Case Studies

Dante's View

A Wall at the Top

The VERSA-LOK Mosaic retaining wall system helped achieve site stabilization, erosion control and improved visitor access and safety at a popular vista in Death Valley National Park.

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Oregon Hill House

Hardscapes Help Create Stunning Hillside Home

This hillside home in Oregon won First Place in the Residential Retaining Walls category from Hardscape North America (HNA) in 2023.

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Merriam Village Retail Center

Landmark: "Great" Wall of Merriam

When Swedish home furnishings icon IKEA sought to build new Midwestern store, a shopping center landscape created with 120,000 square feet of VERSA-LOK® retaining walls in Merriam, Kansas, was in its sights.

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First Street Station

VERSA-LOK Solves Two Problems with One Wall

A converted warehouse on a National Scenic Riverway required on-site parking and to control stormwater runoff. VERSA-LOK retaining walls and rain gardens provided the solution.

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Walls Enhance Small Space

VERSA-LOK walls define outdoor living spaces

A family in Maple Grove, MN, wanted to transform their sloping backyard into a more usable outdoor space but were unsure how to approach the project themselves.

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Luck Golf Course

Luck Be a Raised Patio

Like other businesses that rely on people gathering, the Municipal Golf Course in Luck, WI, was having a bit of bad luck when the COVID-19 pandemic closed all but essential businesses. This stunning project received First Place at the 2023 HNA Show in the Commercial Retaining Walls 4,000 Sq. Ft. and above category.

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Saint Croix Railroad

Railroad Club’s Ties with VERSA-LOK Go Way Back

“The runs were finished in 1994, but there are still areas where we plan to replace old railroad timbers with VERSA-LOK," said Tim Kirby, president of St. Croix Railroad. "We’ve found that VERSA-LOK is great for do-it-yourselfers,"

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Taming Billy Goat Hill

VERSA-LOK Walls and Steps Create Usable Backyard Out of Unusable Slope

VERSA-LOK segmental retaining walls provided a solid solution for a residence with a steep, unusable slope in the back yard.

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Leaky Condo Garage Remedied

Leaking Underground Garage Remedied with VERSA-LOK SRWs

When water started seeping into an underground parking garage below a four-story condominium building in St. Paul, Minn., the property managers knew that the only solution was to re-waterproof the exterior block of the garage.

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Pedestrian Underpass

Tiered VERSA-LOK Segmental Retaining Walls Enhance Pedestrian Underpass

Eau Claire, a town of 66,500 in west central Wisconsin, often ranks high on quality of life lists. In 2013, the Wall Street Journal’s Money Watch designated the city as one of the best places to retire in the United States. City planners and citizens have ensured that pedestrians and bicycles will have a place in the city’s future with projects like the Hastings Way pedestrian underpass. City planners chose the VERSA-LOK Mosaic retaining wall system to create an inviting and attractive entryway to the underpass.

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UW-Stout Campus Hardscapes

UW-Stout’s In-House Landscaping Department Does It All With VERSA-LOK

Sometimes, if you want the job done right, you just have to do it yourself. That’s what Mike Smith decided when he arrived at University of Wisconsin-Stout four years ago to take over as campus grounds supervisor. Since that time, he’s transformed his realm from a maintenance department that contracted out most of its landscaping work into a full-service landscaping department that does everything from plantings to engineered VERSA-LOK retaining walls.

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UW-River Falls Amphitheatre

VERSA-LOK Rehabilitates Outdoor Amphitheatre

A popular outdoor amphitheatre on a University of Wisconsin campus got a new lease on life when crumbling limestone seating tiers were replaced with VERSA-LOK seat walls and integrated stairs.

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Kansas School District

School District Saves Time & Money Using VERSA-LOK for Stadium Bleachers

A school district saved tens of thousands of dollars and months of construction time by using VERSA-LOK retaining walls to build stadium bleachers.

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Lake Erie Cliff

VERSA-LOK Provides a Solid Solution for Lake Erie Cliff Erosion Problems

VERSA-LOK retaining walls have been called upon to solve a lot of erosion problems. But few have been so complex or unique as keeping a towering cliff from crumbling into Lake Erie outside of Cleveland.

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Seven Bridges community

VERSA-LOK Bridge Wins NCMA Award of Excellence

A master planned community near Kansas City named Seven Bridges wanted to showcase its gateway bridge with something extraordinary, so they built the arched vehicle and pedestrian bridge out of VERSA-LOK retaining wall units. The design was so successful it won the National Concrete Masonry Association’s 2008 “Award of Excellence.”

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Virginia Military Institute

VERSA-LOK Used to Convert Valley to Drill Field Complex

When the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) wanted to convert an unusable valley to a drill field and shooting range complex, it turned to VERSA-LOK retaining walls.

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Wilton Tall Wall

Natural Stone Look of Mosaic Retaining Wall Preserves Historic Look

When the Town of Wilton, Maine, wanted to reclaim some land along a scenic stream to build a parking lot, it wanted the facility to blend in with its surroundings. Adding to that challenge was a massive retaining wall behind the parking lot that would tower more than 20 feet tall and span nearly 175 feet from end to end.

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Sedgwick County Zoo

Serpentine Mosaic Retaining Wall Brings Form and Function to Zoo

A serpentine Weathered Mosaic wall 112 feet in length helped define an outdoor classroom space at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas.

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Skyline Medical

VERSA-LOK Versatility Showcased in Medical Center Courtyard

When Tri-Star Health System gave its 35-year-old Skyline Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, a facelift, the renovation included adding a sunken, open-air courtyard to serve as a combination dining-waiting area for visitors and patients.

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El Dorado Hills

VERSA-LOK Rescues Development Project with Cost-Effective Retaining Wall

A proposed commercial development project in northern California was about to go by the wayside due to serious cost overruns on a cast-in-place retaining wall. But substituting a VERSA-LOK segmental retaining wall put the project back on track and saved the developer nearly $1 million.

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Providence Academy

Economical Square Foot Retaining Wall Maximizes Space For School

Providence Academy, a private school in Plymouth, MN, needed to accommodate a loading dock on the lowest level of the school in the rear of the building.

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Ward Parkway

Mall’s Renovation Creates Retaining Wall Opportunities

Kansas City’s Ward Parkway Shopping Center underwent a major renovation that transformed the indoor mall into an open-entry mall.

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Briarcliff Hilltop

Award-Winning VERSA-LOK Walls Help Fill Kansas City Office, Retail Space

Award-winning landscaping featuring VERSA-LOK is one reason Kansas City’s Briarcliff master-planned community boasts an occupancy rate of over 90 percent.

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Mill Ruins

Weathered Standard Retaining Wall Complements Renovated Historic Site

Minneapolis’ Mill Ruins Park is on the National Register of Historic Places and preserves what remains of the city’s Mississippi Riverfront past of flour and lumber mills.

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Lebanon Valley College

VERSA-LOK Helps Transform a Field of Corn into a Field of Dreams

What began as a cornfield with a 20-foot grade change today is an award-winning baseball field on the Lebanon Valley (PA) College campus, thanks in large part to the capabilities of VERSA-LOK.

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Schenley Gardens

Tiered Gardens Integrate Senior Community into Hillside

Schenley Gardens, a senior living community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is built into a hillside. The dramatic 200-foot elevation change of the property presented an extreme landscaping challenge to the developer.

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Atlanta Townhomes

VERSA-LOK Retaining Walls Convert Atlanta Hillside to Upscale Townhome Development

When Southeast Capital Partners, Inc. contracted ECM Modular Walls of Atlanta to build a series of retaining walls that would transform a tree-filled hillside into the 53-unit Brickstone Heights townhome development, they knew there was only one system for the job.

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Zumbro River Shoreline

VERSA-LOK Retaining Wall Halts Riverway Erosion, Saves City $60,000

A VERSA-LOK retaining wall saved the city of Rochester, MN, $60,000 in a flood-control project and helped preserve a portion of a golf course that was eroding into the Zumbro River.

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Ohio Freeway

VERSA-LOK Transforms Ohio Freeway From 'Gray Wind Tunnel of Concrete'

“Highways are an inescapable part of modern life,” says Jack Marchbanks of the Ohio Department of Transportation, “but they do not need to be gray wind tunnels of concrete that carry joyless commuters to their destinations.”

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Gatlinburg Tall Wall

VERSA-LOK Retaining Wall Holds Up Tennessee Mountain

You don’t find too many private residences with a 38-foot-tall, 6,000-square-foot retaining wall. Then again, you don’t find many private residences with their own personal freeway-size bridge as a driveway either.

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