Grey concrete needn’t be boring or hidden away.  Check out our handy work on this new feature wall in Basingstoke. 

We have supplied 5,274 m3 to a project in Basingstoke for the John Lewis/Waitrose landmark store.  In March this year we were asked by A D Bly for a mix solution for the construction of a retaining wall flanking the main road through the site.  This was to have a high quality facing finish using a Reckli System mould textured form liners to provide the high quality patterned finish.  The mix had to be of high workability to allow the mix to fill all the shapes of the moulded forms.

Martin Middleton, our Technical Manager, designed a mix.  Trial panels were cast on site and after some fine tuning by Martin they were accepted by John Lewis.

The concrete had to be produced to a consistent appearance over a 2 month pouring programme.  Sand had to be supplied from one source so our aggregate colleagues stock piled Bramshill Sand for use and the overall supply has been a credit to all involved.  A total of 255m3 has been supplied at a healthy margin.

The wall is situated on the main bus route from the business area of Basingstoke to the railway station and main town centre shopping area – viewed by hundreds every day. The rest of the project looks great too.