Hard Landscape Training Group

On this site, you'll find professional, impartial information from an ex-contractor, with construction guides and specifications to all the most popular British and Irish paving types, an 'Ask the Expert' feature and many other invaluable resources for professionals and DIY'ers alike. Whether you're looking for block paving patterns, are preparing to lay your own patio or driveway, want news on the latest products and tools, or need to know the reference number of the British Standard for kerbs and channels, it's all in here.

Interlay is the only truly independent trade association for those involved in the installation of all types, brands and formats of paving in Britain. This page introduces how Interlay can help make good contractors even better. One of the most frequently asked questions on this website regards contractor competence and integrity. Clients seek re-assurance that their contractor has the requisite skills, qualifications and insurances to undertake the work in hand, whether it's a patio or a commercial freight yard, and similarly, the better, more professional contractors need some way of proving their credentials to potential clients.

Permeable paving is a rapidly developing sector within the hard-landscaping trade. This page considers why it is so important, the different formats available, and how it can be installed. It also leads on to other pages considering, in particular, concrete block permeable paving (CBPP). Permeable paving is a relatively recent introduction to the British and Irish paving markets, but one that is set to dominate the trade in the coming years due to its critical role in the future of our towns and cities.

Much of this website considers how paving should be laid, but almost as interesting is how paving is manufactured. Stone is quarried but how is that turned into textured flagstones or bush-hammered setts? What's the difference between wet-cast and hydraulically pressed concrete? How do they make block paving, and how do they achieve that multi-colour styling? You may be a first time visitor or someone familiar with the old website which served well for 20-odd years but a new decade needs a more responsive design and simpler navigation.

This page acts as the main link page for all the pages dealing with bituminous macadam, also known as bitmac, tarmacadam or the brand name Tarmac. We start with a general overview of the use of tarmacadam/bitmac in Britain and Ireland. The Laying Tarmacadam page looks at the methods used in constructing a tarmacadam footpath and an examination of the main layers within a pavement can be found on the Tarmacadam Construction page. Tarmacadam, properly referred to as bituminous macadam or " Bitmac " for brevity, is often thought to be the cheapest method of surfacing a driveway or forecourt, but for smaller areas it can work out quite expensive, and the red tarmacadam can be more expensive than block paving.

Unless it's permeable paving, a pavement without drainage is doomed to failure. This leading page introduces key concepts and provides definitions of the more commonly used terms. It also provides links to other pages on the site that go into much greater detail regarding key aspects of drainage methods and materials. Because this is such a large subject area, it has been split up onto a number of pages, dealing with the intricacies of draining pavements, making new connections, installing new gullies, land drainage, fin drains and much more.

This series of pages looks at some worked examples of 'best practice' when it comes to cutting-in for flags (or slabs, if that's what you call them!) and some of the typical flagged features that require cutting-in. Although it may seem obvious, there are a number of techniques that are not as widely utilised as they should be, in both the trade and by DIYers. A separate page considers the tools used to cut flags while these pages focus on the layout, positioning and placement of cut pieces, using worked examples to show how the application of a few simple rules and the selection of one particular cutting solution in preference to another can produce neater looking pieces that are less likely to break or to come loose.

Natural stone is our oldest worked paving material, and there is a world of choice now available. This page considers the types, the uses, and the potential for natural stone flags as a material for modern paving. There's no paving finer than natural stone; it's been used for thousands of years and represents one of man's earliest technologies - the ability to make a traversable pathway. It will outlast all of us, every unit is unique, it's a natural product with texture and colour determined by millennia of geological processes rather than modern chemical dyes, it's incredibly strong, hard-wearing and if all that wasn't enough, it's also beautiful.

After over 50 years of providing the construction industry and the general public with our renowned paving services, we are now using our wealth of experience and our extensive library of landscaping materials to offer a design and consultancy service to the trade, to industrial and commercial clients, and to the property owner. Working with the client on site, by telephone and over the internet, we develop design solutions for any hard-landscaping project, from a simple driveway or patio to terracing, courtyards and car parks.

Contractor List has been putting clients in touch with Contractors since 1998. Each month, the website receives dozens of enquiries from main contractors, developers, builders, architects and private householders looking for reliable and skilled tradesmen. Signing-up for the Contractor List is completely free. There is no membership charge or registration fee, but then there is no guarantee that enquiries will originate in any particular area or region. You sign up: we pass on your registered contact details to enquirers; simple as that.

Plain, unadorned mass concrete, straight from the mixer, levelled, compacted and floated to a smooth finish is a simple, cost-effective and highly useful surface for paving, for shed and garage bases, for driveways and dozens of other uses. This page considers how it is used and what is needed to ensure a successful finish. Concrete is often overlooked as a potential pavement surface, mostly because of its lack of colour or interest, although the decorative patterned concrete is becoming more popular and cementitious overlays offer a huge range of colours, patterns and textures.

Concrete blocks or clay bricks, no bigger than 300mm. Used in every sector, from patios and driveways to freight yards and airports. Also known as monoblock or cobblelock. The most versatile of modular pavings. This section looks at the wide range of pavers available and how they should be installed. This page acts as the main link page for all the pages dealing with block paving, brick paviors, CBPs, monoblocks, cobblelock or whatever name is used in your part of the world for individual blocks of concrete or clay that are laid as a paving material.