Paving the suburb of Stirling, 10 km from our base
This page is about the suburb of Stirling, not the wider City of Stirling council area, although the suburb sits inside it. Stirling is about 10 km south west of IBP Paving in Landsdale, measured in a straight line. We relay and replace driveways, pave alfresco areas and paths, and install soakwells and drains, with particular care on the lots near the suburb's lakes. Every job is backed by a lifetime workmanship warranty and over 20 years of experience laying paving in Perth's northern suburbs.
Where the City has its headquarters
The suburb is home to the City of Stirling's administration centre and the Stirling Civic Gardens. For a homeowner, that has one practical upside: the council that approves your crossover and assesses your drainage is close at hand, and its rules are set out in detail. They are the rules we design every Stirling job to.
All rain falling on the lot has to be held on site in soakwells or another City approved system. Roof water and paved area runoff are infiltrated separately. Where groundwater is within 1.2 m of the surface, among other triggers, a drainage management plan is required and storage is designed for a 1 in 20 year storm; the City also encourages permeable paving.
Source: City of Stirling, On Site Stormwater Drainage Criteria (June 2024).
On a standard lot the storage is impervious area in square metres multiplied by 0.015, so a home with 260 square metres of roof and paving needs 3.9 cubic metres. Our City of Stirling soakwell requirements page lays out the whole document.
Market gardens, former wetland and lake estates
Stirling was market gardens until the 1960s, on ground that included former wetland. Today the suburb includes lake estates, and those lakes are the main thing that sets one Stirling lot apart from the next. Most of the suburb is typically Spearwood sand, yellow, free draining and easy to compact into a firm base. Near the estate lakes and on the old wetland pockets, the water table is usually shallower and the ground can be softer.
That changes how we build. On the sand we compact the subgrade, lay crushed limestone under driveways and screed a sand bed in the normal way. On the softer ground we dig out to firm material and rebuild with compacted limestone, and before any soakwell goes in near a lake we check how far down the water is, since a unit sitting in groundwater cannot drain and the stricter design storm may apply. Grated drains and a section of permeable paving can share the load where deep soakwells are not an option. The coast is roughly 6 km away, so salt does not affect paver choice.
Driveways from the 1976 build
The Stirling postal district was gazetted in 1976, and most of the suburb was subdivided and built over the next eight years. Some subdivisions were still being developed in 2006, and by 2021 the suburb had 3,885 dwellings. So there are two ages of paving here. The bulk dates from the late 1970s and early 1980s and is now over 40 years old, which usually means a full replacement or, where the pavers are still good, a relay on a new base. The later subdivisions have paving closer to 20 years old that has started to sink in places. Either way, a new driveway is often paired with new soakwells sized to today's rules.
Crossovers and street trees
A crossover in Stirling must keep 1 m to 4 m clear of a street tree, depending on its trunk diameter, and the City's street trees must not be interfered with. Asphalt is not allowed for a residential crossover. If the property has never had its first crossover built, the City subsidises 50 percent of a standard 3 m grey concrete crossover, provided the claim arrives within 12 months of completion. Where a verge tree has lifted paving inside the boundary, see lifted pavers and tree roots.
Source: City of Stirling, Crossover Policy; Crossover Guidelines Residential and Non Residential.
Suburbs near Stirling
Balcatta, Osborne Park, Innaloo, Gwelup and Karrinyup all border or sit close to Stirling, and we cover each of them. See areas we service for the complete list.
