Brisbane latest skyscraper, the Brisbane Skytower, will take advantage of plumbing supply manufacturer Viega Australia’s ‘fail safe’ hydraulic solutions.

Viega has supplied over 20,000 of its ProPress copper fittings to the project, which are being used to transport hot water, cold water and gas throughout the entire building.

Planet Plumbing Group project manager Travis Walkley gave high praise to Viega’s Smart Connect safety feature, which is a small bypass chamber that provides a positive leakage point but is completely sealed during the pressing process.

“If you forget to press a copper fitting, it gives you the ability to test it to make sure there are no leaks in the future,” Travis says.

“Usually when you do a test, it’s possible that a fitting may hold for a period of time if it’s clamped to the side of a fitting – as in the pipework’s clamped strongly it might hold the tension – then weeks or months later it’ll blow and flood the place.

“Whereas Viega’s fittings, if they are not pressed, are guaranteed to leak between 100-650kPa, so they don’t have the option of doing that. It’s that fail safe that I really enjoy about the product.”