The retained soil itself is the structure. Steel reinforcement, deadman anchors and precast facing turn the fill into a single composite block.
The principle
Fill + Reinforcement + Facing = One Composite Mass.
Gravity walls fight earth with concrete weight. MSE walls recruit the soil itself. Steel stitches it. Precast holds the face. The whole wall acts as one block, lighter, taller, faster, cheaper.
AnchorSOL® is the anchored variant. Pullout resistance lives at a discrete deadman block, not along the full strip. See the difference →
01 · Precast facing in factory02 · Steel soil reinforcement03 · Deadman anchor block04 · Composite mass in service
1960sMSE patented (Henri Vidal, France). Now the global standard for highway, bridge, hill walls.
3 to 30 mPractical wall-height range. Above 3 m, MSE typically beats RC on cost. The taller it goes, the wider the gap.
≥ 100 yrDesign life with hot-dip galvanised reinforcement and Grade 30 MPa precast facing.
The SystemAnchored Soil · Made in Malaysia
Four parts. One wall.
It's anchored soil, not reinforced. Pullout resistance lives at a discrete deadman block. That's why it runs on crusher run, not premium granular fill.
01
Discrete Concrete Facing Panel
Inverted-T or octagonal precast, Grade 30 MPa, factory-cast, no on-site formwork. Architectural finishes, custom textures, custom logo cast directly into the panel.
GRADE 30 MPa
02
High-Tensile Soil Reinforcement
Carbon-steel deformed bar, hot-dip galvanised, inextensible. Grade 8.8 nuts on tendon connection.
HOT-DIP GALVANISED
03
Reinforced Granular Fill
Crusher run or local cohesionless granular fill, well-graded, ≥34° internal friction angle. Hand-compacted or mini-compactor only, no heavy vibration on site.
≥34° FRICTION
04
Deadman Anchor Block
Discrete Grade 30 precast block at the tendon end. The pullout resistance lives here.
ANCHORED SINCE 1999
ApplicationsSix segments, six constraints
You bring the constraint. We bring the wall.
Six segments. Each pairs a real-world brief with the engineering AnchorSOL answers it with.
Long-run linear retention at scale?
Highway Embankments
Expressways, federal & state roads. Up to 30 m height. Side-hill cuts, abutments, ramp walls.
ExpresswaysFederal roadsUp to 30 m
Structural transition at the deck?
Bridge Abutments
Inverted-T precast with integral ground beam. Tight tolerance at the bearing line, no formwork around the bridge.
Inverted-TGrade 30 MPaGalvanised tendon
Sloped hillside, no flat ground?
Hill Stabilisation
Cut once, retain, build on top. Templer Hills, Cheras, Kajang. Platform creation on sloped terrain.
Platform creationSteppedSoft ground OK
Building next to water?
Submerged & Marine
Tide-line retention, riverbank, drainage and culvert headwalls. Galvanised tendon survives the wet.
Tide-lineRiverbankHot-dip galvanised
Cyclic + seismic loads to design for?
Under-Railway & Heavy Civils
Composite mass yields elastically and recovers. Used under national rail corridors and cross-border infrastructure roads.
Rail corridorsCyclic loadSeismic capable
Architect needs a finish?
Architectural & Custom
Custom textures, custom logos cast directly into the panel. Curved, fully circular, terraced. Any alignment.
Custom logo castCurvedAny geometry
Different constraint?
Probably still possible. 500+ briefs delivered since 1999.
Send your brief →
Why AnchorSOLMSE vs RC Wall
Not just reinforced. Anchored.
Conventional MSE relies on friction along the full reinforcement length. AnchorSOL goes further, terminating the tendon at a discrete deadman block that locks the pullout resistance in place.
AnchorSOL® · Anchored MSE
What we build
Mechanism Soil + steel composite mass, anchored at a discrete deadman anchor block.Anchored
Construction Modular precast, factory-built panels. No on-site formwork, no wet work, no curing wait.Modular
Site vibration None from wall erection. Hand compactor or mini-compactor only, behind the panels.No vibration
Build crew 3–4 person team. Linear progress, days not months.3–4 pax
Backfill Crusher run or local cohesionless granular fill, ≥34° friction angle.Local fill
Seismic performance Composite soil mass yields elastically, then recovers. Behaves well through earthquake events.Yields, recovers
Cost @ ≥5 m Up to 50% cheaper than RC. The gap widens with every metre of height.Cheaper
Conventional RC Retaining Wall
What you'd otherwise build
Mechanism Concrete-gravity mass. The wall fights earth pressure with sheer weight.Gravity
Construction Cast-in-situ. Full formwork, rebar fixing, multi-week curing on site.On-site
Site vibration Heavy vibrating plant required for concrete compaction. Disruptive on built-up sites.High
Build crew 12–20 person crew plus formwork carpentry and concrete plant.Large
Backfill Conventional fill behind the wall, but the wall itself does all the work.N/A
Seismic performance Rigid concrete cracks under cyclic load. Repair-on-failure rather than yield-and-recover.Cracks
Cost @ ≥5 m Cost grows steeply with height. Practical limit before it becomes uneconomic.Steep
Ready to compare for your project?
Send your site brief. We'll come back with a head-to-head cost estimate vs RC, plus a programme.
Get the head-to-head →
Modular. Lean. Mobile.Speed · Site · Scale
Faster on site. Smaller crew. Cheaper as it goes higher.
Factory-precast. Mobilised lean. Erected in days. The cost advantage widens with every metre.
3-4
Person crew, not 20
Three to four people erect the wall. Less site coordination, lower labour cost, fewer pairs of boots on a sensitive site.
0
Formwork on site
Panels precast off-site. Trucks roll in, panels go up. No carpenters, no plywood, no rebar cages.
DAYS
To erect, not months
Linear progress, no curing wait, weather-tolerant. Hand the site back to follow-on trades early and free up your programme float.
ANY
Terrain, no exceptions
Hill, road, river, perimeter, marine, rail. Curved or straight. Modular flex by design, no special tooling per project.
The lean process
Factory cast. Truck delivered. Erected by hand.
Factory cast
Inverted-T or octagonal facing panels poured in a controlled plant, Grade 30 MPa, no on-site curing, architectural finishes available.
Lean mobilised
Panels and tendons road-freighted just-in-time. No staging yard. Smaller working aisle than RC. Less site disruption.
Erected, no vibration
3–4 person crew. Each layer placed, tendon attached, deadman anchor block buried. Crusher-run backfill compacted by hand or mini-compactor, no heavy vibration plant on site.
Comparison
Vs. every other retaining-wall system on the market.
Tap a row to see the trade-offs.
RC Retaining WallUp to 50% costlier above 5 m
Heavy on-site formwork + multi-week curing
Large crew, large plant, large footprint
Cost grows exponentially with height past 3 m
Months on the build programme
AnchorSOL is up to 50% cheaper above 5 m, 4× faster.
Gabion WallCapped at ~5 m, creeps over time
Practical limit ~5 m height
Long-term creep + cage corrosion
Aesthetic compromise (loose stone visible)
Low-engineering, hard to verify performance
AnchorSOL has no height ceiling, architectural finishes, decades of service.
Sheet PileLoud, vibration-heavy, corrodes
Vibration during driving, neighbour-impacting
Limited above-ground retention
Specialised plant + crew + barge work
Steel exposure / corrosion over decades
AnchorSOL erects with no vibration, full above-ground, broad applicability.
Also in our toolkit
We also build crib walls when a project's geometry or aesthetic demands them. Less popular than MSE today, but still in the catalogue.
Desa Park City · circular hilltop containment wall · Grade 30 precast facing · galvanised tendon, deadman anchor block terminated · Kuala Lumpur.
Desa Park CityModular precastDeadman anchor block
About AnchorSOLSince 1999
Built by the engineers who built the system.
Founded 1999 by Dr. Ir. Lai Yip Poon. Same team designs, manufactures and installs every wall, end-to-end.
Founder · Chief Designer · MD
Dr. Ir. Lai Yip Poon
The engineer behind the AnchorSOL® Wall System and the Anchored Soil concept. Specialist in slope stability, earth retention, and ground improvement.
Ir. (BEM)Ph.D., AIT 2007M.Eng., USM 1997B.Eng., UTM 1990
01
Impact by Cost
Up to 50% cheaper than RC at heights ≥5 m. Crusher-run local fill. The cost curve flattens as the wall goes higher.
02
Innovate by Design
Anchored Soil transfers pullout to a discrete deadman block. Architectural finishes, any alignment. Engineering certainty without the gravity-wall mass.
03
Prompt by Delivery
Days, not months. 3-4 person crew. No curing wait, zero heavy vibration. Engineered to retain earth, schedule, scope.
Across these applications, anchored MSE is not an alternative. It's imperative.
