Our largest installation in Italy was built at Castello di Annone. But its real significance and originality (we consider it revolutionary) lies in the fact that it is the first known example of a hydroelectric plant with Kaplan turbines built using a wholly artificial vertical separation, created by our dam alone, in other words without exploiting a natural drop in the river's elevation.

Using our technology and our heritage of experience and expertise, we were able to built this dam entirely in our workshops. It is part of the equipment used at a hydroelectric plant, and our solution made it possible to attain maximum rapidity of installation, necessary in this case because of the river's particularly high flow rate. In just two days, our customer was able to put the power generation plant into action.

In Sora, this project and its construction has provided protection for the bed of the river Liri, and it has also made it possible to create a larger expanse of water without permanently obstructing water flow. This has made the river accessible to canoes, giving the location another important tourist attraction.

Our Hard Top is a hybrid barrier in rubber and metal. The mobile part of the barrier consists of a tube in rubberized textile, similar to that of the Rubberdam. The tube is made in such a way as to guarantee impermeability to the filling fluid, and it is protected by a metal cover. When the tube is inflated, the shields create a barrier to water. When the barrier is moving down to its non-operational position, the shields protect the tube from objects that could otherwise damage it.

Hard Top is a dam suitable for rivers subject to surges and floods, and it lowers when the flood surge arrives, preventing the river from bursting its banks.

The reliability of our technology is so high that we have been able to provide protection for entire towns, such as Codigoro, unusual for its conformation.

The area has a high flooding risk, and this made it necessary to provide protection for the town by means of two flood barriers in the form of walls 1.85 metres high, on both sides of the river, Po di Volano, that runs through it. With this sort of structure, the town would undoubtedly have been protected from floods, including those exceptional floods that have occurred occasionally in recent years (Tr200: events that occur on average once every 200 years). Of course, the residents were not happy with the idea of not being able to see the other half of the town, and neither their boats on the river, as a result of a high wall. The Emilia-Romagna regional authorities wanted the flood protection, but also wanted to meet the needs of the local population. The solution was provided by our technology. HAB created a wall that looks like a normal parapet, 1.3 metres high, blending into the setting to perfection. However it is technologically sophisticated: it is an inflatable barrier of the latest generation. In the case of exceptional floods, a hydraulic system installed in the wall raises the top panel made of tropical timber, creating a flood barrier and increasing the wall's total height to 1.9 metres.

We design, manufacture and assemble permanent inflatable barriers of various types, with a metal protective shield – the Hard-Top – or in rubber alone, Rubberdam, for channelling or diverting water, for work on a river bed or for draining a canal; temporary inflatable barriers that can be used, for example, to isolate part of a river where water has to be drained off in order to perform work.

 particolare di HARD - TOP                                                     Rubberdam, dettaglio