Projects

River Green Developments

River Green Developments wanted their new headquarters to reflect the high quality of work their company builds. When their architect suggested a rammed earth spine wall they were happy to agree provided their own in-house team could be trained to do the work. We worked in association with Simmonds Mills to agree soil mixes, formwork schedules, pre-contract training and ongoing advice to the contractor.

The soil was 60% as dug sand from the site, 10% powdered clay and 30% mixed gravel. These were mixed on site using an old concrete mixer, possible because the different components, particularly the clay, were dry. They chose a dry week to do the work, bagged the resulting mix, allowing them to separate mixing and building processes.

The walls are a 6m high atrium wall with ground and first floor offices on the other side. Initially offered the option to treat the walls against dusting they made the decision to brush down and vacuum the walls and leave them as built, showing that different materials and different clients can interact in many different ways.