Block paving driveways in Leeds and across Yorkshire

Who it suits

Block paving is made for a drive that works hard: two cars, a van at the weekend, the bins wheeled out every week. The blocks lock together as they’re compacted, so the load spreads down into the base rather than pressing on one spot.

It’s also the surface to choose if you want a pattern, or a border that picks up the brick of the house. And if there are pipes or cables under the drive that may need getting at one day, blocks can be lifted and the same ones laid back, so the repair doesn’t show.

If your drive has dips where the cars park, blocks that rock underfoot or puddles that sit for days, the base has usually given way. New blocks on a tired base go the same way, so we start underneath.

What’s included, from dig-out to finish

Our own employed team does the whole job, from the first dig to the final sweep. A block paved drive from us includes:

• digging out the old drive and the ground beneath it to at least 200mm, and taking the waste away
• any drainage the drive needs, such as a channel drain where it falls towards the house or garage
• a new sub-base of MOT Type 1, laid and compacted in layers, or MOT Type 3 where the water needs to drain down through
• an edge to hold the blocks in, often in a contrasting colour, because blocks without a firm edge creep outwards over time
• a bed of sharp sand, screeded level with the falls built in
• laying the blocks in the pattern you choose, with cuts around the edges, manholes and drains
• compacting the finished surface and brushing kiln-dried sand into the joints, so every block is locked in place
• walking round the finished drive with you

Materials and brands

Most block paving is concrete, made in a wide range of colours, mixes and sizes. Clay pavers are fired like bricks, so their colour runs all the way through.

The pattern matters as much as the colour. Herringbone is the strongest for a drive, and you’ll see it on many of the drives in our projects, often framed with a charcoal border. Blends such as brindle and autumn mix several shades in the same pack, which keeps a large drive from looking flat.

Most of the drives we lay are Plasmor Plaspave, in 50mm and 60mm blocks and occasionally 80mm. If you have a particular block in mind, we can source that instead.

Drainage and planning

Standard concrete blocks don’t let much water through, so a block paved drive is laid with a fall that carries the rain to a drain, a channel or a border. Getting the falls right is part of the groundwork, not something left to the last row of blocks.

For a front garden in England, paving more than five square metres with a surface water can’t drain through needs planning permission, unless the rain runs off onto a lawn or border. Permeable block paving, with wider joints over a free-draining base, needs no permission, and it’s something we lay. The Planning Portal’s guide has the detail.

If the drive needs a new or wider dropped kerb, we make the application to the council for you. Unless the council has its own approved contractor for it, we build the crossing too. Our town pages set out the local rules.

Time on site

Most drives take us 3 to 5 days, and the groundwork is the biggest part of that. A herringbone drive with curves and a double border means more cutting than a straight run, so the design plays a part too. Your written quote gives the start date we’ve agreed with you.

The guarantee

15 year structural guarantee on driveways.