St Giles Church Retaining Wall, Matlock
About the project
Key details
- Client
- Derbyshire Dales District Council
- Project manager
- Norder Design Associates
- Project value
- £170k
- Duration
- 15 weeks
Key aims and challenges
The stone retaining wall, a listed structure, sits above a limestone cliff face and supports the earth housing the church's graveyard. The historic wall had began to fail and a giant scaffolding was erected to help support the structure and prevent falling rocks.
The 50m wall, which is 2-3m in height, was carefully dismantled and earth adjacent to the wall excavated. A reinforced concrete block was constructed and tied to the existing bed rock and the base of the rebuilt wall.
The stone wall was carefully reconstructed using a combination of re-used and imported local Kinder Gritstone.
How did we do?
Working in a tight space within the church's graveyard presented a logistical challenge. The presence of human bones during excavation meant that extra care was required. Bones were excavated and carefully replaced in the presence of an archaeologist.
From the client...
Richard Peck, Director, Norder Design AssociatesThis was a particularly challenging project from a PR perspective, already having received adverse press comment before the project started. There was no adverse comment received during the project, which is an excellent achievement with such a sensitive project.
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