Viveash driveways and drainage, by arrangement
Viveash is a small City of Swan suburb of about 1,280 people, about 15 km in a straight line from IBP Paving in Landsdale. That is past the edge of our regular area, so we take Viveash work by arrangement. Tell us what you need paved or drained, roughly how big it is, and send a few photos; we look at the details first and then arrange to see the site. The usual jobs here are likely to be driveway replacement and soakwell upgrades, and every job we finish carries a lifetime workmanship warranty and over 20 years of hands on experience.
A brickmaker's subdivision from 1967
Midland Brick subdivided Viveash in 1967, and the suburb was named the following year after Samuel Waterman Viveash, who owned the land in the 1840s. The houses typically date from the late 1960s and the 1970s, which would make original driveways around 50 years old or more. Concrete from that era has usually cracked across the slab, and early brick driveways have often sunk where the base was never compacted properly or where tree roots have pushed through.
The job that follows is a full replacement. We remove the old surface, cut down to firm ground, build a compacted base and lay a new driveway, often in a herringbone pattern because it locks together well under turning wheels. Where roots from a garden tree have lifted pavers, we deal with the root zone first, as set out on our tree root repairs page.
Why clay changes the soakwell plan
Viveash typically sits on Guildford Formation clay on the Swan River valley side, and the Groundwater Atlas describes this north eastern corridor as Guildford Clay with limited groundwater yield and salinity, acidity or staining issues. Clay is slow to take water in. A soakwell that would empty quickly in deep sand can hold water far longer here, and an undersized or poorly placed one simply overflows back onto the driveway. So before we replace or add a unit we dig a test hole, fill it and time it, then size the system to the result rather than to a formula alone.
City of Swan guidance for soakwells, crossovers and verges
The City of Swan allows run-off to go to its stormwater system or to approved on site retention, soakwells included. Its D12 guideline excludes individual residential development from its scope, so we use its numbers on a house as a careful guide. The general figure is 0.0122 cubic metres of soakwell per square metre of impervious area, rising to 0.0159 at R30 or higher coding, and both assume sandy soil of high permeability.
Soakwell capacity is reduced where groundwater rises above the base, and soakwells may not be suitable at all. Subsoil drains are required where the maximum groundwater level is less than 1.2 m below lot levels.
The verge has its own rules. Paving, synthetic turf or compacted aggregate there needs written permission through an Application to Alter Verge, and asphalt, concrete and loose gravel are refused. Each frontage keeps at least one tree or garden opening of 1 m by 1 m, and verge paving must be clearly delineated from the crossover. For a first residential crossover built to the City's specification, Council contributes $400. More detail is on our City of Swan soakwell requirements page.
Source: City of Swan, D12 Property Development Design Guidelines (August 2016); Handbook of Stormwater Drainage Design (April 2022); Specification for the Construction of Vehicle Crossovers (February 2022); Verge Guidelines; Application to Alter Verge; Street trees and verges web page.
Street trees on Viveash verges
Many crossover plans run into a street tree. The City of Swan states that a street tree will not be removed just because it is near a driveway crossover unless there is no alternative, that any removal needs City Manager approval, and that residents must not prune or remove street trees. A new crossover also keeps 3.5 m clear of verge trees. We measure this at the first visit, and if the existing crossover is too close we plan the new driveway to curve or widen inside the boundary instead.
Caversham, Middle Swan, Woodbridge and Midland
Close to Viveash we also work in Caversham, Middle Swan, Woodbridge and Midland. The complete list is on the areas we service page.
