Utility Poles

Koppers utility poles are ideal for aerial support of reticulation cables and equipment used in the electrical and telecommunications industry. Wood poles are the most common utility pole in the world and have proven their longevity and structural performance through more than 100 years of reliable use.

Our poles are manufactured in accordance with AS3818.11 and preservative treated to Hazard Level H5 minimum, in accordance with AS1604.1.

We now have a fully electronic tracking system (barcodes) within our plant which we can use to give our customers electronic data relating to each poles harvesting, drying, treatment, species, size and any other information we collect during manufacture. Please contact us for further information on how this could help reduce human error during your data entry process.

Our Range

Koppers can supply a range of lengths and strengths from 8m to 23m (in 1.5m increments) and 24m to 31m (in 1m increments). Please contact us for availability of the longer length poles. We can supply to any specification in terms of strength, with most poles falling in the following strength classes, although we have supplied 16kN and higher (up to 60kN) NSW poles recently. Strength classes not shown in the table below should be confirmed for availability by contacting us with your requirements. Note that the specifications for most utilities fit within range in the tables below in terms of physical pole size, it's normally only the designation that might change.

QLD/VIC

FOS=2.5

NSW

FOS=4

3kN 2kN

5kN 4kN

8kN 6kN

12kN 8kN

20kN 12kN

Koppers also have access to softwood poles that may provide utilities with a good alternative to regular hardwood poles in termite prone areas. Please Contact Us should you be interested in learning more about our softwood utility poles.

Technical Support

Koppers has a range of detailed technical material available for assisting our customers in the best use of our products. This material includes technical papers, design guides, specifications and other studies that are useful for anyone involved with timber utility poles. Please sign up to our Mailing List

and you will be sent an email with instructions on how to access this information, as well as being kept abreast of any new information as it occurs.

Life Expectancy

Koppers preservative treated Hardwood and Softwood poles have a design life of 50 years in most environments. This is supported by two separate studies which suggest that an even longer design life may be warranted in some cases.

Timber Service Life Design Guide - Produced by the Forrests and Wood Products Association and available on the website timber.org.au for free (see link).

Pole Service Life - An Analysis of Country Energy Data - Produced by Koppers and Country Energy using the asset database for the whole network along with inspection data to give expected service lives for different pole types.

Alternative Poles

Koppers are constantly working on ways to improve our pole products. Timber poles are fantastically suited for the support of electricity and telecommunications networks, so improving these poles in a cost-effective manner is a challenge, but we do have some options available (see below), as well as a few others in the pipeline.

If you have a particular pole problem you want solved, please do not hesitate to contact us because our long history of innovation means that if we haven't solved it already, we will know the best place to start!

KPOLE-TSB - A steel bottom section (4-6m long) with a timber top section. Designed to maximise the benefits to the forest (utilisation of shorter lengths for key size poles), whilst providing the same pole top construction and simplicity of inspection procedures.

Timbercoat - This product has been proven to withstand the ENA bushfire requirements and can be used as a highly durable and damage resistant coating for CCA treated timber poles in bushfire areas. We also have a patented version that has been shown through field testing to provide excellent termite resistance. If you are interested in this material please contact us via the link at the top of the page.

KPOLE-TSJ - A timber pole with a steel joiner in the above ground section joining two shorter length poles. This pole can be very cost effective for the freight of longer poles, especially to export markets as anything up to approximately 24m in length can be shipped in containers and assembled at the final destination. For more information click the link for a short article or contact us using the link at the top of this page.

Purchasing Enquiries - Price & Availability

For information on price and availability please contact:

poles@koppers.com.au

General Hardwood (Excl. Queensland)

Ph + 61 2 6641 2000

Queensland

Ph + 61 7 4191 3800

Tasmania

Ph + 61 3 6391 4399