We can see the Gabion Basket products being offloaded, checked and prepared for safekeeping and delivery site.

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Here we can see the initial stages of the project at Riverbank Lodge in Upington, which started around 22 September, contract period was set at two months. About 1600m3 of Gabions to be erected. On site training, structure design and site visits were offered by Gabion Baskets in Johannesburg.

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The rock used in gabion installations is 100-250mm size un-weathered, with a minimum density of 2.6tons/m3, gabion void ratio of 65% solids, 35% voids, thus with a bulk gabion density of 1.6tons per m3. Unselected rock normally has about 30% waste or undersized material, thus please allow for 2tons of rock per m3. The rock is neatly packed into the basket by hand to achieve a neat front face appearance. Angular blasted rock is best due to the interlock strength, rounded rock can be used but does not give the same compressive strength as blasted rock, and is much more difficult to achieve a neat looking facing. Environmentally it does not make good sense to remove rock from the area as it effects local animal habitats and can enhance erosion in streams.

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The geotextile layer is very important to prevent the migration of fine rive bed soils through the mattress layer. We use a 210g/m2 layer of Bidim to prevent soil movement. The Bidim is placed at all gabion and soil contact faces, behind, below and on the sides of the gabion structure. Overlapping 300mm where necessary.

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Rock for mattresses are also 100-67% of layer depth, so 200mm for the 0.3m depth. The mattress thus has at least two layers of rock to prevent soil scour in the event of high water velocities. Mattress lids are supplied separately so as to have them out of the way during infill of rock. From a labor point of view we allow 1.0m3/man per day for gabions and 1.5m3/man/day for mattresses, as mattresses have now bracing and neat front facings that need to be maintained.

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