Bassendean paving by arrangement, about 13 km from Landsdale
Bassendean is about 13 km in a straight line from IBP Paving in Landsdale, which puts it just past our regular run. We take work here by arrangement: send us the job details, measurements if you have them and a few photos, and we book a visit once we know what the site needs. The work itself is the same as anywhere we go, clay brick and stone paving, driveway rebuilds, courtyards and drainage, backed by over 20 years of experience and a lifetime workmanship warranty.
A thin sand layer over Guildford clay
The suburb shares its name with the Bassendean Dune System, yet the ground under many Bassendean homes is not deep dune sand. It is typically a thin veneer of Bassendean sand lying over Guildford Formation sandy clay, close to the Swan River flats. That matters twice. For paving, the clay beneath can stay wet and soft, so we dig past the sand where needed and build a thicker compacted limestone base to carry the load. For drainage, a soakwell that bottoms out in clay empties slowly. Hays Swamp sits on the edge of the old townsite, the river flooded the area in 1929, and on the flats the water table is usually shallow, so we test before we size. Where a soakwell alone will not cope, we add surface drains and pipework to spread the water across more than one unit.
Heritage areas and what they say about paving
In parts of Bassendean, a local planning policy speaks directly to paving in the front yard.
The Town names five heritage areas: Old Perth Road, Devon Road, Kenny Street, Earlsferry and Nurstead Avenue. All development inside them needs approval. In Kenny Street and Devon Road expanses of paving are to be avoided, and in Earlsferry internal driveways must be brick paved or patterned to complement the colour of the main dwelling.
Source: Town of Bassendean, Local Planning Policy No. 4 Heritage and Character.
On those streets we lean toward narrow wheel strips, garden paths and rear courtyards rather than wall to wall hardstand at the front, and we match paver colour to the brick of the house. Old Perth Road, once part of Guildford Road before the 1970s, has a red brick footpath, and the Town's crossover specification says a crossover that cuts across a footpath must match it, so a new crossover there is laid in red brick.
Crossovers and stormwater under the Town's rules
Outside the heritage areas the Town's engineering rules still apply to every lot. Its stormwater policy expects water to be contained on site unless geotechnical, permeability and site classification reports show infiltration will not work, and any on site system is to be approved by a qualified stormwater engineer and designed for a 1 in 20 year event that includes the roof and all hardstand. Driveway water must go to a detention system such as soakwells on the property, never across the crossover.
For the crossover itself, the owner lodges an application for assessment before any work starts, and the approval lasts one year. Paved crossovers use clay brick or concrete block pavers from an approved manufacturer, at least 60 mm thick, with a concrete apron 1.0 m wide and 100 mm deep. The Town contributes half the cost of a standard first crossover built to its specification, up to the cap in its Fees and Charges. Our soakwell requirements guide sets these beside other Perth councils.
Source: Town of Bassendean, Local Planning Policy 14 Stormwater; Crossover Specification (December 2016), sections 3.3 and 6.1.1; Crossover Policy (November 2024).
From Success Hill to the postwar streets
Much of Bassendean's housing spans the 1900s to the 1960s, and on many of those lots the paving has typically never been rebuilt. The jobs that usually suit these homes are relaying paths that have dropped, replacing driveways laid without a base, and laying new brick paving that suits a character home. Success Hill rises above the Swan River, and the WA Rail Transport Museum has been part of the suburb since it opened in 1974.
Eden Hill, Ashfield and the river suburbs
Next door, Eden Hill and Ashfield share Bassendean's council rules. Across the river, Guildford and South Guildford fall under the City of Swan, and Bayswater sits to the west.
