Driveways, Patios & Brickwork in Gravesend & Gravesham

Building in Gravesham: what to know

Typical work here includes off-road parking for town houses where on-street parking is tight, garden patios and walls for village homes, and tidy, low-maintenance front gardens. We're just over the border from Medway, so site visits are quick to arrange.

• Chalk, sands and Thames-side clay

  Northfleet and much of Gravesend sit on chalk — the area has a long history of chalk quarrying and cement making — with Thanet Sand and patches of clay above it. Towards the river the ground becomes estuary alluvium, which is soft and holds water. Chalk drains well but can hide solution features and soft spots, so we check the formation carefully after digging out. Nearer the Thames we allow for a stronger sub-base and positive drainage.

• Lawful development certificates before a dropped kerb

  Gravesham Borough Council asks residents to obtain a Lawful Development Certificate (or planning permission, where needed) before applying to Kent County Council — the highways authority — for a dropped kerb. It's worth starting that paperwork early, as the driveway and crossing need to be agreed together.

• Green Belt villages

  Most of rural Gravesham lies in the Metropolitan Green Belt, and parts of the south fall within the Kent Downs National Landscape. Garden patios and driveways within normal permitted development are rarely an issue, but larger outbuildings and extensions are looked at more closely here than in the towns.

• Historic Gravesend and Cobham

  Gravesend's riverside town centre and villages such as Cobham, Shorne and Meopham Green have conservation areas. On older town terraces with shallow front gardens, careful design keeps a driveway looking neat rather than dominating the frontage.