Warrandyte Permeable Driveway

What used to pool now disappears

Rain that would have sat in puddles on a sealed driveway now passes straight through this Warrandyte block's new surface, at 8,000 to 10,000 mm/hr, into a base built to store it and let it soak into the ground it fell on. The block carries established gardens and trees close to the drive, and the water reaching those roots was as much a part of the design brief as the drive itself.

The job paired a new concrete driveway with paths wrapping around the house, poured in the same Permcon mix so the run from street to front door reads as one considered surface, not a series of separate slabs. Warrandyte is leafy and semi-rural, and driveways here work best sitting against the gardens and bush rather than fighting them. Every block carries its own mix of slope, soil and existing planting, and this one had trees near the drive whose roots couldn't be sealed over, which meant driveway and paths were planned together from the start.

The standard slab is 125 mm of Permcon over a base of clean screenings, and here it runs into the paths without joins or mismatched levels: one continuous surface, nothing to rock or sink between drive and path. No pooling after rain, a P4 slip rating underfoot, and less runoff leaving the block altogether, which helps meet the council's permeable area condition where a driveway like this counts toward pervious area.

Keeping it working

• A look each month is most of the job.
• Garden soil and leaves need keeping off the slab, more so here than on a bare block.
• A sweep once a year clears what the month misses.
• A blower through after the autumn leaf drop keeps the voids open.

Treating the drive and the paths as one job, not two, is what made this one work. See our permeable concrete driveways page for the build from base to finish, and get in touch if you're planning something similar around Warrandyte. Slope, soil and access change the answer every time.