Car Sales Increase With The Help Of Tensar

In helping to boost car sales at its confined site, family run Central Car Auctions in Baillieston, Glasgow, needed to increase the space in which to display and store its cars.

The adopted solution was to build a new lower car park, separated from the existing upper level by a retaining embankment stabilised with Tensar geogrids and a steel mesh panel (SMP) face.

This has increased car throughput at the site by up to 150 cars per week, and saved approximately £70,000 on the alternative traditional, stone-filled gabion baskets.

Central Car Auctions is located between a main road and a railway line resulting in limited room for expansion, a common urban problem.

Sales in the original show area at the popular car auction site had reached their peak due to lack of show space.

Construction of the twin car parks separated by a steep 85deg slope along the railway line using the Tensar solution allowed maximum use of the area available.

The new embankment is approximately 100 metres long by 4.5 metres deep with heights between 3 and 6.5 metres tall.

This was built up using 40RE uniaxial geogrids extending horizontally to the face of the slope between layers of back fill.

The fill comprised approximately 3,000 tonnes of crushed demolition rubble, which does not attract Aggregate Tax.

The geogrids were secured to the SMP at the face of the slope using an R12 reinforcement bar on the outside and a Tensar Bodkin on the inside.

To aid installation, the first lift of SMP units were held in position during filling using pre-bent "L" bars.

This construction method requires no formal foundation and is easy and rapid and no special skills or tools are needed.

To prevent the fill escaping through the large SMP apertures, Tensar GM4 grid was used as a liner behind the steel mesh panel.

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