Geosynthetic Companies in the UK

Types and Uses

Geosynthetics have leapt onto the civil engineering scene in a dramatic way in recent years. Although various products have been included with soil for centuries to stabilise slopes and improve road quality, early materials were natural and always degraded after time. It is only since the advent of synthetics such as polymer that a stable, durable material has become available for a huge range of applications.

Geotextiles and geomembranes are the two largest groups of geosynthetics in terms of volumes of sales. Geotextiles are flexible, porous fabrics available in various thicknesses to fulfil separation, reinforcement, filtration or erosion control functions. Geomembranes act as a container for liquid or vapour barrier and were developed primarily as a lining for landfill, but have numerous other applications. Geogrids are another rapidly growing category and other product groups include geocomposites, geonets, geofoam and geocells.

Between them, these products provide solutions for the civil engineering, construction, mining, agriculture and aquaculture industries in numerous development applications including erosion control, roads, embankments, retaining structures, dams and landfill management.

Featured Company – Maccaferri

Renowned as a leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality materials to the construction industry, Maccaferri is an expert in geosynthetics. The company’s in depth technical knowledge means specialists are able to provide the most appropriate solutions with product support.

Maccaferri provides extremely durable woven and non-woven geotextiles. The woven or knitted fabrics use polyester or polyolefin filaments in various sizes of mesh for soil reinforcement, separation or stabilisation, filtration, and erosion control applications. The non-woven ranges comprise polymer filaments matted together in textiles to fulfil separation and filtration functions.

Geogrids are widely used to reinforce soil within slopes or embankments, enabling the soil to stand at steep angles and accommodate greater loads. Maccaferri’s ranges include grids for all sorts of ground types, site conditions and load requirements. They include grids made from high strength polyester straps with LLDPE coating, extra strong lattice geogrids incorporating high-tensile extruded polymer bars and geogrids compatible with bitumen for road paving reinforcement applications.

Maccaferri offers impermeable polyolefin geomembranes in varying thicknesses, widths and colours to meet numerous waterproofing applications. For landfill and lagoon lining, there are also geocomposite products and a geosynthetic clay liner.

For full information on Maccaferri’s geosynthetic products, see the website