Gabions
Gabions protect slopes and strengthen bridge abutments
Gabions are a gravity type of retaining wall commonly used to reinforce soil near water or to construct bridge abutments. They look like rectangular baskets made of welded mesh or double twisted wire. The baskets are filled with rock on the spot or delivered prefilled, and then stacked atop one another. Gabions are popular for their eco-friendliness, cost effectiveness and flexibility.
Economical
Gabions are much faster to install and more ecological than corresponding retaining walls made of concrete. The price for a square meter of a gabion wall is up to 70% cheaper than a concrete wall. Besides, it is possible to save on transportation costs when using rocks from the site: e.g., when mountain blasting is already done for construction.
Natural design
A gabion wall with a stone surface could look more aesthetical compared to a cold and solid concrete surface. Gabions are excellent to use as an architectural element for decoration. The structure is less subject to graffiti or other vandalism than concrete walls.
Customizable
It is possible to choose specific parameters for your application: dimensions, grids, the thickness of the steel, and corrosion protection can all be adjusted.
Ecological
A gabion wall has a carbon footprint that is about 80% lower than a concrete wall of the corresponding height. By allowing climbing plants on the gabion wall, the climate footprint will be further reduced over the long life of the gabion.
Gabion Baskets for Infrastructure: Steel Wire Solutions for Retaining Walls and Erosion Control
Gabion baskets are rectangular wire mesh containers filled with stone, engineered to form gravity structures for retaining walls, erosion control and scour protection across the UK’s transport and water infrastructure. Unlike decorative garden gabions, ViaCon’s infrastructure-grade gabion systems are manufactured from heavily galvanised or Galfan-coated steel wire, delivering a design life exceeding 60 years in line with BS 8002 and Eurocode 7 requirements.
Our gabion range includes standard baskets (1×1×2m through to 1×1×4m), mattress gabions for channel lining and slope protection, and sack gabions for underwater placement. Each unit is fabricated from double-twisted hexagonal mesh wire to BS EN 10223-3, ensuring consistent mechanical performance under load. Galfan (95% zinc / 5% aluminium-mischmetal alloy) coating provides up to three times the corrosion resistance of standard galvanising — a critical advantage for structures in aggressive soil or marine-adjacent environments.
Gabion Retaining Wall Design: From Highway Embankments to Bridge Abutments
Gabion retaining walls offer a cost-effective, free-draining alternative to mass concrete and reinforced concrete walls. Their inherent permeability eliminates the need for separate drainage systems, reducing both construction cost and long-term maintenance. For highway schemes, gabion walls comply with DMRB CD 377 and are routinely specified by National Highways and local authorities for embankment retention, noise barriers and bridge abutment wings.
ViaCon provides full design support for gabion retaining structures, from initial feasibility through to detailed design calculations per BS 8002. Our engineers assess sliding, overturning and bearing capacity for both simple gravity walls and reinforced gabion structures incorporating geogrid reinforcement layers. For complex sites, we combine gabion facing with mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) backfill to achieve retained heights in excess of 10 metres.
Where containment or separation is required behind the gabion face, we integrate geosynthetic clay liners or non-woven geotextile membranes to prevent fine particle migration while maintaining the wall’s free-draining characteristics.
Applications: Civil Engineering, Coastal Protection and Ecological Enhancement
Gabion structures serve a wide range of civil engineering applications across the UK. In river and coastal engineering, gabion mattresses provide scour protection around bridge piers, weirs and sea defence toe structures in accordance with the CIRIA Rock Manual (C683). Their rough, permeable surface dissipates hydraulic energy more effectively than smooth concrete, reducing downstream erosion.
For ecological enhancement, gabion walls and mattresses create habitat niches that support biodiversity — voids between stones provide refuge for invertebrates and spawning substrate for fish. Gabion weirs are increasingly specified in fish pass design to restore upstream migration on UK rivers, contributing to Water Framework Directive objectives.
On transport infrastructure, gabion walls protect highway cuttings, stabilise railway embankments and form noise-attenuating barriers along sensitive corridors. Combined with geomats for vegetated facing, gabion structures can integrate seamlessly into the surrounding landscape while delivering the structural performance required by Network Rail and National Highways standards.
Applications:
- Construction of retaining structures
- Strengthening the banks of water reservoirs or transport facilities adjacent to these reservoirs
- Construction or strengthening bridge abutments
- Retaining structures from reinforced soil
- Mattresses used for the construction of fords and structures which limit the erosion of the river bottoms and riverbanks, water reservoirs and watercourses near bridge supports, earth structures
- Temporary structures which increase the height or strengthen floodbanks
- Trapezoidal baskets are used for construction of free-standing walls, screens, partitions
- Noise reduction barriers
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Gabion baskets are wire mesh containers filled with stone, used in civil engineering for retaining walls, erosion control, scour protection and channel lining. In infrastructure projects, they stabilise highway embankments, protect bridge abutments, reinforce river banks and form coastal defence structures. Their free-draining design eliminates the need for separate drainage, making them a cost-effective alternative to mass concrete retaining walls on many transport and flood defence schemes.
Infrastructure-grade gabion baskets manufactured from Galfan-coated steel wire (95% zinc, 5% aluminium-mischmetal alloy) are engineered for a design life exceeding 60 years. Galfan coating provides up to three times the corrosion resistance of standard galvanising, making it suitable for aggressive soil conditions, marine-adjacent environments and water-contact applications. The actual lifespan depends on environmental exposure, fill material and coating specification — ViaCon can advise on the correct specification for your project conditions.
Gabion retaining walls are typically 30–50% less expensive than equivalent reinforced concrete walls, particularly at retained heights below 6 metres. Cost savings come from several factors: gabions require less extensive foundations than concrete walls, they eliminate the need for formwork and curing time, they can be filled with locally sourced stone (reducing transport costs), and their permeability removes the requirement for a separate drainage system. For larger retaining structures, ViaCon engineers can design reinforced gabion walls incorporating geogrid layers to achieve economical solutions at heights exceeding 10 metres.