Concrete driveways in Glendale

Driveways in Glendale, 2285

Glendale sits about 15 km west of the Newcastle CBD at the northern end of Lake Macquarie, around the Main Road and Lake Road crossroads that gave the place its first name, with the shopping centre on Lake Road, the Hunter Sports Centre and the Cardiff Railway Workshops along the southern side. The first subdivision of 1915 cut large farm lots between Main Road, Lake Road, Reservoir Road and Glendale Drive, and the suburb as it stands is post-war. A housing co-operative built 20 houses after the war, the post office opened in 1948, the public school in 1949, the name was chosen by ballot, and the east school and the high school followed in 1959 and 1970. Nearly nine dwellings in ten are separate houses on those streets and one in three is rented. The driveway work is replacing the originals, often for a landlord, and widening them for the second car.

A flat valley floor between hills

A glen and a dale are both a valley between hills, and council’s area plan describes the centre as a flat valley floor surrounded by hills and ridgelines with Winding Creek running through the middle and the land beside it flood prone. Glendale is listed under both the Winding Creek and Cockle Creek catchments, and shared the floods of 1981, 1990 and 2007 with Cardiff and Boolaroo. Every part of the suburb is within the Lake Macquarie Mine Subsidence District, and council notes abandoned workings north of the Great Northern Railway where subsidence is anticipated and is likely to limit building heights. That is a matter for buildings; Subsidence Advisory NSW exempts driveways and hard stand spaces under all its guidelines except 4 and 5, and the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer gives a lot’s guideline.

Replacing the post-war driveway

A driveway from the 1950s or 1960s on the valley floor is usually a thin slab that has cracked and settled so that it holds water, and removal and replacement with the fall reset is the standard job. On the hill streets around the valley the same slab is steep and stepped at the joints. The second car goes on a strip of plain concrete beside the original where it is sound, and the front path and a slab for the shed go in with it. Landlords, with a third of the suburb rented, want the like-for-like replacement priced plainly and done between tenancies. Cardiff next door has the same valley and an older layer of housing.

The crossing on a flat Glendale block

Lake Macquarie City Council wants nothing under 125 mm on the verge, dowelled into the kerb, and a driveway profile drawing with every Minor Public Works application, which on flat ground is where the fall from the gutter to the house gets decided. A replacement crossing needs its own application and fee. The Section 138 guide explains the lodgement.

Finishes for a post-war frontage

A post-war frontage takes a plain broom driveway naturally, and it is what a landlord orders. Exposed aggregate suits an owner renovating the front, and coloured concrete the patio. Council’s list of what passes on the crossing starts with plain, coved or broomed, and everything else on it is conditional.

Glendale rates per square metre

Supplied and laid: coloured concrete $115 to $160; exposed aggregate $130 to $185; plain $95 to $130; removal of the old driveway adds about $35; patios and alfresco $100 to $180; shed and garage slabs $110 to $150; paths $90 to $130. What moves a Glendale figure is the base, because a settled slab on the valley floor is usually sitting on ground that has to be dug out and rebuilt before the new fall can be trusted. Try the calculator, read the cost guide, and set the specification and the Section 138 guide beside any quote.