Car parks, yards & commercial surfacing
In short
Small car parks, yards, shared accesses and hardstandings for businesses, landlords and management companies — built for the actual loading, drained properly, and phased so the site keeps working while it is being surfaced.
Also called: Car park resurfacing · Commercial driveway · Yard surfacing · Business hardstanding
Signs you need this
- A car park or yard that has rutted where vehicles turn
- Potholes and standing water on a surface the public uses
- A tired frontage on a commercial or let property
- Delivery or refuse vehicles using a surface built for cars
- Bays that no longer suit how the site is actually used
- A landlord or management company with several sites to keep in order
A commercial surface is a domestic one with the numbers changed and a few extra duties attached. The loading is heavier and more frequent, the area is larger, the drainage has more water to deal with, and there is usually a legal duty of care to people using it that a private drive does not carry in the same way. The construction principles do not change — the depths, the specification and the drainage design do.
Loading is the first thing to establish properly. A staff car park carrying cars is one build-up; a yard taking delivery lorries, a skip wagon or a refuse vehicle is quite another, and the difference is a great deal more than a few extra millimetres. Turning heavy vehicles are particularly punishing, because a turning wheel puts a horizontal shear into the surface that a rolling one does not — which is why the entrance and the turning circle of a commercial yard fail long before the parking bays do.
Drainage is where the regulatory weight sits on a larger area. Surface water must not go to a foul sewer, and Part H sets the hierarchy — infiltration, then a watercourse, then a surface-water sewer with agreement. On a site of any size, run-off volumes are significant and attenuation may be needed so the discharge rate is controlled. Where vehicles are parked, fuelled or washed, an interceptor may be required so hydrocarbons do not reach a watercourse. These are design questions to settle before anything is priced.
Then there is the duty to the people using it. An occupier owes a duty of care under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 to see that visitors are reasonably safe, and on a commercial site that duty is more visible and more likely to be tested. Potholes, trip lips, poor lighting at a level change, and an entrance that mixes pedestrians and reversing vehicles are all things worth designing out — and worth recording that you have.
Phasing is what makes a commercial job workable rather than disruptive. Most sites cannot close for a week, so the work is broken into sections with a sequence agreed in advance: which bays close when, where the traffic goes, how deliveries still get in, and where the pedestrian route runs while the work is live. That planning is genuinely part of the job and should be in the quote, not improvised on the first morning.
The other commercial-specific piece is lining and layout, which is worth more than it costs. Well-set-out bays, clear one-way circulation, a marked pedestrian route, and disabled bays of the right size in the right place near the entrance turn an area of tarmac into a car park. Doing the setting out before the surfacing, rather than painting whatever fits afterwards, generally yields more usable spaces from the same ground.
What the job covers
- Build-up designed for the actual vehicles, including turning loads
- Machine-laid surfacing where access and area make it appropriate
- Drainage designed with attenuation and interception where required
- Nothing connected to a foul sewer, ever
- Kerbs, edgings and level changes formed to take commercial traffic
- Phased programme agreed so the site keeps operating
- Pedestrian routes and vehicle circulation planned during the works
- Setting out, bay marking and signage as part of the job
What it costs
We don't publish a price for this yet, because a number pulled out of the air is worse than no number at all — your contractor has to honour it. On driveways it would also be close to meaningless: the groundworks are usually the biggest single factor, and how deep the dig has to go varies enormously house to house. You'll get a firm price for your actual job when they ring you back, before any work starts. The quote itself is free and there's no obligation either way.
Common questions
Can the site stay open while the work is done?
Usually, yes, with a phased programme. The area is broken into sections with an agreed sequence — which bays close when, where traffic and deliveries go, and how pedestrians move safely past the works. That planning is part of the job and should be discussed and priced before work starts rather than worked out on the day.
Why does my car park rut where the lorries turn?
Because a turning wheel applies a horizontal shear force that a rolling wheel does not, and most surfaces are specified for rolling loads. Entrances and turning circles need a stiffer build-up and often a different mix — stone mastic asphalt, or concrete at the pinch points — rather than the same specification as the parking bays.
Do I need an interceptor?
It depends on the site. Where vehicles are parked in numbers, refuelled, washed or serviced, hydrocarbons can reach the drainage, and where the outfall is a watercourse or a soakaway an interceptor is normally required. It is a question to settle at the design stage with the drainage strategy, not an afterthought once the surfacing is down.
Are the rules different from a domestic driveway?
The construction principles are identical; the duties are heavier. Larger areas mean drainage volumes that may need attenuation and interception, the loading design is more demanding, and the occupier's duty of care to people using the site is more likely to be tested. The front-garden planning rule does not apply, but the Part H drainage hierarchy very much does.
Need this doing in Macclesfield?
Tell us the job and it goes straight to our local contractor — one call back, usually the same day. Free quote, no obligation.