Products: Stepoc
Project: Home basement
With over 40 years’ experience in the construction industry, there aren’t many products that structural engineer Greg Keast regards as highly as Anderton Concrete’s unique Stepoc concrete shuttering system.
Beginning his career in a structural design office responsible for multi-million-pound projects for the UK government, as a building contractor Greg has utilised a multitude of systems over the last four decades as part of the development of residential constructions.
Greg was first introduced to Stepoc and its unique capabilities over 15 years ago by a fellow engineer when he was undertaking structural responsibility for a four-storey residential dwelling. Featuring a basement on sloping ground that was full storey at the rear and ½ storey to the front, Greg required a modular retaining wall system that could accommodate the sloping site to ensure the basement under the house came out at pavement level.
Since this initial project, Greg has specified Stepoc on every retaining situation he has completed. The versatility of the system has enabled him to construct retaining walls for residential builds and as part of landscaping projects quickly and efficiently.
“The only product I use for any retaining wall situation is Anderton Concrete’s Stepoc system as it provides a civil engineering approach to residential construction.
“Because the blocks themselves are the shuttering, the system is extremely fast to install. Each block is light enough to handle by a single person, yet durable enough to create a resilient construction. Every time I use Stepoc the client is amazed at the speed of the build and the minimal mess that is created.
“Stepoc features a truly great design. The addition of longitudinal grooves on the top of each block for horizontal reinforcement ensures the bars don’t move at all, and when tied to the vertical bars, the construction is solid before the concrete has even been poured. This makes fixing on site extremely easy, whilst also enabling concrete to be seamlessly poured from block to block, not just filling vertically, but horizontally, too.
“Over the last few years, I have undertaken two jobs where expensive and poorly designed retaining walls had failed. After removing the walls and replacing them with Stepoc, the clients could see the significant difference in strength and quality and is a testament to the system’s quality of design and impressive capabilities.
“As a structural engineer, I have to say the speed and accuracy of the system is very impressive. The end result for every project is excellent and I would never use another system for retaining wall situations.”
Weighing less than 20kg per unit, Stepoc delivers a highly efficient approach to the formation of durable and resilient dry-laid structures, without the requirement for additional expertise or training.
This is due to the system’s unique design, which significantly reduces installation times, by facilitating the fast and proficient construction of single skin retaining walls up to 3.5 metre high from a single pour. This not only maximises on-site safety and efficiency, but minimises additional costs by combining the ease of blockwork with the versatility of in-situ concrete.
The innovative system has also been awarded the British Board of Agrément (BBA) Certificate 20/5774, evidencing Anderton Concrete’s first class engineering excellence and dedication to supporting industry professionals in achieving a world-class built environment.
Following independent analysis, Stepoc has been found to offer a substantial cost saving of over 30% when compared with in-situ concrete, whilst delivering an approximate saving of 20% against cavity block construction.