Driveways
Single driveways, where sealed concrete brings a pit at the garage door and a bigger OSD tank.
Sydney and NSW
Permeable Concrete Sydney
Summer storms go straight through Permcon. It's permeable concrete poured as one surface across Sydney driveways and car parks, with no pavers to shift, and a bed of screenings underneath holds whatever the clay can't take.
Prefer to talk? Call 1300 010 499
Permeable concrete Sydney-wide, from our NSW team
You'll notice the stone first. Victorian jobs use 7 mm aggregate and every other state uses 10 mm. Underneath, the mix and its strength don't change, and the slab sits on a base of clean screenings, with geofabric where the site needs it. Regional jobs are covered by the same NSW team, and the New South Wales page has the wider picture.
A paved driveway is hundreds of units on bedding sand, each with an open joint. We pour Permcon on site as one continuous surface, so there are no joints for a fig root to lift along the wheel tracks.
What Sydney councils ask for
Send us your consent conditions first. Every Sydney council sets its own WSUD controls and OSD requirements, and the council next door can ask for something quite different, so we design to your council's controls instead of a template. In a passive design the permeable surface can be treated as pervious, the way grass would be. Depending on those controls and your engineer's numbers, that can shrink the detention tank. Your engineer gets our storage figures in writing.
A Sydney downpour on clay, shale and sand
Permcon takes in water at 8,000 to 10,000 millimetres per hour. Even a severe storm drops far less than that in an hour, which matters on the east coast, where a downpour on a sealed driveway heads for the kerb all at once and sometimes swamps the grate at the garage door on the way. On Permcon the surface stays clear and the base soaks up the peak.
What happens next depends on the ground. Much of the Sydney basin is clay and shale. Closer to the coast it turns to sand, and water goes through the slab and the clean screenings straight into the ground. On clay and shale the screenings hold it while an under-drain lets it out slowly, doing a detention tank's job.
Permeable paving in Sydney, poured as one slab
Pick the colour first: plain grey, charcoal, soapstone or sandstone. Whatever you choose goes down at 25+ MPa as one continuous surface with a P4 slip rating, backed by a 10-year structural warranty (terms apply). Thickness is the part we design. Our standard slab is 125 mm, and car parks that take heavier vehicles get thicker. Homeowners should head to permeable driveways. For bays and delivery trucks there's car parks, and engineers will want the base profiles and loading by thickness on the technical page.
What we pour in NSW
Shared driveways
Common driveways on infill and dual-occupancy blocks: site coverage is tight, and every square metre of hardstand gets argued over.
Car parks
Delivery trucks get a thicker slab down their lanes in commercial and community car parks.
Paths and courts
Council footpaths keep water off the kerb, and sports courts drain through the slab instead of pooling.
Permcon, finished and in use
How a Sydney job runs
From your first call to the pour
01
Send the details
Tell us the address and rough area. If you've got consent conditions or a drainage plan, attach them, and our NSW team calls back.
02
Site visit
Our estimator walks the block, checking levels, access for the agitator truck, the soil and where water runs today.
03
Figures for your engineer
Everything goes on paper: slab thickness, base depth, any under-drain, and the storage figures your engineer needs for council's WSUD and detention controls.
04
Base and pour
First the screenings are laid and compacted, then the Permcon goes on top.
05
Handover
Once the slab has cured we give you the drive-on date and warranty in writing. From then on, check for leaves each month and sweep once a year.
What Sydney callers ask
Will my council accept permeable concrete?+
That's decided by your council's own controls, which is why the council section above asks for your consent conditions. Once we've checked them on site, the base is sized to suit and the council's engineer gets our figures in writing. For anyone modelling in MUSIC, Permcon is MUSIC certified; ask us for the parameters.
Does it work on clay?+
Yes, and the clay section above explains how. What's left to settle is depth. A car park base can store up to 56 litres per square metre at 85% design capacity, so the clay never takes a storm all at once, and we pick your depth after seeing the site.
Is it slippery in the wet?+
A wet Permcon driveway has no sheet of water sitting on it, because the rain has already gone down through the voids. That open texture also gives shoes and tyres something to grip. The slab section above has the rating.
How soon can you come out?+
Ring 1300 010 499 or use the form with the address and rough area, and our NSW team will call to book a visit around you and your builder. On a bigger build, tell us the date the pour has to happen and we'll plan backwards from it.
Bring us the site and the consent conditions
Anywhere in Sydney or regional NSW, we check the ground and fall against council's conditions and quote with slab and base written down. No conditions yet? An address will do to start.
Check your site first
Check if permeable concrete suits your site
A few quick questions about your site. You get a straight answer about whether permeable concrete is the right call, including when it isn't, before anyone asks for your details.
Site check · 1 of 5
What are you surfacing?
Enquire now
Tell us about your project
Tell us where the site is and what you're planning. An estimator from your state team will call you back, look at the site with you and give you a real figure, from a single driveway to a council car park.
📞Call us1300 010 499✉️Email us[email protected]
📍Head officeFactory 7, 25-39 Cook Road, Mitcham VIC 3132