Recon was not the original choice for the retaining wall along the backside of a new Rainbow Foods grocery store constructed in 2009 in Roseville, MN. The original design called for a cast in place wall, and it was not until after the exterior if the building was in place that the tight construction constraints were realized. The retaining wall was necessary on the back side of the store to provide access to the loading docks.

Also on the back side of the property was a residential neighborhood with a parking and garage structure for an apartment building. The construction limits could not be crossed and because the new structure was already in place, the face of wall could not be moved any further away from the property line.

Recon teamed up with Structures Hardscapes to provide a solution to this difficult situation. The onsite soils were a very sandy material, which is great for the structural integrity of the wall but provided an additional challenge to the construction of the wall given the tight constraints.

The design of the Recon gravity wall was not an issue for Recon’s massive blocks. The main challenge remained stabilizing the sandy construction cut during the construction of the wall so that the parking structure along the back property lines was not undermined.

Because Recon is a flexible system, the embedment depth was reduced to a minimum 10% of the wall height as opposed to the frost depth requirement of the proposed cast in place retaining wall structure.

Structures Hardscape proposed a solution where the use of temporary sheet piling would provide the stability necessary during the construction process. Because Recon blocks are precast the wall could be built in sections. Once the retaining wall blocks were set in place and the wall was backfilled, the temporary sheet piling was removed.