Highgate paving, about 15 km south of Landsdale
IBP Paving lays brick and stone paving, builds courtyards and installs soakwells in Highgate, a compact inner suburb about 15 km in a straight line from our Landsdale base. Because that is well south of our usual runs, we take Highgate jobs by arrangement and ask for the job details before we book anything: a handful of photos, approximate sizes and what you would like done. Each job we accept is backed by over 20 years in the trade and a lifetime workmanship warranty.
Fitting paving into 0.4 square kilometres
Highgate covers only about 0.4 square kilometres, which makes it the smallest suburb in the Perth metropolitan region. Inner city lots of this age are often compact, with a narrow side passage, a short front setback and a back yard measured in a few metres rather than tens. On sites like these, access governs how a job is planned. Pavers may need to be carried through a side gate, sand and base delivered in bulk bags rather than tipped on the verge, and the levels set so that water runs to a soakwell instead of towards a neighbour's wall. We plan those details when we look at your photos, so the quote reflects how the job will actually run.
Old school sites and older homes
Highgate is long established. Highgate Primary is the second oldest government primary school in Western Australia, and the former St Mark's school site was converted to apartments in 2013. That gives the suburb two kinds of paving work. The older homes tend to need courtyards that suit a period house, front paths in clay brick, and repairs where old pavers have been pushed up by roots, which our lifted pavers and tree roots page covers. Apartment and unit buildings tend to need strata paving of shared paths and car areas, where a body corporate wants one contractor and one clear scope. Either way, clay brick paving in a warm tone usually sits better against older brick than a cool modern grey.
The City of Vincent checklist for a Highgate lot
Highgate is in the City of Vincent, and these are the City rules we work to on any quote here:
- Stormwater. Everything that falls on a residential lot stays there. The retention system must cope with a one hour storm of at least 1 in 20 year average recurrence interval, and City drainage connections are granted only in exceptional circumstances. We size drains and soakwells to that storm; see our Perth soakwell requirements page for how other councils compare.
- Approval first. Crossover works, and some verge works, must be approved by the City before they start. Vincent has separate specifications for brick paved and concrete crossovers.
- Widths and position. At the street boundary a driveway or crossover is no narrower than 3.0 m and no wider than 6.0 m. The Built Form policy sets one crossover per lot, 3 m wide for a single and 5 m for a double, at least 0.5 m from the lot boundary and 6 m or more from a street corner. The steepest driveway allowed is 25 percent.
- Subsidy timing. Lodge the subsidy application within six months of finishing the crossover or it is not valid.
- Verges. No non permeable paving. Parking paving only in exceptional cases, permeable, designed to water sensitive urban design criteria, with at least one verge tree, and no more than one third of the verge in brick or concrete unit pavers. No synthetic turf.
- Trees. A driveway should miss the verge trees. If that cannot be done, the tree is replaced at the applicant's cost, and it cannot come out without City approval.
- Streetscape. Vincent's heritage and character area guidelines aim to keep crossovers and parked cars off the primary street frontage.
Sources: City of Vincent, Stormwater Drainage Connections policy; Driveways and Crossovers Planning Information Sheet (May 2024); Local Planning Policy: Built Form; Verge Treatment Policy and Verge Paving Application form; Heritage Area and Character Area Guidelines.
Sand between two soil units
Highgate is thought to sit where the Spearwood and Bassendean sands meet, the same transition that runs through adjoining Mount Lawley. In practice the ground is sandy and generally drains well, so a soakwell under a courtyard or beside a driveway usually empties quickly after rain. There is no named wetland inside the suburb, but the former Perth wetlands now occupied by Hyde Park lie just across the boundary in Mount Lawley, so on the lowest lots we still check how deep the water sits before setting a soakwell. The coast is around 11 km away, too far for salt to matter, and bushfire controls do not normally apply.
North Perth, Mount Lawley and nearby
Highgate is bordered by North Perth and Mount Lawley, with Leederville further west and Maylands further east. They are covered on the same terms; see areas we service for the rest.
