4/2025 - Solid Foundations for Education with Terraforce®

Solid Foundations for Education with Terraforce®

Situated in Paarl, the infrastructure and Terraforce® round-faced retaining walls at the new Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) were completed in February this year.

Initiated in October 2024, severe height differences on site required cut slopes to create platforms for the planned buildings that required retaining walls for soil stabilisation. Additionally, loadbearing of the road above, a parking area and services such as manholes and pipes needed retaining measures.

Project team

Engineer: Nortje & De Villiers
Main Contractor: NR Civils
Sub-Contractor: LFC Construction Pty Ltd

The client, The Grape Company, under the umbrella of the Grape Community, a non-profit company that supports, uplifts and empowers community projects, chose the Terraforce® L12 round face finish blocks, liking the aesthetics of a scalloped finish. They also wanted a budget-friendly, plantable system to soften the overall look of the completed walls with greenery.

The client the Grape Community chose the Terraforce L12 round face finish blocks, liking aesthetics of a scalloped finish — The client, the Grape Community, chose the Terraforce L12 round face finish blocks, liking the aesthetics of a scalloped finish

The wall angle of the Terraforce wall changes to accommodate manholes

Says Charl Johnsen, LFC Construction, Terraforce® recommended contractor, who installed the wall: “Due to space limitations, the engineers designed vertical brick retaining walls to an average height of 1.8 – 2.2m, which were combined with a 2m high Terraforce® wall above. The other Terraforce wall retaining the road and sidewalk reaches an average height of 1.8m at 65 degrees.”

Adds Johnsen: “Due to the combination of brick retaining walls and L12 Terraforce® blocks we had to secure the first row to the retaining wall. The compaction behind the walls was also very important to prevent any future settlement of the backfill. The foundations were designed with a slant as a kicker.

We also reinforced the foundations with Y12 rebar. A section where stormwater pipes ran through the wall had to be secured and blocks had to be cut to accommodate the design. We also had to build the Terraforce wall around the face of the manholes. In these sections, the face of the wall had to change its angle to accommodate the line of the installation.”

As the site had a severe problem with water and clay soil, proper drainage systems for all walls had to be designed, as well as a 300mm clean, drainable sand layer. Says Johnsen: “There was an underground water problem, where, with the severe weather we encountered in 2024, water tables created natural underground flow that we had to accommodate. Additionally, weepholes and a Cordrain pipe were installed.”

In total, 2800 Terraforce® blocks were installed, with the client to add their own landscaping in due course.