CAN Geotechnical were contracted by Balfour Beatty to carry out stabilisation works to a new access road cutting on the Gedling Access Road scheme in Nottingham. Due to lack of available land at the crest, the cutting face required steeping to create sufficient space of the new road to be constructed below.

This steep cut angle meant that a ground engineering solution was required stabilise the new face, and CAN were consulted early in the design process to advise the client and designer on the practical buildability of a stabilisation solution.

The final design comprised a hybrid solution, which required drilling over 650 soil nails to and 30no. horizontal inclined drains into the face, along with installation of an 800m2 rigid mesh facing to protect against both deep seated and shallow surface failure.

A vegetated wall facing system was then installed, providing a stable soil medium to receive hydraseed, with the new growth creating an aesthetically pleasing, natural looking green finish. At 7m high, the face posed a challenge for accessing to install the vegetated wall. CAN worked closely with suppliers to create a bespoke fixing to ensure the vegetated bags were securely fastened to the rigid mesh facing.

Specialist access techniques were used to install the soil filled bags at height, using a telehandler to offer up the palletised loads of prefilled bags to reduce manual handling.

Duration:   14 weeks

Client:         Balfour Beatty

Location:    Gedling, Nottingham