F23      Stone/Soil/Turf/Hedging Hedge Bank Walling

GBE > Encyclopaedia > Code > Checklist > New Build > F > G#1611 N#1538

Checklist:

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Problems:

• In places where there hedge bank walls exist and have fallen into disrepair LA engineers don’t always understand them and they are infilled with an off the peg standard detail of raised soil and turf, which fails on just about every count: break in wall, widening of the space occupied, no enclosure, easy passage, visual discontinuity, audio discontinuity, bat echo location and route finding discontinuity, wildlife corridor discontinuity, etc.

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Misunderstandings:

• It may be assumed that they are only for free standing walls in landscape, but they are also used for retaining walls, enclosing walls of wind shelters, hides, public convenience and even as an outer leaf of buildings

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Solutions:

• Update the standard details and standard specifications to include hedge bank walling and use them to repair as well as recreate new ones

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Consider:

• Locally sourced stones from the region the hedge bank wall is created in
• All soil, sand and turf to be lifted from the site of the wall
• Wild turf from locality
• Indigenous drought tolerant hedging

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Avoid:

• Using them in locations where the stones are not available locally and would need to be imported to the area
• Using imported turf with imported biodiversity

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Minimise:

• Sending excavated materials to landfill

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Substitute:

• With or without hedging on top
• With normal turf in place of wild turf if none available,

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Health:

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Wellbeing:

• Don’t underestimate the feel good factor of natural materials used in a local traditional manor
• Don’t underestimate the feel good factor of providing for biodiversity on your site

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Biodiversity:

• ‘Wild turf’ is perfect, ‘bowls turf’ is not for this task, See GBE Checklist Q30
• Using turf from the site of the wall and other parts of the site ensures the biodiversity is kept where is belongs
• Importing more turf should ideally be locally sourced and as wild as the rest of the turf from the site
• Much of the soil and turf will bring its own biodiversity
• Nature will turn up and inhabit the wall
• Bird boxes may be built in, but need to be durable
• Bat boxes will be too close to the ground for use by bats, but birds may occupy them

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Safety:

• Boulders can be large, heavy and potentially dangerous to handle

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Precautionary principle:

• When driving along winding country lanes do not assume this is a hedge, its not, its a wall
• Stones can be heavy and a challenge to handle
• This is not a one man job
• Use lifting gear with strops, use second layer of strops to stabilise first layer

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Resource Efficiency Issues:

• The great thing about these walls is much of the accessory materials come from the site of the wall stones are likely to have been dug up from the fields or reclaimed

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Reduce:

• Imported materials reuse from site where possible

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Reclaim:

• Turf from site of wall, top up from site alterations, use as mortar between stones in wall face
• Top soil from site of wall, top up from site stockpile
• Subsoil from site of wall, top up from site stockpile
• Well rounded stones

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Reuse:

• All reclaimed materials from site

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Recycle:

• Not much recycling, more reuse, some up cycling.

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Recover:

• At end of life recover nutrients via composting of turf and hedging

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Waste Issues:

• There should be no waste from this method of construction

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Hazardous waste & Deleterious Substances

• Don’t use imported polluted soil
• Don’t reuse existing polluted soil

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Waste Statistics

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Waste Minimisation

• Reuses existing topsoil and turf from the ground it sits in
• Reuses any existing stones from the site
• I have even seen walls made with concrete block rubble, once greened over you cannot tell

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End of Life options

• Dismantle and return to ground or compost hedging and turf

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Appropriateness:

• Only use if it’s a local tradition (West country and Pembrokeshire Wales)

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Competence:

• Use local craftsmen with prior know how

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Effectiveness:

• This is much more than a boundary between plots of land
• It also acts as a visual break with the hedge on top
• Its also offers a wind break
• Its also a place for nature to inhabit, within and upon or use for navigation
• Its also great for human wellness

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Yardstick:

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Maintenance issue:

• Once constructed, water with harvested rainwater, leave to enliven,
• Trim excess grass if and when required.
• Trim hedging if and when required.

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Industry/Sector Initiatives:

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Information sources:

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© GBE GBC GRC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ****
16th December 2012 – 17th November 2023

Images: 

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Smith Roberts Associates Architects
St David’s Visitors Centre, Pembrokeshire Coast

Smith Roberts Associates Architects
Castell Henllys, Iron Age hill fort, visitors centre Pembrokeshire Coast

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GBE CPD

See CPD for many variations on the appearance of these walls

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If you wish to reproduce images, feel free, but please acknowledge the source.

Cornish Hedge Bank Walling

© Brigit Strawbridge @B_Strawbridge via Facebook X 18:48 15/11/2023

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© GBE GBC GRC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ****
4th August 2014 – 17th November 2023

See Also: 

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GBE Jargon Buster

Theme

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GBE CPD

Seminar Topic Group

Seminar

• GBE CPD F23 Hedge Bank Walling
• Seminars
  • F23Hedgebank9HJ PDF Handout Colour
  • F23Hedgebank.ppt PDF Show Colour
  • F23HedgebankB+W PDF Show Black and White
  • F23Hedgebank9H PDF Handout Black and White

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GBE Checklist

New Build

• F20 Natural Stone Rubble Walling
• F23 Hedge Bank Walling (This page)

Refurbishment

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GBE Materials

• Boulders
• Hedging
• Top Soil
• Sub Soil
• Wild Turf

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GBE Systems

• Hedge Bank Wall

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GBE Elemental Assemblies

• GBC & GRC Readymade Elemental Assemblies

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GBE BEACoN:

• Used in GreenSpec Studio (no longer)
• To be added to Green Building Calculator (GBC)
• To be added to Green Building Readymade Elemental Assemblies (GBREA)
• F23 Hedge Bank Walling:
  • 93_f20_f23_f20_01

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GBS Green Building Specification

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GBE Robust Specification

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GBE Projects

Building Case Study

• Smith Roberts Associates Architects
• Castell Henllys, Iron Age hill fort, visitors centre Pembrokeshire Coast
• Oriel y Parc St David’s Gallery (Case Study) G#1669 N#1576

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GBE Blog

• F23 Boulder and Turf Hedge Bank Walling (Blog) G#1613 N#1540

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© GBE GBC GRC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ****
4th August 2014 – 17th November 2023

F23 Stone/Soil/Turf/Hedging Hedge Bank Walling (Checklist) G#1611 N#1538 End.