Bespoke Block Paving Driveways Across Gloucester

What is a block paving driveway?

A block paving driveway is a surface built from individual interlocking concrete blocks, bedded on sand over a compacted stone base and held in place by solid edges. Nothing is glued down. The strength comes from the way the blocks lock against each other and from what sits underneath them, which is why the groundwork matters more than the block you pick.

LayPave installs block paving driveways across Gloucester, Cheltenham and the wider Gloucestershire area. Choose from a huge range of block colours, sizes and laying patterns to suit a traditional or contemporary home. Every drive is built the right way, with full excavation, an MOT Type 1 sub-base, a geotextile membrane, sharp sand bedding, solid edge restraints and kiln-dried jointing sand, so it stays level and interlocked for decades.

As with all our work there is no upfront payment. You pay only when the job is finished and you are happy with it.

What’s included

• Full excavation of the old surface and removal of the spoil
• A geotextile membrane to stop the sub-base sinking into soft ground
• MOT Type 1 sub-base laid and compacted in layers, to the depth your ground needs
• Concrete edge restraints (haunched, not just bedded) around every open edge
• A screeded sharp sand bedding layer at a consistent depth
• Blocks cut in cleanly with a block splitter, not chipped in with a hammer
• Kiln-dried jointing sand worked in and the whole drive run over with a plate compactor
• Drainage falls set away from the house, plus channel drainage where the site needs it

How we build it

The dig is the part nobody sees and the part that decides how long the drive lasts. We take out enough ground to get the finished blocks sitting at the right level against your threshold and your kerb, which usually means 200mm to 300mm of excavation for a domestic drive. Anything soft or waterlogged comes out too.

The membrane goes down first, then MOT Type 1 sub-base in compacted layers. Compacting the whole depth in one pass looks the same on day one and settles into ruts by year two, so we build it up properly. Edge restraints are set in concrete before any blocks go down, because a block drive with weak edges spreads sideways and opens up joints.

The bedding layer is screeded sharp sand at a consistent depth. Blocks are laid to a string line in the pattern you have chosen, herringbone for driveways where vehicle loads are highest, stretcher bond or a mixed-size range where you want a softer look. Cuts around manholes and curves are done with a block splitter for a clean face. The drive is then jointed with kiln-dried sand and vibrated with a plate compactor, which beds the blocks and locks the joints, and we top the sand up until the joints stay full.

Where a drive needs to be fully permeable we lay permeable block paving over a clean, open-graded stone base so water drains straight through the joints instead of running to the road. That approach follows the same principles set out in the BS 7533 paving standard we work to, and it usually keeps you clear of planning permission.

Colours, patterns and borders

Block paving is the most flexible surface we lay. You can have charcoal blocks with a buff border, a tumbled block for an older cottage, a large-format modern block for a new build, or a circle feature in the middle of a turning area. Decorative border courses in a contrasting colour are the cheapest way to make a drive look designed rather than just surfaced, and they also give a tidy line to cut into.

If you are weighing block paving up against a smooth resin finish or a plain tarmac drive, our guide comparing block paving, resin and tarmac sets the three side by side on cost, drainage and upkeep.

Looking after it

Block paving is low maintenance rather than no maintenance. Sweep it, keep the joints topped up with kiln-dried sand every few years, and pull weeds out of the joints before they get established. A pressure wash every couple of years is plenty, on a low setting and a wide fan so you do not blast the jointing sand out.

New blocks often develop a white bloom in the first few months. That is efflorescence, salts working out of the concrete as it cures, and modern blocks are made with better efflorescence resistance than they used to be. It fades on its own. Leave it alone.

If an area does dip years down the line, usually where a drain has been dug out or a vehicle has been parked on a soft edge, block paving is the one surface you can lift and relay in a day without it showing. That is exactly the kind of job our driveway repairs and resurfacing team handles, and on a block drive it rarely needs more than a localised lift.