Temporary fencing plays a critical role in keeping events safe, organised, and compliant. It helps direct crowds, secure restricted areas, protect equipment, and maintain clear boundaries across festivals, concerts and community events.
This guide explores the types of temporary fencing commonly used for Australian events. While many types of temporary fencing exist across Australia, most traditional systems share the same weaknesses: they rely on unstable block feet, they become dangerous in moderate winds, they create trip hazards, and they require extensive bracing to remain upright. Fortawall was created to solve every one of these problems.
Fortawall: The Modern and Durable Option
Fortawall is Australia’s safest and most advanced event fencing system, engineered to eliminate the weaknesses found in traditional temporary fencing. While block-foot fencing is prone to collapsing in wind, creating trip hazards, and allowing panels to be lifted or bypassed, Fortawall is purpose-built for modern event safety and compliance.
Its enclosed base removes all trip hazards, its panels lock securely into place to prevent tampering or intrusion, and its wind rating of up to 165 km/h far exceeds the limits of conventional fencing. Designed and manufactured in Australia using UV-stable materials, Fortawall delivers long-term durability and is up to 70% faster to install than traditional systems.
Traditional Event Fencing Types (and Why They Don’t Match Fortawall)
The following fencing types are common across Australia, but each carries inherent safety and performance limitations. They are included here for comparison only, none provide the engineered stability, security, wind resistance, or compliance offered by Fortawall.
Steel Mesh Panels
Steel mesh panels are often used as a heavier-duty option but still rely on protruding block feet that create trip hazards and instability. These panels offer no engineered wind resistance and require additional bracing or ballast to remain upright. Their performance is unreliable, particularly when screening or banner mesh is attached.
Compared with Fortawall, steel mesh provides limited safety, inconsistent stability, and no built-in engineering capable of withstanding strong winds.
Chain Link Temporary Fencing
Chain link fencing is widely used because it is familiar and inexpensive, not because it is safe or reliable. These fences can be lifted, pushed aside, or bypassed easily, and the open gap beneath the panels allows debris, rubbish, and fauna to move freely. The exposed block feet create significant trip hazards, and panels offer almost no wind resistance.
Fortawall eliminates these weaknesses through its enclosed base, secure panel locking, and engineered stability.
Crowd Control Barriers
Crowd control barriers help guide pedestrian flow but cannot provide perimeter security, withstand wind, or support screening. They are prone to toppling and are not designed to meet the structural requirements of modern events.
While they may supplement a site layout, they cannot be used as a primary fencing solution. Fortawall, by contrast, delivers secure, wind-resistant, tamper-proof boundaries suitable for all event environments.
Plastic Event Fencing
Plastic fencing is lightweight and inexpensive, but it is one of the least secure temporary fencing options. It is highly susceptible to wind movement, easy to bypass, and unsuitable for environments where safety or compliance matters. Its primary use is short-term visual delineation rather than structural protection.
Fortawall provides a vastly superior alternative, offering genuine stability and security for any event where risks must be minimised.
Modular Mesh or Panel Fencing
Modular fencing allows flexible layouts but suffers from the same fundamental problems as other traditional systems: block-foot trip hazards, vulnerability to wind, and limited security. Without engineered bracing and adequate ballast, these fences pose risks to attendees, staff, and contractors.
Fortawall achieves layout versatility without compromising on safety or structural integrity.
Hoarding Panels
Hoardings provide privacy and restricted-view barriers but are extremely vulnerable to wind because of their solid, non-permeable surfaces. They require extensive bracing, specialist installation, and ongoing monitoring to avoid collapse. This makes them labour-intensive and high-risk for event conditions.
Fortawall’s enclosed base and engineered wind performance offer a much safer alternative for controlled or private zones.
Event Fencing Add-Ons and Enhancements
Accessories can assist with branding, privacy, and site management, but they significantly increase the demands placed on temporary fencing. Traditional fencing struggles with these additional pressures, whereas Fortawall is designed to manage them safely.
Banner Mesh and Shade Cloth
Banner mesh and shade cloth are widely used for branding and privacy, but they trap wind and dramatically increase the load on fencing. Traditional block-foot systems become unstable under these conditions and require extensive bracing.
Fortawall’s wind-engineered structure provides a safer, more stable solution when screening is required.
Ballast, Bracing and Anti-Lift Systems
Traditional fencing requires ballast blocks, bracing kits, and additional fasteners to achieve even basic stability. These accessories increase labour time, trip hazards, and risk. Fortawall removes the need for most of these components because its design inherently prevents uplift, sway, and collapse.
Pedestrian and Vehicle Access Gates
Access gates must integrate safely into the fencing line. Traditional systems often weaken at gate points, increasing the risk of collapse. Fortawall accommodates controlled entries without sacrificing wind resistance or perimeter security.
Anti-Climb and Security Enhancements
Where higher security is needed, traditional fencing requires multiple add-ons that still fail to eliminate tampering or forced entry. Fortawall’s locked-in panels and fully enclosed base inherently prevent climbing, lifting, and bypassing, reducing or eliminating the need for extra security components. Find out more about anti-climb fencing.
Why Fortawall is the Superior Choice
Every traditional fencing type carries inherent risks: poor wind resistance, instability, trip hazards, bypass opportunities, and the need for excessive add-ons. They require more labour, more monitoring, and more risk management, and they still fail to meet the performance demands of modern event environments.
Fortawall eliminates these risks entirely. It is the only temporary fencing system that combines engineered wind stability up to 165 km/h, a trip-free enclosed base, tamper-proof panel locking, Australian-made durability, faster installation, and compliance with AS1170.2 and AS4687.
Traditional fencing is no longer adequate for events where safety and reliability matter.
Choosing Safer, Stronger and More Compliant Event Fencing
Events today require the right temporary fencing that delivers uncompromising safety, superior wind resistance, and dependable compliance. Steel mesh, chain link, plastic fencing, modular panels, and hoardings remain common across Australia, but each carries significant structural flaws and limitations.
Fortawall was engineered specifically to address these shortcomings and establish a new standard for temporary event fencing. When reliability, safety, and performance are essential, Fortawall is the only choice that provides peace of mind for organisers, contractors, councils, and the public.
Fortawall is not just an improvement on traditional fencing, it is the gold standard and most suitable event temporary fencing solution in Australia.