Upminster, RM14 - covering Hornchurch, Romford and the whole of Havering
South Ockendon is fifteen to twenty minutes from our yard in Upminster, down Corbets Tey Road and out past the M25. A large part of the town is the Flowers Estate, precast concrete terraces the Greater London Council put up in the late 1960s to replace the post-war prefabs, and the fronts on those rows were not designed with a car in mind. That is most of our work here: taking a small front, digging it out properly and laying a surface that will carry a vehicle for years. Resin bound, block paving, tarmac or gravel, with excavation, sub-base and edging included in the price. Call 01708 209015 and we will come and look.
We reply the same working day, usually within the hour.
The old village is still there, with North, South and West Roads meeting at the green, but the town around it is mostly twentieth century. Prefabs went up in the late 1940s for families bombed out of East London and west Essex. Most were pulled down in the late 1960s when the Greater London Council built the Flowers Estate in their place: Lecaplan Type B large-panel concrete terraces, in rows of eight, to a design by J C Tilley and made by W. & C. French. Daiglen Drive, Derwent Parade and Foyle Drive are typical of it. Belhus takes its name from the Tudor house that stood in the park until 1957; the grounds, worked on by Capability Brown and Sanderson Miller between 1744 and 1777, are now a golf course and country park. Brandon Groves came later, on the former South Ockendon Hospital site after it closed in 1994, with streets named after Ford cars.
The ground under South Ockendon has not been mapped by us house by house, so we say less about it than we would like. The published geology maps Thames terrace gravels of the Lynch Hill and Corbets Tey stage between Upminster and Grays, which takes in Ockendon, and gravel drains well; even so we confirm it with a trial hole on every job rather than take it on trust. Planning is Thurrock Council, a unitary authority, and the 2008 permitted development rule applies as it does everywhere in England: an impermeable front surface over five square metres needs permission unless it drains to a permeable area. Thurrock also runs its own dropped kerbs. Since April 2025 the council's highways team has built every crossing itself, charging £264 per square metre for a domestic one, and it says a standard crossing comes to around £1,900. No private contractor is allowed to do it, us included.
Local
Upminster Based
Hornchurch, Upminster and across Havering
6
Surface Types
Resin to gravel, one crew for all of it
Free
Site Visits & Quotes
Written, itemised and fixed
Written
Guarantee
Handed over on paper at the final walk-round
From £80/m²
Smooth, porous resin and stone over a properly built base. The surface most Emerson Park and Upminster enquiries ask about first.
Learn more about Resin Bound Driveways
From £75/m²
Clay or concrete pavers in herringbone, stretcher or basketweave, machine-cut to the edges and held in a concrete haunch.
Learn more about Block Paving Driveways
From £55/m²
Two-course hot-rolled tarmac with a proper binder underneath, framed in block or kerb. The best value on a long drive.
Learn more about Tarmac Driveways
From £45/m²
Stabilised gravel on a honeycomb grid so it stays put, drains freely and suits the bigger plots around Emerson Park and Cranham.
Learn more about Gravel Driveways
From £90/m²
Porcelain, sandstone and limestone patios on a full mortar bed with falls, drainage, steps and walls designed in from the start.
Learn more about Patios & Paving
From £250
Sunken block relaid, tarmac patched or resurfaced, edges rebuilt and drainage sorted when a full replacement is not needed.
Learn more about Driveway Repairs
"On the Flowers Estate the first thing we usually dig out is a layer of old crazy paving laid straight on soil, and it explains most of the sunken drives we are asked to repair there."
Based on enquiries and jobs handled by Hornchurch & Upminster Driveways.
Most guarantees in this trade cover the surface, because the surface is the easy bit. Ours is written around the structure underneath, which is where a driveway on Havering's London clay either holds or does not. We put the excavation depth, the compacted MOT Type 1 thickness, the concrete haunch behind every edge and the drainage route on the quote, and we guarantee that build. If the surface sinks, spreads or ponds because any of that was not done right, we come back and fix it at our cost.
In
Writing, before we start
The guarantee terms go on the quote, not on a leaflet after the job
0
Overlays on a bad base
We will not lay a new surface over a base that has already failed, however cheap it would make the quote
Steps three, four and five are the ones nobody photographs and the ones that decide whether the drive is still level in fifteen years.
We come out, measure, and look at what is under the existing surface. On the clay that sits beneath most of South Ockendon that is where the decisions get made, not on the phone.
Dig depth, sub-base thickness, edge detail, drainage and the surface, each with its own line and a fixed total. The figure on the quote is the figure on the invoice.
Whatever is there now is broken out and taken away in full. We excavate to the depth the ground needs, lay a geotextile on soft clay and compact MOT Type 1 in two layers with a plate or roller.
Kerbs, block soldier courses or aluminium trims are bedded on concrete and haunched behind before anything else is laid, so the finished surface has something to push against.
Linear channels, gullies and soakaways go in now, with the falls set so rain leaves the surface and stays inside your boundary as the permitted development rules require.
Screeded sand and machine-cut block, hot-rolled tarmac, hand-trowelled resin or compacted gravel in its grid, laid by the same crew that built the base.
We walk the job with you, sand in or seal as the surface needs, take every scrap of waste away and hand over the written guarantee before the van leaves.
Not sure which surface suits the house? The cost guide compares all six side by side, and the site visit is free either way.
Resin needs a day before you walk on it and three before you park on it, so here are three good reasons to be out of the house.
01
Ancient woodland, grassland and lakes left by gravel extraction on Romford Road, open daily from 8am, with a visitor centre, picnic areas and day-ticket fishing on the bank.
Learn more about Belhus Woods Country Park on Google Maps02
Thirty-two acres of meadow, woods and ponds at the gateway to the Mardyke Valley, a riverside park since 1993, with free parking and hard-surfaced paths that suit a buggy.
Learn more about Davy Down Riverside Park on Google Maps03
An eighteen-hole parkland course from 1972 across the old Belhus grounds that Capability Brown and Sanderson Miller shaped in the eighteenth century - a full round fills a curing day nicely.
Learn more about Belhus Park Golf and Country Club on Google MapsWe are on Corbets Tey Road in Upminster, so South Ockendon is a short drive for a site visit. Visits are free and usually within a few days of your call.
We would rather show you a driveway than a star rating.
Customer reviews are being collected and will appear here as they come in. In the meantime, when we come out to quote in South Ockendon, ask to see photos of recent jobs on houses like yours - and ask the other firms quoting the same question. A finished drive two streets away tells you more than a testimonial ever will.
South Ockendon prices follow our standard guide: gravel £45 to £70 per square metre, tarmac £55 to £80, block paving £75 to £115, resin bound £80 to £120, patios £90 to £150 and repairs from £250, with the dig, sub-base, edging and surface all included. Fronts on the Flowers Estate are compact, which keeps the total down, but access along a terrace of eight with no side gate means spoil goes out by barrow and that adds a little labour. The council's crossing charge is separate and paid to Thurrock.
What moves the price up or down →| Surface | Guide price |
|---|---|
| Resin Bound Driveways | £80 to £120 per m² |
| Block Paving Driveways | £75 to £115 per m² |
| Tarmac Driveways | £55 to £80 per m² |
| Gravel Driveways | £45 to £70 per m² |
| Patios & Paving | £90 to £150 per m² |
| Driveway Repairs | £250 to £2,500 per job |
Not for a house, as long as the water has somewhere to go. The permitted development rule introduced on 1 October 2008 allows a front surface of any size if it is permeable or the rainwater runs to a lawn, border or soakaway; an impermeable surface over five square metres that drains to the road needs planning permission from Thurrock Council. Resin bound, permeable block paving and gravel all pass. Flats and maisonettes are not covered, and a crossing onto a classified road needs permission as well. We will tell you which applies before we quote.
You apply to Thurrock Council. From April 2025 the council's own highways team builds every vehicle crossing and nobody else may do it, so we cannot drop the kerb for you. The construction charge is £264 per square metre for a domestic crossing, which the council says comes to around £1,900 for a standard one, paid in full to Thurrock before the work. Moving a gully or street furniture costs extra - altering a surface water gully is £420. The application fee is separate and set in the council's fees list, so check the current figure before you apply.
In our experience yes, with one caveat. The estate was built in the late 1960s on the site of the prefabs, so there is often old slab, hardcore or crazy paving just under the turf that was never compacted. We dig that out rather than build on it. Beneath, the geology maps show Thames terrace gravel across this part of Essex, which drains well and makes a sound base once compacted, but we confirm it with a trial hole on the visit rather than assume.
Often. The rows of eight on Daiglen Drive and Foyle Drive were built with concrete panels, and the drive in front usually fails for one reason: a thin or missing sub-base under a surface laid straight on soil. If the edging is sound and the dip is local we can lift, re-base and relay that section from £250. If the whole surface is rocking or the edges have spread, a repair would be money wasted and we will say so and price a rebuild instead.
Free quotes from an Upminster firm fifteen minutes up the road. We will measure, dig a trial hole, explain the Thurrock crossing charge and leave a written price. Call 01708 209015.