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Driveways in Bearsden

Built for the ground they sit on

The usual problem with garden design is the gap between the drawing and the price. Bearsden front gardens are wide, open and visible from the street, so a driveway here does more work than it does elsewhere. It also has more to cope with. Much of the area sits on clay, plenty of drives run uphill to the house, and anything laid between your house and the road has to meet Scottish drainage rules. We plan the levels and the water before we choose the surface.

Recent Driveway Projects

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Design Services & Approaches

Choosing a driveway surface in Bearsden

Six surfaces, and the honest case for each on a Bearsden plot.

MacColl-Stokes-Landscaping-Glasgow-Driveways Resin Bound

Resin bound

Price per SqM: £80 - 140​
+ £40 - £70 if base needs rebuilding

The most requested finish in this area and the one that suits the wide frontages best. It is fully bonded, permeable, and it takes a curve without the cut lines you get with block. It is also the least forgiving of a poor base, which is where most cheap resin drives fail.

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Natural stone

Price per SqM: £160 - £230

Setts and flags for houses where the drive has to match existing stonework. Expensive and slow to lay, and it ages better than anything else on this list.

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Monoblock

Price per SqM: £120 - £180 Permeable block £160 - £1190

Repairs easily, comes in every colour and pattern, and lifts a period frontage when you run a contrasting border. Tegula suits the older Bearsden villas particularly well. Worth knowing it will need occasional re-sanding and the odd weed pull.​​

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Gravel

Price per SqM: £140 - 160

Permeable by default, cheap, and suits the larger plots towards Baljaffray and the rural edge. It migrates, so it needs proper edging and the right base.

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Tarmac

Price per SqM: £70 - £120

Quick to lay, hard-wearing and the cheapest per square metre. Suits long runs and shared drives. It is not permeable, so on a Bearsden front garden it usually needs a drainage solution designed alongside it.​

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Nidagravel

Price per SqM: £140 - 160

Stabilised gravel in a honeycomb grid. Keeps the gravel look and the permeability, stops the ruts. A good answer where you want gravel but park on it daily.

Drainage and planning rules in Bearsden

This is the part most driveway quotes skip, and it is the part that causes problems later.

The permitted development rule

In Scotland, a hard surface laid between your house and the road is permitted development only if it is made of porous material or built so water runs off to a porous area in your garden. Lay an impermeable drive with nowhere for the water to go and you are outside the rules. The Scottish Government sets the position out in full.

Clay ground

Clay does not drain. On a Bearsden front garden that means the sub-base and the falls matter more than the surface you can see. A resin drive on a thin base over clay will fail, and it will fail at the edges first.

Old Bearsden and the conservation area

Bearsden ground moves. Designing with the fall rather than against it The rules tighten in a conservation area, and part of Old Bearsden sits inside one. If your property is in it, front driveway work needs checking with East Dunbartonshire Council before anything is ordered. We check it as part of the site visit rather than leaving it with you.

How long a Bearsden driveway takes

Six surfaces, and the honest case for each on a Bearsden plot.

MacColl-Stokes-Landscaping-Glasgow-Driveways Resin Bound

Resin bound

Days on site:

5 - 7 days

Ready to use:

24hrs after completion

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Natural stone

Days on site:

2 -3 weeks based on size

Ready to use:

2 - 3 days after completion

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Monoblock

Days on site:

5 - 7 days

Ready to use:

Upon completion

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Gravel

Days on site:

5 - 7 days

Ready to use:

Upon completion

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Tarmac

Days on site:
5 days based on size

Ready to use:

Upon completion

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Nidagravel

Days on site:

5 - 7 days

Ready to use:

Upon completion

The details that finish a Bearsden drive:

The surface is half of it. These are what make a drive look designed rather than laid.

Contrasting borders

A border in a second colour or material keeps the edges crisp and stops them breaking up under turning tyres.

Bin stores

Bearsden bin collections mean three bins somewhere on a visible frontage. Building a store into the design solves it once. We built one into a Bearsden job last year and the client rated it above the driveway itself.

Steps and retaining
at the entrance

Where the drive meets a raised front garden, the steps and the retaining wall are what you actually see from the pavement. We build those in stone or brick to match the house rather than finishing in kerb.

Our Process

With over 40 years landscaping experience, we have built up an extensive portfolio of work and pride ourselves in being able to turn our client's visions into a reality. With a wealth of knowledge in garden design and construction, we know we can create the perfect environment for you.

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Initial Consultation

Site visit, understand your brief, assess conditions

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Concept Development

Initial layout, zoning, key features

Detailed Design

Scaled plans, planting schedules, material selections

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Quotation

Itemised costs for construction and planting

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Implementation

Build phase managed by our team or handed to you

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Project Completion

On completion of the project, your designer will meet you on-site for a walk-through of your new outdoor space!.

A few words from our Bearsden customers

Keith & Co. successfully led transition of a tired old messy drive into a lovely two tone resin driveway, hugely improving appearance & presentation of the house. Their work gets lots of passing attention & no hesitation recommending to anyone considering a resin driveway.

RK-S, Bearsden

One of our favourite features is the brilliant new bin shelter Sean built. It's practical, beautifully made, and blends in perfectly with the rest of the design.

Laura H, Bearsden

Absolutely fantastic job from start to finish! Professional, tidy, and first-class service all around.

Steven R, Bearsden

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Create your dream garden with MacColl & Stokes.
Talk to us about your landscaping project today.

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