Green Retaining Wall to withstand wave erosion
Project Area
Habitats
Specialism
Green Retaining Wall
Year
2023
A ‘Green Retaining Wall’ was created by our team for a private property in St Brelade’s Bay, to replace a subsiding bank and wall that was being eroded by waves during high tide and collapsing. An engineered vegetated retaining wall system was chosen to maintain the beautiful character and landscape value of the bay, as this wall borders a busy promenade and is viewed from the beach.
We opted to use Flex MSE®, a patented soft building technology by Gravitas International. Hartigan designed the nearly 3m high and 30m long retaining wall made from interlocking earth-filled Flex MSE bags that are stabilised using friction strips and geo-grids. No concrete was used during the construction of this wall. The keen-eyed amongst you will see a low concrete boundary wall above of our Green Retaining Wall… but our wall is, in fact, holding up and supporting this concrete wall!
The main building phase was completed in December 2022, with marram grass plug-planted between each bag. This sand dune species is perfect for the salty and drought-prone location and was complemented by a coastal/sandy soil grass seed mix that was hydro-seeded onto the bags in spring 2023. Only a few weeks later, the wall turned green and as the roots of the plants bind, the bags will become fully vegetated and will only make this wall stronger in time.
With green lizards and a variety of rare insects in the bay, this area will become a suitable habitat and stepping stone for such species, ecologically, helping to reduce fragmentation. Crickets can already be heard in the grass only a few weeks after seeding!
With a 75-year warranty and 120-year design life, we strongly believe that this Green Retaining Wall system is a perfect solution for retaining walls on our beautiful Island, removing the need for unsightly and environmentally damaging concrete walls. This system is cost-saving, robust, sustainable (100% recycled materials), long-term, wildlife enhancing… and will become a thing of beauty in the landscape.
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Nurture Ecology was the principal contractor for this work, organising all aspects of the construction and other sub-contractors that were involved.
Huge thanks also to;
Mark Blandin Contracting (Digger works)
Joe Brennan Groundworks (Blockwork)
Hartigan (Structural Engineers)
Hydrogrow (Hydro-seeding)
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