Building a retaining wall for a driveway

[Ivan_England]

I need to build a retaining wall for my driveway and wondered how much this would should cost roughly. It is in Surrey and is roughly 5.5 metres long and 1.2 metres high at the highest point.

[K78]

Everyone knows what I’m going to say................concrete Lego ?

[nod]

7 minutes ago, K78 said:

Everyone knows what I’m going to say................concrete Lego ?

Perfect for a retaining wall

[Declan52]

What's the boundary on the left hand side made from??

[Ferdinand]

There are a number of systems out there which use interlocking concrete blocks.

 

If you dig in the( forum or the blogs, perhaps via Google, there are many threads.

[Ivan_England]

Hi,

 

Thanks for this. I will look into them. On the left hand side (while looking from street side) it is a single brick wall, but it already has earth the other side from the other property, but it will also need consideration. 

[Temp]

Check the max height before ordering. Some makes are aimed at DIY and have limits of around 2ft/600mm. 

 

I've seen some places say anything over a meter should be "designed" specifically so i suppose your BCO may want to see input from an SE but perhaps not. I think if you can show him a brochure saying it's ok to use at that height then he should be ok.

[Declan52]

What do you want it to look like??

Brick, plastered, stone or other.

This choice will push you down a particular method and rule out others.

[Temp]

Google found Allen Block hollow concrete blocks can be used to 1.2m without filling them with concrete..

 

https://www.colinwell.com/media/1166/colinwell-allan-block-retaining-wall-system-brochure.pdf

 

PS making the wall/steps curved would probably make them stronger.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Temp

[Declan52]

 

I used these blocks for mine. They require no concrete base, a 200mm depth of well compacted hardcore is all mine sits on.

They are as DIY as a retaining wall comes. 

https://ag.uk.com/retaining-wall/anchor-diamond/

[Declan52]

I have 2 different size blocks in my walls. The largest can go to 1.2m without any membrane but can go higher if needed using one.

The smaller blocks can go to 0.9m and that's it. 

 

[PeterW]

@Declan52 what was the unit price or price / m2 for those ..? 

[Declan52]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

@Declan52 what was the unit price or price / m2 for those ..? 

I think the larger block holding the driveway back was £25 sqm and the smaller £15sqm.

But I got a very good deal as I also bought a lot of their paving blocks as well at the same time and I used the same company for my thermal blocks so had bought maybe £10k worth of materials from them. And that was 5 years ago and they are a local company to me. 

 

[Temp]

Those look good @Declan52 I think your photos show off the blocks better than some of theirs. 

[Ivan_England]

On 03/02/2020 at 11:56, Temp said:

Google found Allen Block hollow concrete blocks can be used to 1.2m without filling them with concrete..

 

https://www.colinwell.com/media/1166/colinwell-allan-block-retaining-wall-system-brochure.pdf

 

PS making the wall/steps curved would probably make them stronger.

These look good i'll give them a bell thanks.

[JohnMo]

Ours, 3m long 150mm diameter timber strainers on right-hand side.  Concreted in 1m deep, inside geotex membrane, then backfilled.

 

left hand side, are about 700 to 800mm depth and again concreted in.

[Vpip2high]

On 02/02/2020 at 21:08, Ivan_England said:

I need to build a retaining wall for my driveway and wondered how much this would should cost roughly. It is in Surrey and is roughly 5.5 metres long and 1.2 metres high at the highest point.

Roughly- £5,000

Edited August 4, 2022 by Vpip2high
Wrong figure.