8ob
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- Nescient in the vale
I did think about gabions, but you're right, they're not cheap, and they're also stupidly large. I'm not sure how thick this wall needs to be but I reckon maybe a foot at the most? The existing retaining wall is made of a single skin of bricks and is well over 50 years old. it's held up so far but it is bowing out.
I would revisit the gabion idea if I were you, no concrete needed, drive scaffold tubes through the first layer every meter, carefully filling them with brick rubble and only using the expensive decorative stone fill on the visible face will save a lot of money, I have also seen them filled with broken paving slabs which looks surprisingly good . Job done and a lot less prison like on the eye, if you pack plenty of soil in with the basket fill as you go things like phlox https://www.google.com/search?q=phlox&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b will happily grow in them giving you a living wall.
Fine mesh metals are the best place for a quality gabion , about a 5/10 days for delivery though so you need to plan ahead. https://www.gabionbaskets.co.uk/gabion/gabion-design-and-prices.
Bob