Best practice guidance on the maintenance of dry stone walls

No standard exists for the assessment of dry stone walls that can be universally used by highway authorities.  Substantial lengths of such walls exist across the UK, without clear guidance on how they should be assessed.  Although the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (on which the courts rely, although it is not binding on local authorities) clearly states “that dry stone retaining walls providing structural support to a road shall be assessed”.  This research aims to provide best practice guidance and advice to engineers engaged on assessment work. It will cover the management of dry stone retaining walls, including their inspection, strengthening, monitoring and maintenance.

The work is being undertaken by Mott MacDonald and a final report is expected in mid-2007. This project is being jointly funded by the County Surveyors’ Society [www.cssnet.org.uk].  It will be managed by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) [www.ciria.org], rather than directly by the Department for Transport.

The resulting guidance will form a companion volume to the CIRIA guides to the management of masonry arch bridges and to the maintenance of older metal bridges.