Imprinted Concrete Driveways in Manchester

Manchester Resin Drives lays imprinted concrete driveways for homes in Manchester and nearby towns. We pour the concrete over a packed stone base, press a pattern into the top while it is still soft, and colour it, so you get the look of stone or brick in one solid slab. If you are still weighing up the options, we also lay resin bound, block paving and tarmac drives.

Imprinted concrete and the rain

The concrete we lay is solid, so rain runs off the top. Government guidance says that when grass and flower beds are swapped for concrete or asphalt, the water no longer soaks into the ground.

That matters for planning. On a front garden, the guidance says a solid drive bigger than 5 square metres needs planning permission unless the water runs to a permeable area, meaning a part of the garden where it can soak away.

We handle the water in one of these ways:

• We slope the drive so the rain runs onto a lawn or border.
• We build a rain garden beside it. Government guidance describes this as a dip in the garden that collects the water from a solid surface like concrete, holds it, and lets it soak away or drain off slowly.
• If the drive has to fall towards the house, the guidance says to fit a drainage channel that catches the water and links it to the drain that takes the roof water. See our driveway drainage page.

We only suggest a rain garden where the plot suits one. The guidance says it needs deeper digging, space, a contractor who knows how to build it, and sandy or gravelly soil.

What goes under the slab

Government guidance says every drive, solid or permeable, has a sub-base, a layer of packed stone that makes the ground strong enough to take a car without sinking into ruts. On a solid drive like imprinted concrete, the guidance says this is usually hardcore or a stone called MOT Type 1, which has fine sand and silt in it.

We dig out the old ground, lay and pack the base, and write its depth on your quote.

Conservation areas and flats

Government guidance says the right to pave a front garden without planning permission is one of your permitted development rights. It explains these as changes to a house and its garden that you can make without applying for planning permission.

The Planning Portal says those rights only apply to houses. They do not apply to flats, or where a planning condition or an Article 4 Direction limits them. Government guidance adds that conservation areas have tighter rules, and listed buildings have their own.

If any of that might apply to you, the guidance says to talk to your council's planning team before work begins. We can tell you what to ask them.

What to get in writing

Ask for these in writing, whoever you hire:

• The pattern and colour, picked from a sample you have actually seen.
• Where the rain goes, and what takes it there.
• How deep the stone base is.
• Who checks whether you need planning permission.

Questions about imprinted concrete driveways in Manchester

Get a quote for imprinted concrete

Send us the quote form with your postcode and the rough size of the drive, and we'll come out, measure up, bring some patterns and give you a written quote. To see the other drives we lay, go to the Manchester Resin Drives home page.