Rammed Earth Walling Systems

Rammed Earth Walling Systems were pioneered and developed within the practice of Airey Ryan & Hill (now Airey Taylor Consulting) together with Stephen Dobson of Ramtec Pty Ltd in Darwin in 1976.

The technology has now achieved a high level of community and industry acceptance and has been used for buildings ranging from residences and churches to commercial and industrial facilities, located in marine, seismic and high wind cyclonic zones such as Karratha and Darwin. Airey Taylor Consulting have achieved multiple Architectural and Excellence awards using this ecologically friendly and architecturally striking product and are confident we can deliver excellent results.

Cement stabilised earth retaining walls have been successfully used on many projects throughout Australia. The tallest building constructed using cement stabilised rammed earth is a five storey hotel in Queensland.

Airey Taylor Consulting recently (2018) provided the professional services required for a major residence at Channybearup shown (right) and for the Caretaker’s Residence on that site.

At the Client’s request and requirement, we invented new systems which did not involve cement stabilisation of the rammed earth walls. This building also featured our Engineering of domes and vaults using this material.

Unstabilised geogrid reinforced rammed earth (with zero cementitious material) completely removes the need for concrete or cement use for the walls (even “Green Concrete”). This eliminates the carbon accretion of concrete and cement products in the creation of the walls of the structure.

As the unstabilised walls for this residence were sensitive to movement, addressing the seasonal movement of reactive clay soils encountered at the site was also critical for the success of the project. We used our patented system of Claylock® to permanently lock in the moisture level of the clay mound within the structure and protect the rammed earth walls from shifting. The combination of these two measures created a resilient and highly eco-friendly structure with the benefits of cement stabilised rammed earth but without the carbon cost.

Channybearup also featured other pioneering Research & Development including a polished, heated post-tensioned concrete floor slab (we used in-house post-tensioned concrete design to reduce the masses of concrete used and thus the carbon costs) and the use of glass fibre tie rods (which do not rust as do their metal counterparts).

Airey Taylor Consulting are the foremost experts in these innovations in the world.