Howth, Co.

Dublin
Soil Nailing
Ireland
Scope of Works
Remove collapsed material.
Stabilise embankment.
Reinstate embankment.
Rebuild stone wall.
Stabilise and repoint remaining wall.
INTRODUCTION

When a large masonry retaining
wall collapsed, the services of
McDonnell Piling were sought to
come up with a solution to
stabilise and reinstate the wall.
Traditional solutions would have
been to soil nail the slope,
construct a reinforced concrete
retaining wall, face it with stone
and backfill behind. McDonnell
Piling approached the site with
great concern for the area of the
site and the historical importance
of the wall.

We carefully removed any areas
of wall that were deemed unsafe
and all loose material on the
slope, installed the soil nails and
secured the slope with galvanised
mesh.
Reinforced Earths TerraNail
system was used to rebuild the
embankment out to its original
position, this was a key design
element as it meant that no load
from the embankment would be
imposed on the masonry wall
when completed. A free draining
stone was backfilled to ensure no
build up of water behind the wall,
ne w weep hol es wer e
constructed into the new wall.


Embankment stabilised and reinstated with wall being re-built.
A612
Soil nailing using Reinforced Earth to reinstate the
collapsed material.
CLIENT: Private
MAIN CONTRACTOR: McDonnell Piling & Foundations Ltd.
CONSULTING ENGINEER: Donal G. Terry & Associates
DURATION OF WORKS: Two months

www.mcdonnellpiling.ie
A612
A view of the collapse.
Soil nail installation
Slope base prepared for replacement
wall foundation.
Replacement wall construction, drainage
positioned behind the wall with weep
holes created at lower level. The stone
work was carried out using traditional
methods and materials similar to those
used approximately two hundred years
when the wall was originally constructed.
The wall itself is 600mm wide and
needed to be constructed in rises of no
more than 900mm in order to allow the
lime mortar sufficient time to achieve the
required strength. The drainage was
taken up in layers to ensure water could
be managed from behind the wall.
Soil nails extended into new wall to
provide additional tie for the wall.
Strapping visible for the TerraNail system.


Completed TerraNail system.

Completed wall.




www.mcdonnellpiling.ie