The Meadows Entranceway – MagnumStone™ MSE System

Seeking an aesthetically attractive retaining wall system for a new, upmarket development linking two ends of Cumberland Road in Flagstaff, Hamilton, a private property developer, along with Blue Wallace Surveyors, approached Cirtex about building with MagnumStone. They were looking for a system that would give maximum land use and could be built using the material on site. Cirtex proposed some initial design concepts showing how a MagnumStone solution could form the outward facing walls and main entrance to the development.

DESIGN

One of the design challenges was to use on-site material to reduce cut to waste and eliminate the environmental impact of carting and importing fill. By implementing the MSE system with StrataGrid® Geogrid reinforcement, Cirtex were able to give the design engineers at AECOM enough assurance for them to initiate the main design of the project. By working now alongside AECOM, who did more detailed testing of the design and the material on site, a curved, tiered wall with a 90° corner, approximately 175m long and 4m high and a smaller, curved wall approximately 72m x 2.5m high were proposed. This ensured the project objectives of not carting material off-site only to import more fill were achieved.

With a near vertical face, MagnumStone’s hollow core allowed for the installation of an aesthetically pleasing aluminum fence right at the wall face, giving the client maximum use of the newly retained land. To reduce hydrostatic pressure and stress upon the wall, a vertical layer of DuraFlow Q Drainage Composite was set between the cut face and the MagnumStone walls. Any excess water seeping from the soil would be extracted and drained into the pipes below.

INSTALLATION

The MagnumStone system proved to be very easy and fast to install, with 0.75m of face installed with each block laid. Owing to the close collaboration between Cirtex, AECOM and Pemberton Civil, challenges arising during construction were able to be quickly resolved. One such example was when the contractor proposed to adjust the length of one geogrid row to suit site conditions. The design engineers along with Cirtex were able to quickly check the new layout and confirm suitability and compliance.

The MagnumStone MSE System provided the following benefits to the project:

• Ability to save costs by utilising site materials.
• Collaboration between project stakeholders allowed for speedy resolution of site challenges.
• Aesthetically pleasing, near vertical retaining wall system that maximises land use