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U.K. Case Study: Bluewater Retail
and Leisure Destination Reinforced
Soil Slopes to Form Steep-Sided
New Lakes
J. H. Dixon
Tensar International, Blackburn, U.K.
1 INTRODUCTION
The site is located approximately 30 km east of London and due for completion in
early March 1999. Bluewater, developed by Lend Lease, is intended to be the
largest and most prestigious retail development in Europe
(Fig. 1)
.
It contains
140,000 m
2
of retail space, 13,000 car parking spaces, nearly 12,000 m
2
of leisure
space, and has a million trees and shrubs landscaping the area.
The site is located in a former deep chalk quarry. The construction of
several lakes was included within an Enabling Works contract, which principally
involved bulk filling with approximately three million m
3
of a local silty sand.
Two of the lakes, Lakes 1 and 2, were formed with steep sides in order to
maximize their water volume and depth for environmental reasons.
Lake sides sloping at 70
to the horizontal and approximately 10 m high
were selected. In places these slopes are surcharged by steep highway
embankments and landscaping fill under a later contract. The client's consulting
engineer, Waterman Partnership, recognized at an early stage the economic and
practical advantages of reinforced soil techniques.
Due to significant variations of groundwater level, it was decided to line
Lake 1 with a geomembrane in order to retain a constant lake water level. There
were concerns about the long-term durability of the geomembrane and in
particular its vulnerability to potential damage from burrowing wildlife or boat
8
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