Segmental Wall at Nicholls Lane, Stone (2018)

Two retaining walls were required at the sides of the entrance to a housing development. On the right side, where there was ample space to the highway boundary, it was proposed to use a geogrid reinforced backfill. However on the left side the retaining wall was caught between the highway boundary and existing services within the retained soil.

Geopins do not require the retained soil to be excavated and replaced engineered fill as with geogrid reinforcement, and instead reinforce the existing soil. With a durable facing, such as the Tobermore Secura Grand blocks shown here, they form a permanent mechanically stabilised earth retaining wall, but much smaller in construction width and carbon footprint than geogrid. As the location of the services was identified, Stabilisure were able to install the geopins without disturbing the services. The groundworkers, Ashley Plant Hire, were also pleased to discover the wall was quicker to construct with geopins compared to geogrid as placement and compaction of layers of fill is avoided.

The other key advantage of the Stabilisure system here is that it was able to be used with the same segmental block facing as the wall on the opposite side of the access road, giving a consistent look despite the difference methods or ground stabilisation for each case.