Aldi Matlock

In 2024 supermarket chain Aldi secured planning permission to construct a new store in a disused former quarry on Dale Road in Matlock, Derbyshire, creating 50 new jobs for the local economy and providing the area with its first discounted food outlet.

To maximise the footprint of the new development, the store needed to be build in close proximity to the former quarry wall which following a rock face assessment had shown signs of weathering and the potential for rockfall events that could cause damage to the new building and also present a risk of injury to customers using the store.

Project designers therefore identified the need for rockfall protection measures and selected a draped netting system as the most most appropriate way of preventing rockfall from impacting on the buildings, surrounding infrastructure and customers using the new store.

An ecological review of the site also revealed the presence of bat roosts which would need to be accommodated with access points incorporated within the proposed rockfall netting system.

Specialist rockfall protection contractors Can Geotechnical selected Maccaferri’s DT 8x10 2.7 rockfall netting with a PolMmac coating to form the draped netting system and protect the northwest quarry.

Owing to access restrictions to the crest of the rock face, 2m wide rolls of DT rockfall netting were laid out in a laydown area and connected together along the vertical seams using special DT links. The netting was rolled back up in newly formed 6m wide rolls and lifted to the crest of the slope with a long reach telehandler before being connected to the top anchors and crest rope. This had the added benefit of reducing the amount of on slope connections which improved the contractors output and reduced the time spent working via roped access on the slope.

To meet the requirements of the project ecologist regarding the bat roosts located on the slope, localised holes were cut through the DT netting to allow bats easy access without compromising the wider integrity of the netting system. Owing to its unique double twist mechanical connection the DT netting can accommodate small localised cutting without the risk of unravelling the wider mesh.

The Polimac coating on the DT netting offers unrivalled corrosion protection and has excellent resistance to abrasion damage, which is a key consideration in rockfall protection systems that are applied directly onto rough rock faces. PoliMac is BBA certified with a design life in excess of 120 years.

In total, 5,200m2 of Polimac coated DT rockfall netting was installed in July 2026.