Eastern Melbourne Earthworks
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Retaining walls

Concrete sleeper retaining walls

Galvanised posts, precast panels, and the drainage behind them. The system most engineered walls end up using, and the one most often built wrong.

How a concrete sleeper wall works

A concrete sleeper wall is a post and panel structure. Steel posts carry the load into an engineered footing, panels span between them, and the ground behind is drained so water never gets the chance to push.

It suits boundary walls, terraced blocks and anywhere the finished face has to be consistent. It fails in two places: footings too shallow for the height retained, and drainage skipped because it disappears the moment it is backfilled.

What it solves

  • Boundary walls without encroachingPosts sit inside the title line and panels span between, so the retained face gains usable ground without crossing a boundary.
  • A consistent finished facePrecast panels give a uniform face across a long run, which matters when the wall is the first thing seen from the street.
  • Walls that stay straightMost sleeper walls that lean were built without subsoil drainage. Ours are photographed before backfill so you can see it went in.

Examples of the work

  • Concrete sleeper retaining wall on a boundary
    Boundary runLevel held right to the title line, posts set inside it, so ground is gained without a dispute.
  • Concrete sleeper wall stepping down a slope
    Stepped with the fallSteps with the grade rather than building to the highest point. Less concrete, less excavation.
  • Terraced sleeper retaining walls
    TerracedTwo lower walls with a bench between, where one wall would have been over three metres.
  • Sleeper wall carrying a driveway edge
    To a driveway edgeAnything trafficked above the wall is surcharge. Deeper footings, closer post centres.

How we deliver a sleeper wall

From site assessment to completion

Seven stages. The first three happen before anyone drives out, which is what keeps a site visit worth making for both of us.

  1. Project review

    Drawings if you have them, a description if you do not. Assessed at the desk first.

  2. Plans and engineering

    Priced against the issued design, or the engineering organised as part of the job.

  3. Site assessment

    Fall, access, ground conditions, services, and what is sitting above the wall.

  4. Excavation and site cut

    Set out to survey, benched to plan, rock broken out where the ground calls for it.

  5. Footings and construction

    Augered piers, steel posts set to the design heights, panels seated to AS 4678.

  6. Drainage

    Ag line, geofabric and aggregate, photographed before the backfill covers it.

  7. Completion

    Backfill compacted in layers, site cleaned, documentation and photography handed over.

Most of the wall is the part you never see

Section through an engineered concrete sleeper retaining wall Retained ground on the high side, an augered pier and steel post, concrete panels, drainage aggregate with an ag line, and compacted backfill. 1 2 4 3 5 6
Typical section, engineered concrete sleeper wall
  1. 01
    Site cut and battersBulk excavation set out to survey, benched to plan. Rock broken out with a hydraulic hammer where the ground calls for it.
  2. 02
    Augered piersDrilled to the engineered depth and diameter, in house rather than hired in, so the program does not wait on somebody else's rig.
  3. 03
    Steel postsGalvanised, set to the design heights and concreted. The structural member the whole wall hangs off.
  4. 04
    Concrete panelsPrecast, seated course by course and levelled as they go, to AS 4678.
  5. 05
    Engineered drainageAg line, geofabric and blue metal behind the wall. Photographed before backfill, because after backfill nobody can see it.
  6. 06
    Backfill and compactionPlaced and compacted in layers, not tipped in. Hydrostatic pressure is what pushes walls over.
Plant schedule and contract scope
  • Contract and complianceRegistered builder, so the domestic building contract, the insurance and the permit pathway sit with the same contractor who builds the wall.
  • One programExcavation, drilling, drainage and the wall are the same crew, so there is no gap between trades to argue about.
Plant schedule, to be confirmed
MachineCapacityTypical use
Excavator, mini1.7 tTight access, hand dig support
Excavator, mid5 to 8 tFootings, drainage, batters
Excavator, large13 to 20 tBulk excavation, rock breaking
Drill rigDiameters and depthRetaining wall footings and piers
Tipper trucksConfirmSpoil out, imported fill in

Tell us the height and what sits behind it

The height retained and the load above it decide the footing depth, the post centres and the drainage. With those two things we can be specific rather than approximate.

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