In U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,622 to Mercer, fill is disclosed as being retained in a geotechnical structure. A plastic material mesh, which has spaced, longitudinal, oriented strands, is used to form a retainer construction for retaining fill, such as sand. Triangular compartments are formed by a number of parallel elongate portions of the mesh which are interconnected by zig-zag portions. Each zig-zag portion is contained between two respective elongate portions and is joined to an adjacent zig-zag portion at respective corners of the formed compartments. The connections are made by transversely bending strands of one portion to form loops which project out of the opposite side of the other portion, and passing a connecting member through the loops to prevent the loops from being pulled back.
The geotechnical structure of the Mercer patent includes a retainer construction which need not be closed on all sides and need not have a bottom or top closure. When making up the container construction, a backing of textile material may be secured against the inner side of outer faces of the geotechnical structure, depending upon the location of the structure and in fill material to be used.