Learn about material options for underground utility boxes, and find out which of our multi-material range of solutions meets your needs.
Understand the materials options for Oldcastle Infrastructure’s range of underground utility boxes, and find out which of our enclosures meets your requirements.
With a dedicated materials science team and decades of expertise in the water, energy and telecommunications sectors, nobody else offers engineered, field-proven underground utility boxes in such a wide range of materials—meaning that you always get the right solution for your site.
High-density polyethylene is an ultra-lightweight thermoplastic polymer. Highly versatile, it is used extensively in a range of consumer and industrial applications.
Its exceptional tensile strength, high impact resistance and high strength-to-weight ratio mean that it is strong and durable but extremely lightweight.
As a material for underground utility boxes, it is optimized for use in light-duty applications such as sidewalks and green belts.
Oldcastle Infrastructure HDPE enclosures:
Carson® │ Pedestrian
With a history stretching back over 3,000 years, concrete is the most manufactured material and the most widely used building material in the world.
Tough, durable and reliable, concrete has high compressive strength, but its lower tensile strength means that under certain conditions it may become brittle.
Its high compressive strength make it an ideal material for use in underground enclosures exposed to the kinds of vertical loads present in areas of deliberate heavy traffic such as roadways.
Oldcastle Infrastructure concrete enclosures:
Christy® │ AASHTO H20
Polymer concrete uses polymers or resins in place of the lime cements that are typically used to bind traditional concrete.
Different polymers give rise to different properties in the polymer concrete, and may be used to reduce overall weight, increase strength (particularly tensile strength), reduce permeability, protect against corrosion and provide adhesion.
Oldcastle Infrastructure polymer concrete enclosures:
Oldcastle Polymer │ Tier 15 & Tier 22
A composite material is simply a material that is produced from two or more constituent materials, and as such composites encompass a wide range of engineered materials. Technically both concrete and polymer concrete are also composite materials, but we consider them separately because they are well known as materials in their own right.
Composites combine a range of different materials to obtain a range of different physical properties, such as greater compressive or tensile strength, increased fire retardance, greater rigidity or flexibility, the ability to withstand wide variations in temperature, and so on.
For underground utility boxes, composites enable materials science teams to tailor the materials design to meet specific performance, handling, environmental or other requirements.
Oldcastle Infrastructure composite enclosures:
Fibrelyte® │ Tier 8
Duralite® │ Tier 15 & Tier 22
STAKKAbox™ │ 32K
Fiberglass is a type of fiber-reinforced plastic, in which fibers are set into a polymer or thermoplastic matrix.
The great advantage of fiberglass is its high strength-to-weight ratio, meaning that relatively thin, light fiberglass structures exhibit high strength and impact resistance. Its chemically inert nature means that it is resistant to corrosion and other chemical factors.
As an underground enclosure, fiberglass is strong and lightweight, and when paired with a polymer concrete cover it can comfortably withstand occasional light vehicle traffic.
Oldcastle FRP │ Tier 8 & Tier 15
Our materials science team has a successful legacy of engineering high-performance materials that meet project requirements, improve site safety and improve sustainability.
The team developed Duralite® using a polyolefin blend composite to provide a lightweight alternative to polymer concrete underground utility boxes, delivering equivalent strength and durability in half the weight. The reduced weight means that delivery, manual handling and installation is faster and safer.
The team developed a production method for Carson® underground enclosures that uses 97% recycled materials*, and produces enclosures and waste material that is 100% recyclable.
The team helped our Candiac plant in Québec, Canada, to incorporate recycled expanded polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) into the Plastibeton® production process. As a result, the plant recycles around 30 tons of material collected from the local community every year.
* Green and black color variants only; 3% non-recycled material added for UV protection
To learn more about the certified performance of our underground utility boxes, visit our Underground Enclosure Load Rating page.
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