Contact:
Mob; 07765 408930
speaker@brianmedia.co.uk
Britain’s Crumbling Garden Walls
A 2004 report prepared for the Department of Communities and Local Government suggested the aggregate length of garden and retaining walls in the UK is in the order of 475 000 kilometres of which some 9500 kilometres are considered unsafe. Adding to these grim statistics, the same report noted garden and retaining wall failures accounted for 7 fatalities amongst members of the public over a ten year period, and some 1000 injuries a year.
Calling on experience from a 39 year career investigating failures of walls, I have determined two primary reasons for a high failure rate in what is often seen as the Cinderella of construction. The lack of any regulatory control is undoubtedly one of those reasons, but another is a general misconception about how these walls respond to their environment.
This enlightening presentation will give the audience a better understanding of how walls react under different loading conditions and list some very useful resources for both remedying defective walls and specifying new-build wall construction. In addition, a 15 page technical paper will be given out.
