Best Practices for Allan Block Segmental Retaining Wall Design For Residential and Commercial Applications

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The intent of this document is to communicate the best practices for design of Segmental Retaining Walls (SRW) as determined by Allan Block Corporation based on 30 plus years of research, design and field experience. This is not meant to be a final authority as each project has their own set of unique situations. The local engineer of record must use their best engineering judgment to account for those situations that present themselves and provide a safe and efficient design for the customer. At no time does the contractor or local building official have the authority to override the approved plans and specifications provided from the local engineer of record. It is the recommendation of Allan Block Corporation that the local engineer of record work for and be paid by the project owner. It has been determined that the local engineer of record should be the Project Site Civil Engineer as they are best suited to take responsibility for the design, and how it affects the site, whether they do the design in-house or use an outside consultant to do the design for the project. The Project Site Civil Engineer has control of several of the overall aspects of the project and therefore is most able to properly handle the integration and communication required to ensure the performance of the wall complies with the needs of the site. For wall design applications that are outside of the experience level of the Project Site Civil Engineer a wall designer with the appropriate knowledge and experience should be contracted with by the Project Site Civil Engineer. It is recommended that the wall contractor not be responsible for securing the engineering.

The Best Practice document contains drawings highlighting details associated with typical issues and notes expanding each topic that may be present on any given project.