Driveways Kent | Block Paving Installers

Built for the weight that goes on it

Driveway construction is not patio construction with thicker blocks. We excavate deeper, lay and compact a heavier sub-base in layers rather than in one lift, and use a laying course and paving rated for vehicle traffic. Where an access is used by delivery vehicles or the ground is poor, the build-up goes deeper again.

Edge restraints are the part people skip. Without a haunched kerb or edging course concreted along every free edge, block paving migrates outwards under braking and steering loads until the joints open and the pattern loses its lines. Every edge on our driveways is restrained.

Surface water and the rules that apply to front gardens

Since 2008, paving over five square metres of front garden in a non-permeable material that drains onto the public highway requires planning permission. Building in permeable paving, or draining to a soakaway or a border within your own boundary, keeps the job as permitted development.

We build either way. Permeable block paving with a clean, open-graded sub-base lets water through the surface and into the ground. The alternative is a conventional build with falls run to a channel drain, a soakaway or a planted border. Both work; which is right depends on your ground, your levels and your frontage.

Finishing the frontage in brick

A driveway rarely stands alone. Entrance piers, a low boundary wall, a retaining wall where the ground falls away, and brick edging or a soldier course around the perimeter are what make a driveway look designed rather than just surfaced.

Because brickwork is our first trade rather than a bolt-on, the piers and walls are built to the same standard as the paving — proper footings, matched brick, and coping details that shed water instead of soaking it up.

What this covers

Deeper sub-base built for vehicle loading
Haunched edge restraints on every edge
Permeable and drained surface options
Brick entrance piers, walls and edging

Where we do this work

We carry out driveways & block paving throughout Kent — Maidstone, Staplehurst, Marden, Paddock Wood, Cranbrook, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Ashford, Canterbury and Dartford — and travel into Essex, London and Surrey. See the full list of areas we cover, or send us a postcode and we will confirm.

Common questions

Driveways & Block Paving — your questions answered

Do I need planning permission for a new driveway?

If you are paving more than five square metres of front garden and the surface is not permeable and drains onto the road, then yes. Using permeable paving, or directing water to a soakaway or border inside your own boundary, normally keeps it within permitted development. Your local planning department can confirm for your property.

What driveway surfaces do you install?

Block paving in its various formats, natural stone and porcelain setts, and gravel or shingle over a properly constructed base with edge restraints. We also build the brick piers, walls and edging that go with them.

Can you drop the kerb for a new access?

A dropped kerb onto a public highway is licensed work that has to be applied for through the local highways authority — Kent County Council for most of our area — and carried out by an approved contractor. That application is made by you as the property owner, and we work in with whatever access is agreed.

How do you stop weeds coming through block paving?

Mostly by building it properly: a clean, well-compacted base, tight joints and correctly kiln-dried sand jointing. Weeds in block paving almost always germinate in windblown detritus sitting in open joints rather than growing up from below, so keeping the joints full and the surface swept is what actually keeps them down.

Recent work