ACEGrid® for wall construction on former clay quarry Hero

Geogrid supply for Sydney subdivision

The project

Expanding demand within Sydney for housing is creating more opportunities for innovative site restoration. A site in South Western Sydney that was originally a quarry for the extraction of brick-making clay has recently been redeveloped.

The effective end-of-life of the quarry and its prime location within the metropolitan area of Sydney allowed for extensive filling and reshaping of the site for its rebirth as a residential housing estate.

Global Synthetics supplied ACEGrid® geogrid to help stabilise and reinforce the retaining walls at this project.

The challenges

As part of the required earthworks, there was a need for some large retaining structures along one property boundary. The wall to retain fill on the site needed to meet the aesthetic requirements of a high-quality residential sub-division. It also had to fulfil the technical requirements of a major structure.

The most effective solution that satisfied the project requirements was a combination of a concrete segmental block combined with an ACEGrid® reinforcement geogrid.

The combination of block walls and geogrid allows for effective, aesthetically pleasing, front wall face stabilisation, with the geogrid imparting additional tensile capacity to the soil behind the wall.

ACEGrid® has been fully tested with most concrete segmental block systems commercially available in Australia. The ACEGrid® product is constructed from polyester (PET) yarn which maximises long term strength retention.

Polyester is much less susceptible to long term creep effects than geogrids made from alternate polymers such as HDPE or PP. The weave construction also enables the geogrid to be laid flat with no tendency to ‘roll back’ on itself making installation very contractor-friendly.

Approximately 1200m2 face area of ACEGrid® soil reinforced wall was constructed on the site, and the wall contractor was delighted with the ease of placement of the 5000m2 of ACEGrid® reinforcement geogrid supplied.

For more information on this project or to find out how ACEGrid® reinforcement geogrid can benefit your next project, get in touch with our technical team.