Mass Gravity Retaining Walls
2017
Coed Darcy, Wales
St Modwen Homes/Persimmon Homes
Dawnus Construction/Econ Construction
Atkins
Coed Darcy Development
Welded gabion installed in Coed Darcy
Maccaferri Construction hand placed the selected slate stone
The wall is up to 7m in height
Successful interaction between gabions and existing rock face
Mid section of the gabion aesthetically placed solution
View of the gabion structure successfully integrated and surrounding rockface
Problem
Coed Darcy translates to ‘Darcy’s Woodland’. It is a large-scale regeneration project based in Llandarcy, South Wales.
The Coed Darcy site has over 1000 acres of developable land and has a thriving community in the nearby town of Neath, South Wales. Therefore, the project offers great potential for people commuting into Neath and Swansea. Additionally, the project is conveniently situated just off junction 43 of the M4 and at the start of the Heads of the Valley (A465) which are both invaluable transport links to people in the area.
Coed Darcy is set to house more than 10,000 residents and become a sustainable community which will have facilities including retail, leisure, sports and acres of green open space. The economic impact of this development will be over £1 billion. Around the site there has been uneven ground and certain areas need retaining and stabilisation.
Solution
Phase one of the development St Modwen homes development required a retaining structure to stabilise an exposed rock face and also create garden/ walkway spaces. Designed by Atkins, Maccaferri Construction installed the impressive gabion retaining wall in the summer of 2016.
Maccaferri Construction installed an 85 metre-long gabion retaining wall totalling 800m3 in 4mm welded gabions with a carefully placed front-facing slate stone and 6G gabion fill. The wall which was founded on the exposed bedrock reached an impressive 7 metres in maximum height.
On walls of these dimensions, woven gabions are typically used and specified. However, due to the site conditions and the gabions acting more as a cladding feature to the exposed rock face rather than retaining, the more aesthetically pleasing welded gabions could be used.
In phase two of the works (July 2017), Maccaferri Construction installed a second but smaller gabion retaining wall which part cladded an exposed rockface and also in part acted as a retaining structure for garden spaces above. Coed Darcy is a good example of how the welded gabions can be both aesthetically pleasing and a functioning retaining wall at the same time if specified in the right application.