Established in 1960, Thomas More School is a prestigious primary education institution in Adelaide’s northern suburbs. Located in Elizabeth Park, approximately 30 kilometres from the CBD, the school’s surrounds include Whitford Bushland Reserve and associated waterways including the Olive Grove Wetlands and Little Para River.
Managing stormwater runoff is crucial for urban projects, and the development of stormwater infrastructure such as underground detention systems is essential for developmental compliance and requirements to control large volumes of runoff.
Schools can feature expansive impervious surfaces, with many buildings, car parks, courts, and paved areas, which increase stormwater runoff. Detention tanks are essential for controlling these high-volume flows and preventing drainage systems from being overwhelmed during large storm events.
By using infrastructure such as On-site Stormwater Detention (OSD) tanks, water quantity can be effectively managed, with incoming stormwater flows released at a controlled rate. This ensures compliant development, safer public spaces, and environmental resilience. A requirement for development approval, stormwater detention infrastructure is critical to futureproofing community developments and protecting downstream property, council lands, and green space.
Project Efficiency Gains: 185,000L of Underground Stormwater Detention
Meeting trafficability requirements for installation beneath one of the site’s student drop-off zones, Atlan Stormwater designed and installed a 185,000-litre AtlanCube OSD system to meet the project’s water quantity requirements.
AtlanCube is independently engineered to exceed all Australian traffic loadings, providing robust structural strength. These capabilities allowed the detention infrastructure to be installed underground, creating functional ground level space to accommodate the site’s highly trafficked drop-off area.
A geocellular, modular OSD tank system that provides 1,000 litres of storage per module, installation of the AtlanCube was aided by its low module count per cubic metre of storage volume — 1.5 to 8 times fewer modules than comparable systems — and a high void ratio of 97%. These features ensured rapid assembly and efficient on-site handling, delivering project efficiency gains and faster installation timelines.
Each cube consists of two half-cube components with 1,000 litres of internal volume, ensuring easy deployment with minimal lifting requirements and reduced construction time. In public environments such as schools, this helps minimise site disruption and provides logistical advantages over alternatives such as cast-in-situ concrete tanks, and alternative crate style plastic detention system that are complicated and time consuming to assemble and install.
Sustainable Solutions for OSD Infrastructure
AtlanCube features a long-lasting polypropylene (PP) formulation designed to provide enhanced service life in stormwater applications. Locally manufactured by Atlan Stormwater, AtlanCube utilises recycled PP content, supporting circular economies and reducing carbon footprint.
The AtlanCube system is part of Atlan’s Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) range, which provides third-party certified life-cycle assessment data to support project sustainability. This allows project teams to better understand factors such as carbon emissions, freight overheads, and material composition.
Supported by Atlan Stormwater’s end-to-end service capabilities, our in-house design, fabrication, logistics and installation made the delivery of this project a seamless exercise – providing cost effectiveness and saving time. It also delivered a functional space through underground installation, ensuring ongoing benefits and flexible use of the area.
By detaining and attenuating peak flows across the development, this installation showcases the benefits of a well-engineered OSD system — safer environments, compliant development, and infrastructure built to last for generations. Ensuring Joy in Water for the local community while meeting best-practice stormwater management principles.