications.

VE panels from Omeras are found in major buildings and civil engineering projects throughout the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

Their inherent robust nature, colour fastness, durability in all conditions has resulted in their installation in many testing environments, with road tunnel cladding increasing rapidly throughout the world.

In the UK, 8000 square metres was specified for the Saltash Tunnel in Plymouth in 2004 and it has previously been used in the Dartford Tunnel, Leicester Square Underground Station and the Sunderland Metro amongst others.

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