Daring to Innovate with Flowell

At COLAS, we’re daring to expand on the way we think about roads and other ways we can utilise them outside the norm.

In December 2023 we completed Australia’s first Flowell installation at our asphalt plant in Tomago, NSW! The installation of the active line marking system was a part of our culture of safety, improving visibility of safe areas for movement around the plant.

Flowell interactive line marking system installed at COLAS Australia's Tomago Asphalt plant

In 2019, COLAS in France began trialling Flowell, an active road marking solution that uses LED panels which are embedded into the pavement’s structure to provide road users with all the benefits of dynamic and controlled light signalling.

Flowell was designed to address the public mobility due to issues that arise from increasing urbanisation. Issues such as space limitations to accommodate for population growth, traffic congestion, safety concerns, and ageing infrastructure. This led our design team to focus ways to help create multifunctional and adaptable public spaces in urban planning projects. Through this process, they tackled the challenge of redesigning existing public spaces to accommodate various uses without the need for major infrastructural reconstruction works.

The goal is to transform roads from simple passageways to shared spaces, where everyone has a place, by using integrated and dynamic light-signalling to visually structure city streets and roads. Flowell is composed of multi-layer slabs with encapsulated LEDs, connected to the electrical network and control terminals. It provides the same skid-resistance and grip as conventional road surfacing. The solution is designed to last and can be adapted to withstand thermal expansion and vehicle loads. It also offers tailored sizing and brightness options to suit different situations.

Since 2019, Flowell has been delivered to other areas of France and has expanded to countries including England, Netherlands, Japan, and America.

All over the world, Flowell has been helping pedestrians cross a well-lit road at night, drivers navigate busy intersections, and to highlight important road spaces such as bus stops, car parks, and emergency vehicle zones.