---
title: "Grey block driveway and turning area, Gloucester (2023) | Solid Ground Paving"
description: "Case study: a wide grey block paved driveway and turning area in Gloucester with charcoal border courses on every edge."
canonical: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/projects/grey-block-turning-area-gloucester
url: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/projects/grey-block-turning-area-gloucester.md
section: "Projects"
date_published: 2026-08-06
date_modified: 2026-08-06
author: Solid Ground Paving
robots: noindex
---

# Grey block driveway and turning area, Gloucester

The brief was to be able to leave the property forwards. The area was widened to the boundary and laid as one continuous herringbone field, with charcoal border courses restraining every open edge including the soft margins.

## Key facts

- **Town:** Gloucester
- **Year:** 2023
- **Surface:** Grey concrete blocks with charcoal border
- **Use:** Parking for two cars plus a turning circle

## How much room does a turning area need?

Enough to make a three-point turn without mounting a border — for a typical family car that means roughly 6m of clear width across the turning end. Anything tighter and drivers reverse out anyway.

## Why border the edges against soil?

Blocks against bare soil have no restraint and will spread apart within a season. Every open edge here is a haunched border course, which is what stops the field opening up.

- Haunched border to all open edges
- Continuous herringbone across the full area
- Levels tied flush into the existing entrance

## Can a drive this size be built in one visit?

Yes — excavation, sub-base, edgings and laying run consecutively over the same job, with the surface usable the day the jointing is finished.

## Questions and answers

Q: Will a block drive take a delivery van?
A: Yes, when the sub-base is built to depth. Occasional heavy loads are what the compacted base and haunched edges are for.

---

Human-readable version of this page: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/projects/grey-block-turning-area-gloucester


## Site records

- Photograph: The completed parking and turning area, wide enough to turn a car rather than reverse onto the road.
  - Description: Wide grey block paved driveway and turning area in Gloucester bordered in charcoal blocks
  - File: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/__l5e/assets-v1/1f62b3c8-ebef-42c8-8940-863cb9350db0/grey-block-driveway-turning-area.jpg