30 / 92
28
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
OCTOBER
2015
The mall was built by one of the
country’s leading rural retail
centre development specialists,
McCormick Property Develop-
ment, a company with a strong focus on the
emerging markets of South Africa. Engi-
neered Interlock Solutions (EIS) in conjunc-
tion with TMV Consulting Engineers designed
the geosynthetic reinforced concrete block
retaining walls. The walls were built by EIS in
close collaboration with the main earthworks
contractor, Joubert en Seuns.
EIS owner, Manie Troskie, says that EIS
won the retaining wall tender on the basis of
an alternative and more cost-effective design
PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS
>
which also offered better functionality.
“There are substantial quantities of
sub-surface water on this site and our design
had to make provision for extensive drainage.
In fact there were some embankment
sections where one could actually see water
oozing from the ground.
“Three walls were open-face designs and
were built with Aveng Infraset’s Terrace Blok®
TB 490 and TB 300 retaining wall blocks.
The other two walls were closed-face and
built with the Infrablok™ 350.”
The largest wall, some 200 m long,
was built in an open-face configuration
at an angle of 70˚. It was constructed on
the perimeter of the property to reinforce
an embankment which rose to 12 m at its
highest point from a service road below.
“We only had five to six metres to work
with on this wall and the installation of
extensive sub-surface drainage was required
before construction of the wall could begin.
Sub-soil drains were installed on top of the
foundations three-to-four blocks below
kerb level. Fin drains , wrapped in A2 bidem
which go right back to the cut face, were laid
to trap water at the top, sides and bottom of
the embankment.
“We also installed 250 mm Kaytech wick
drains which were wrapped with bidem. And
in areas with the heaviest water flows we
positioned 100 mm slotted pipes covered
with stone and Geomesh geotextile to trap
the water at the cut face. All ground water
drains into a pipe at the bottom of the wall
which runs parallel to the foundation and
feeds into the stormwater drainage system.
“The foundation of the perimeter wall
was steel reinforced. One metre wide, it
varied between 450 mm and 300 mm in depth
depending on the height of the wall.
STABILISING
BUILDING
platforms in Mpumalanga
Five geosynthetic reinforced retaining walls using precast
concrete retaining blocks manufactured by Aveng Infraset
have played a crucial role in creating stable terraces for
the construction of Emoyeni Mall, a recently completed
shopping centre situated on the R538 between Nelspruit
and Hazyview in Mpumalanga.
The 200 m perimeter wall at its highest point of 12 m.
The 200 m perimeter wall built with Aveng Infraset’s TB 490 and
TB 300 concrete retaining blocks.