Case Study

Bassett, Southampton, Hampshire

Our client had recently moved in to this property and was undertaking a gradual renovation of this 1930's semi. With it's very long, single car width, concrete front driveway they wanted to improve the kerb appeal of the property and provide additional parking that would allow at least 2 cars to park side by side..

After discussing the various options for paved surfaces we determined that the clients were not fans of block paved drives and would prefer something like gravel, but didn't like the issues that can sometimes come with gravel where it moves around under foot and can spill out onto the road from the driveway.

We were able to suggest a product called gridforce, which is a plastic mesh that is laid on a compacted hardcore base, and is filled with gravel. This mesh holds the gravel on position and prevents the 'rutting effect that gravel has as well as stopping the gravel from moving. Edged with bull nosed kerb-stones, this creates an attractively maintenance driveway, that is permeable to allow rain or storm water to drain away and is very strong and capable of taking heavy loads if required.

Once construction was underway, the we realised that client's front porch was not only unsightly, but was rotten and would spoil the overall look of the project, so we offered to re model the porch as part of the build.

The porch roof was to be retained, so we supported the roof with acro props and removed the rotten walls and floor. These were then replaced with simple 4x4 inch posts & beams concreted into the ground and tied into the wall of the house and porch roof.

The driveway was then laid using charcoal edgings and grey Mendip gravel chipping. Finally the front planting bed was cleared and re-planted with a mixture of low maintenance plants & shrubs.

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