Green Walls

A consultants and contractors demand greater value and increased dependability from their engineering solutions, so they are starting to pay more attention to sustainable infrastructure principle. One example of this is the continuous development and innovating geosynthetic technologies and the impact this is having on the use of traditional concrete. The current use of geosystems has become exceptionally diverse and now reaches into many areas of the civil engineering sector, with applications including retaining walls, steeped stopes and drainage as well as the construction of earthworks, highways and pavements.

A retaining wall, for example, made of poured concrete can be expensive, time-consuming and often requires specialized equipment to construct. Concrete block systems can go in cheaper than poured walls but many have common structural and finish issues.

Vegetated geotextile-based wall systems use the same globally accepted principle of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) that builders rely on for making massive retaining wall. With enhanced engineering stability, durability and loading capabilities, this proven geosynthetic technology allows the construction of retained walls and embankments in a reliable much faster and more economic way, geotag walls have been built as high as 75 ft tall with great success.

When it comes to embankments requiring erosion control or stabilization, or where near-vertical green structures are needed, flexible segmental geotextile systems are ideal. They can flow over existing foundations and adjust to site irregularities such as trees, roots or unexpected bedrock, and allow contractors to create large, strong, naturally resilient geomodular structures.

The environmental advantages of these systems should not be underestimated either. Traditional civil engineering materials, for example concrete or steel in their structural form, contribute greatly to the carbon footprint of any construction project. The avoidance or minimization of these materials by instead using an engineered system can help to significantly reduce the embodied carbon of a project. Furthermore, this reduction can be enhanced by a facing that allows the use of site-won or locally available soils, not normally suitable for ground engineering. The re-use of these on-site materials also reduce trucking and landfill waste.

Geomodular systems also naturally lend themselves to designing for de-construction. They often contain recycled post-industrial materials, are inherently recyclable and their component parts can usually be re-utilised, another environmental benefit.

Aesthetically, unlike concrete or other solid structure, vegetated geomodular wall systems can reduce any negative visible infrastructure impact. IN rural application, the vegetated wall system can blend seamlessly with the surrounding countryside an enhance the natural landscape, in an urban application it provides a low-maintenance, graffiti-free greenspace.

These systems are also able to accept almost all types of vegetation. Depending on the application and desired aesthetic, this can include- pre-seeding and hydro-seedin with native grasses and flower blendd, or live planting and staking of perinnial ground covers, shrubs, grasses and flowers to achieve an instant, fully customized vegetation finish.