The developer of a multi-storey apartment complex in the Wembley suburb of Perth entered an agreement to build a retaining and acoustic wall that would separate the driveway and car park of the project from the adjacent property and ModularWalls offered an integrated modular wall design. The elderly residents of the home next door had expressed concern about the noise that the vehicular traffic of their new neighbours might create, particularly given that large number of units housed by the apartment complex. The developer originally planned to use masonry blocks to build a retaining wall and install an acoustic wall on top of it. This would have required extensive excavation work across both properties, due to differences in the ground levels of the car park and the neighbouring lot.
Integrated Modular Wall
The developer managed to avoid the extensive excavation work that a masonry solution would have required by using the GuardianWall in combination with the TerraFirmX panel to combine acoustic and retaining functions into the one seamless modular wall design. The incorporation of the TerraFirmX panel enables the GuardianWall to function as a very sturdy retaining wall, capable of withstanding a load of 5 kPa active soil pressure and 10 kPa vertical surcharge loading. Instead of excavating the entire site and gouging out the strip footings needed for a masonry structure, the installation of the modified GuardianWall only required the cutting of a trench between the two properties for the installation of piers. This dramatically reduced the time and labour requirements of the project, with the installation of the modular wall proving to be anywhere between 50 to 60 percent faster than the construction of a conventional brick wall with an acoustic wall perched on top. The space economisation achieved via the use of an integrated modular wall design enabled the developer to widen the driveway for the apartment complex. This is of immense benefit to the occupants of the apartment complex, as it provides them with safer and more convenient vehicular access to their places of residence.