Solid brick homes, renovated: paving in North Perth
North Perth is about 14 km from our base in Landsdale, beyond our regular service area, so IBP Paving takes work here by arrangement. Tell us what the job is and send a few photos, and we will come back to you on whether we can do it and roughly when. What we bring is over 20 years of laying brick and stone, care with older houses and tight sites, and a lifetime workmanship warranty on the finished paving.
Paving that suits an early 1900s front
Most of North Perth is solid brick housing built from the early 1900s, and many of those homes are going through extensive renovations. Paving is usually one of the last trades on site, and it is the part people see first from the street, so it needs to look as if it belongs to the house.
For fronts and side paths we usually suggest clay brick pavers in a red or brown tone, laid in a pattern with some character such as herringbone. Behind the house, where a renovation has opened the kitchen to the yard, a courtyard in brick or a pale stone gives the new living space a floor outside. Where the original garden path is worth keeping, we lift and relay it on a new base; where it is cracked or patched, we match it as closely as possible or replace it in full. Small repairs are common too, for paths disturbed by plumbing and power upgrades during a renovation.
Before we start: the City of Vincent list
North Perth is in the City of Vincent, and its policies shape the drainage, the crossover and the verge on most jobs. These are the points we check with you before work begins.
- Stormwater. All residential stormwater is to be retained on site, in a system able to hold at least a 1 in 20 year ARI storm of one hour. Connection to the City's drains is approved only in exceptional circumstances.
- Approval. All crossover works and some verge works need City approval before construction. The City has specifications for brick paved and for concrete crossovers.
- Subsidy deadline. A crossover subsidy application is only valid if lodged within six months of completion.
- Widths and position. Driveways and crossovers are no less than 3.0 m and no more than 6.0 m wide at the street boundary. The Built Form policy allows one crossover per lot, 3 m for a single or 5 m for a double, 0.5 m from the lot boundary and no closer than 6 m to a street corner. The steepest driveway grade is 25 per cent.
- Verge paving. Non permeable verge paving is not permitted, and synthetic turf is not a permissible treatment. Verge parking is only considered in exceptional circumstances and must be permeable, WSUD compliant and include a verge tree, with the form capping it at one third of the verge in brick or concrete unit pavers.
- Street trees. Driveways must avoid verge trees, and existing trees cannot be removed for vehicle access. If a tree is unavoidable, it is replaced at the applicant's expense and only with City approval.
- Heritage and character areas. Their guidelines aim to keep vehicle crossovers and car storage off the primary streetscape. We ask the City whether your street is affected before designing a new front driveway.
Source: 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 and Character Area Guidelines.
How Vincent's storm standard compares with other councils is covered on our Perth soakwell requirements page.
Transition sand between two dune systems
North Perth usually sits on a sandy band where the Spearwood and Bassendean dune systems meet, the same transition found next door in Mount Lawley. That ground is generally free draining, so soakwells can do the work Vincent's policy asks of them, and it compacts firmly under a limestone base for driveways. The suburb has no named wetland, although the former Perth wetlands are thought to have lain to its south and east, and the coast is about 10 km away, too far for salt to affect pavers.
Near Beatty Park and the neighbouring suburbs
Beatty Park Leisure Centre on Vincent Street began as Beatty Park Aquatic Centre, built for the 1962 Perth Commonwealth Games. Close by we also take work in Mount Hawthorn, Mount Lawley, Highgate, Leederville and Menora, listed with the rest on areas we service.
