Permeable concrete in Victoria

Made in Mitcham, poured across Victoria

Victoria is home. Our factory sits at Mitcham in Melbourne's east, and that's where the Permcon mix is designed and manufactured before it goes on a truck. Short haul, tight control over the paste dose, and crews who pour this material every week. On Victorian jobs we can usually get someone on site to look at levels, fall and soil before anyone talks square metres.

Melbourne soils change block to block. Reactive clay through the eastern suburbs and the heavy basalt soils west of the city drain slowly, so much of the design work sits under the slab rather than in it. On tight clay we size the open-graded base as a storage layer and meter the outflow, instead of pretending water will simply soak away.

BlueFactor, Clause 53.18 and permeability limits

Victorian planning schemes ask new development to meet best practice stormwater standards under Clause 53.18, and councils want that demonstrated with a score. STORM was retired in late 2025 and BlueFactor now does that job for small residential sites up to about a hectare, with MUSIC still used for larger or more complex proposals. Permeable paving counts as a treatment measure in those assessments, which is why it turns up on so many townhouse and single-dwelling applications.

Site coverage is the other lever. Plenty of Victorian councils cap impervious area or set a minimum permeable area per lot. A permeable surface can bring a site back inside the cap without shrinking the build or burying a detention tank in the front yard.

Common Victorian applications

• Residential driveways on infill and knock-down-rebuild blocks where the drainage plan is already under pressure.
• Car parks for schools, childcare and small commercial sites carrying WSUD conditions.
• Tree protection zones where a council arborist has asked for a mature tree to be retained.

Send us the drainage plan, the soil report if you have one, and a rough area. We'll tell you what we'd pour, what base it needs and whether permeable is the right call for that site. Talk to the Mitcham team and you'll get a straight answer, including when the answer is no.