Landmark branch on the (geo)grid

When Valley National Bank chose a busy intersection of Manalapan Township, N.J., for its new branch, it envisaged an attention-grabbing building—and equally arresting landscaping. Dramatic grade changes on the property required high, good-looking retaining walls. To reinforce soils behind the 12-foot segmented wall, the construction team chose geotextiles from Strata Systems Inc., Cumming, Ga., a manufacturer of soil reinforcement products.

Strata Systems’ Stratagrid® 200 polyester geogrid allowed for the overlap needed to reinforce the soil behind the bank’s curved wall. The construction team also used the Sleeve-It™ pre-engineered fence post integration system to ensure that a four-foot security fence (required by local building codes) remained as stable as the concrete block retaining wall that it topped. The company, an operating unit of performance textile company Glen Raven Inc., has teamed with concrete retaining wall installers to build stable retention systems up to 50 feet high, giving builders with problematic slopes and grades a way to work with formerly untenable sites. For more information, visit www.geogrid.com.