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A retaining wall supports soil so that it can occupy two different levels on either side of the wall. It holds back, or retains, the earth on one side at an angle that would otherwise be impossible without collapsing. A retaining wall facilitates construction on sloped areas of ground. Retaining walls are therefore needed to help maximise the full development capacity of a site.
Retaining walls are positioned in specific areas to help reinforce the soil and increase its load bearing capacity. This will then allow the retained soil to take loads imposed by buildings or traffic that would not have been possible without the construction of the retaining walls.
The load that a retaining wall needs to withstand, and support, must be determined by a structural engineer. The final retaining wall structural specification will depend on many factors. These include the ground bearing capacity, type of retained material, height of the water table and any loadings that may be applied to the soil once it is retained.
Once the structural requirements for a retaining wall have been determined by the structural engineer, the specifier or groundworker then has a choice of the type of retaining wall solution.
A typical housing development site will require several retaining walls. Their appearance, as with any other hard landscaping, will have a visual impact on the overall development. For this reason, retaining walls that use materials that can complement the project site aesthetics or the surroundings, as well as meet the structural requirements, are the most popular choices.
The two common types of retaining walls on housing development sites are gravity retaining walls and reinforced retaining walls. They can both be constructed of materials that will retain the soil to the necessary standard and can complement the facing bricks of homes and hard landscaping of the site.
Gravity walls rely on the weight of the materials such as brick or concrete blocks to hold back the soil and therefore are limited in the height they can reach. Depending on the base width, as well as the angle of the sloped face of the wall, they can be built up to approximately 3m in height.
Among the benefits of gravity retaining walls are the ease at which they can be installed and the wide choice of colours, textures and finishes that are available to fit in with the particular visual requirements of the project.
Reinforced retaining walls use methods such as layers of geogrid or masonry reinforcement to increase their ability to withstand higher loads from the earth they retain.
They can be built to much greater heights than gravity retaining walls. A particular type of reinforced retaining wall is a modular retaining wall. When specified along with geogrid layers to reinforce the soil, the height that can be achieved by modular retaining walls is, in fact, not limited.
Modular retaining walls using interlocking concrete blocks can meet both the strength and aesthetic requirements for housing development projects and bring with them a host of other advantages.
Our intuitive tools and dedicated team of retaining wall specialists are here to help at every step of your retaining wall journey.
Retaining Wall Design Tools and Service Support
Once a retaining wall that meets the structural requirements has been selected, the next key parameter for housing developments is its visual appearance. For this reason, the use of either bricks or concrete blocks in the retaining wall are two options commonly considered. However, concrete blocks that form modular retaining walls bring several other benefits when compared to bricks:
The design of concrete retaining wall blocks means that they do not require the use of mortar for installation. The ribbed texture of the geogrid grips the coarse surface of each block creating friction and each block has a retaining nib to resist forward movement. Granular aggregate fills in the hollow cores of the blocks to produce an interlocking retaining wall that, unlike a brick construction, does not need mortar to increase its strength. This reduces material costs and means that specialist bricklayers are not needed when installing retaining walls.
The simple design and installation of interlocking retaining walls increase build speed when compared to those using bricks and mortar. As the installation of interlocking retaining walls does not require mortar, it is also not weather-dependent, helping to expedite build project delivery.
Whilst brick retaining walls can be built to substantial heights, to do so requires the base of the wall to be widened and this adds both labour and material costs to a project. By contrast, unlimited heights can be achieved when using modular retaining walls with geogrid layers, making this a flexible and consistent option for all retaining walls across a site regardless of individual height requirements.
Modular retaining walls are available in a wide choice of styles, colours and finishes that provides specifiers with design flexibility to match and complement all areas of brick wall and hard landscaping on-site and helps create the desired aesthetic appeal of the housing development project.
Tobermore has extensive experience supporting our customers throughout the specification stages for retaining walls for their projects. Our Secura Grand modular retaining wall blocks help specifiers to construct robust reinforced modular retaining walls cost effectively.
Alex Walther, Head of Retaining Walls at Tobermore, comments about the importance of retaining walls for housing developments:
“Retaining walls perform a key function in realising the full construction potential of a site for housing development. We have a great CPD that explains the topic in detail and our products have been widely used to deliver successful retaining wall solutions across a range of different site conditions. We back this up by offering specification tools and site support throughout the whole project for added peace of mind.”
If you would like to learn more about retaining walls, you can book a CPD that can be carried out in person or remotely, or contact our sales team who will be happy to guide you through the retaining wall choices available for your project.
We’ve done the groundwork and published a comprehensive guide on planning and constructing perfect retaining walls.
