Structural retaining walls built to your engineer's design, from the stepped foundation to the backfill behind it. Reinforcement, formwork, drainage and pour, delivered by the contractor who dug the hole, on ground where granite comes up hard and the site rarely runs level.
A retaining wall is a structure that holds back ground, water and the load sitting on top of it, so a site can carry two levels where the land offers one. A reinforced concrete wall does that with steel cast inside the concrete, which lets it resist the bending force retained earth applies across its full height.
You need one where a plot is cut into a slope, where a car park or a building sits above the level you are working at, or where a garden is won out of a bank. Once there is a load behind it, a wall stops being landscaping and becomes structure.
Single and double sided walls poured in traditional timber shutters, with two layers of reinforcing mesh and capping bars. St Ives ran to 45 linear metres of 250mm reinforced concrete in self consistency grade, pumped by SprayRend Concrete Pumping, as part of our concrete services.
Where the site falls the footing steps with it, so every run of wall bears level. At St Ives it was two metres wide, stepped to follow the fall.
Shutters set to line and level, cut and made on site where the geometry demands it. On St Ives every shutter was handmade to fit its own step.
Steps and sloping stair walls cast in place as part of the structure, including one the architect redesigned part way through the St Ives job.
Land drains behind the wall, and attenuation where water must be held before release. Three attenuation tanks went in at St Ives, taking roof and car park water. See our drainage solutions.
Digging to firm bearing, breaking out rock and backfilling in layers, as part of the wider groundworks sequence. Blue Elvan came up at base level at St Ives and was packed out.
The work we carry out, on architects' and engineers' drawings.
The ground stays where the drawing says it willA wall built for the retained height, the surcharge above it and the water behind it holds its line through Cornish winters.
The water gets somewhere to goLand drains and attenuation take pressure off the structure. Water, not soil, is what most often overloads a wall.
You gain a level you can build onA car park, a drive or a building platform brought to the level on the drawing, with steps cast in where needed.
One contractor carries the sequenceExcavation, foundation, steel, formwork, pour, drainage and backfill run as one programme, so nothing waits on a handover.
Approved Document A of the Building Regulations requires a structure to sustain and transmit its loads safely to the ground, and BS 8002, the code of practice for earth retaining structures, sets out how retained soil, groundwater and surcharge behind a wall are accounted for. Reinforced concrete design sits under Eurocode 2, BS EN 1992, and the foundation under BS 8004. We do not produce those calculations. We build to them, and to the engineer who does.
Matt has 23 years in construction and has delivered structural work under an external structural engineer's direction. Cornwall Civils & Construction holds £5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres. Specialists come in by name from a network built over 15 years.
Matt Richards owns and runs Cornwall Civils & Construction from Newlyn. A mason by trade with 23 years in construction, he worked up through working foreman and site manager on groundworks and demolition before founding the company. He led the St Ives retaining wall as director and machine operator, assisted on Jubilee Pool in Penzance, and carried out a cliffside restoration on 65 piles.
The same setting out goes into a wall holding up a garden.
On a stepped site you cannot pull shutters off a rack. We made every one by hand to fit its step, and the wall was set out to the drawing before concrete was ordered.Matt Richards, director
23 years in construction, mason by trade
Director led, on the machine
Builds to architects' and structural engineers' drawings
Structural work delivered under external engineering direction
St Ives is the fullest example: 45 linear metres poured against handmade shutters, with the excavated material kept on site and moved back inside the wall to give a level plane to dig from, delivered through the run in to winter. A cliffside restoration carried 65 piles, ground beams, columns and a soffit slab with integrated drainage.
We do not publish rates, because a retaining wall is priced on the site in front of it. You get a written quote before any work starts, setting out:
If the ground or the design changes on site, the change is priced in writing before it goes ahead.
Our reviews are public, and they include the practices that write the drawings we build to, David Holt Architecture among them.
Based on 5 Google reviews
Great company to work with. Professional, reliable and well organised from start to finish. Communication is always clear, sites are well run & the team are a pleasure to deal with. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them and look forward to working together again!
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils have been working on a complex external works package for our project in St Ives. Their works have included an extensive concrete retaining wall, in-situ concrete stairs and an in-ground modular drainage system.
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils handled a tricky concrete shuttering, steel work, and pour for us on an emergency job. They stepped in at very short notice and worked through nights and weekends to get it done. The quality of their work was excellent, and their commitment was outstanding.
Read more on GoogleI recently had the pleasure of working with Matry at Cornwall Civils and Construction, and I couldn’t be more impressed with the service provided.
Read more on GoogleOne further five-star rating was left on Google without a written review.
Send the drawings, the postcode and the levels you are working to, and Matt will come and look at the site.
Call Matt Richards on 07958 102538 · Get a free quote online
14 The Strand, Newlyn, Penzance, TR18 5HN
Phone: 07958 102538
Email: info@cornwallcivilsandconstruction.co.uk
Hours: Mon to Fri 07:00 to 17:00 · Sat 08:00 to 12:00
Sunday: emergency call out only
Last updated: 22 September 2026
