Retaining Walls in Florey

A suburb built in the eighties

Wikipedia says Florey is a residential suburb of the Belconnen district, gazetted on 5 August 1975, with most houses built in the mid-1980s. It is named after Howard Florey, Baron Florey, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for work on penicillin, and its streets are named after Australian scientists. The article says construction began on 571 sites in 1984 and that most housing was complete by the end of 1987. Walls from that period are now around forty years old.

Open paddocks that drain to a creek

The original land use section says Florey was about 250 hectares of undulating open paddocks with very few trees, much of it used for sheep agistment. It says the area drains into and faces Ginninderra Creek to the north, with a pine plantation in the north-east corner and eucalypts in the south-east corner at the time of development. Undulating ground drains towards the creek, which is why drainage is central to any wall here.

Healthy Waterways works

The environment section says that in 2018 the ACT Healthy Waterways Project, a joint initiative of the Commonwealth and ACT governments, carried out waterway restoration along Tattersall Crescent. Parts of a concrete drainage channel were returned to a more natural creek-like state, which helps to slow and clean stormwater flowing into Ginninderra Creek. It is a reminder that stormwater here is a public concern. Ask each builder where a wall's drainage will leave and whether that point is lawful.

Shops and schools

The article says Florey has its own shopping centre on the corner of Kesteven Street and Ratcliffe Crescent, and that the suburb supports three schools, St Francis Xavier College, St John the Apostle Primary and Florey Primary. Housing was medium density in part and the article says government housing is located throughout the suburb. Many blocks are smaller, so access for a machine through a side gate is a question to ask early.

Old walls and engineering

Yakka Labour lists a lean, widening cracks, seepage and soil washing out as signs of a failing wall, and says a tall wall that is moving needs an engineer before anyone digs near it. An Access Canberra factsheet says plans must show the height of the earth cut being retained. ACT Planning says a wall not higher than 1.2 metres does not need a building approval, and it publishes separate limits near boundaries.

Where to start

For a tall or failing wall, start with our engineered walls guide. For a low terrace on a small block, read the timber wall guide.

Does Florey drain to a creek?

Wikipedia says the area drains into and faces Ginninderra Creek to the north. We cannot say what that means for a particular block.

What did the Tattersall Crescent works do?

Wikipedia says the 2018 ACT Healthy Waterways Project returned parts of a concrete drainage channel to a more natural creek-like state.

Are Florey walls old?

Wikipedia says most houses were built in the mid-1980s. We cannot judge a wall from a form, so ask a builder to look.