When chemical manufacturer and supplier Nutrochem commenced development of their new distribution centre and bulk handling facility in Bethal, Mpumalanga, they selected Technicrete’s Enviro-Wall retaining wall system.
Enviro-Wall, is a versatile reversible block with one side smooth and the other fluted, allowing for a variety of pleasing visual effects. It can be installed with gaps between blocks for vegetation growth or as a solid engineering structure.
Pieter du Plessis, Chief Executive Officer of Nutrochem said “We have had a long standing relationship with Technicrete for over 25 years, in fact, we had Enviro-Wall installed in our existing plant and never encountered problems with the product. Therefore, it made sense to engage with Technicrete again for our new facility.”
“The Enviro-Wall system, in our opinion, is of a very good quality and easy to work with. At our new site, it is used mainly as a retaining wall along our site boundaries where we have level differences. A big plus was the technical support provided by Technicrete on our initial project gave our team the experience needed to easily install the bricks on our expansion project.”.
Constructed from dry stacked interlocking, precast blocks, the simplicity of the Enviro-Wall design enables blocks to be easily and quickly placed to form an effective retaining wall. Opening or closing the spacing between the blocks means that the Enviro-Wall structure configuration can be altered so that the open arrangement cavities between adjacent blocks can be filled with soil, enabling plant growth. It can also be installed as a solid, closed face structure.
Subject to the Engineers design of the overall wall structure incorporating the blocks, a wide range of retaining wall/embankment heights can be accommodated by the system. Lower walls would typically be designed as Gravity walls where the blocks themselves resist the soil forces whilst higher walls are generally reinforced with structural geogrid layers that are locked in place and tensioned between the
Enviro-Wall blocks, creating a reinforced soil block behind the Enviro-Wall blocks, constituting a Reinforced Wall Design.
The angle of inclination of the wall may be set by using the (optionally supplied) base block at 70° but Technicrete’s engineering team can assist in the event that other angles might be preferred / required.
The wall accommodates both concave or convex alignments, down to a relatively small (2m) radius of curvature. Enviro-Wall structures accommodate moderate ground settlement while foundation requirements will vary according to wall height and underlying soil conditions. It is suitable for high and low walls, (near) vertical (<88°) angles, river bank protection and countless other commercial, industrial and domestic applications.
“We were delighted to work with Nutrochem again on their new Bethal project. Technicrete supplied in excess of 15,000 Enviro-Wall blocks for their retaining wall requirements. Over the years we have worked together supplying Technicrete product for their various developments. The longevity of our relationship with Nutrochem speaks volumes about how Technicrete believes in building personal relationships with customers in addition to ensuring their satisfaction with our technical support, product quality and delivery” said Syfran Chuene, Sales Consultant, Technicrete, Mpumalanga.
“Technicrete has always delivered a high-quality product and delivered technical support where needed. I cannot fault the service we have received over the years from Technicrete.” concluded du Plessis.
It should be noted that the block itself is only one component of the complete wall structure that includes the blocks, retained soil, drainage media, foundation, geogrids (as required), etc. As such, whilst engineering input should be sought for all retaining walls, any retaining walls over about 1.2 – 1.5m in height above ground level must be designed and certified by a suitably experienced and qualified engineer.
Technicrete offers a range of concrete products covering the building, infrastructure and mining sectors. The company, part of the Infrastructure Specialist Group, has ten manufacturing facilities across South Africa.
