Tarmac & Asphalt in Shirley means working with long Victorian and Edwardian terrace rows off Shirley Road — hot-rolled asphalt compacted over a prepared sub-base into a single dense, flat surface. The typical job in Shirley itself is tight, party-wall-adjacent frontages needing kerb-drop coordination with the neighbouring property. It suits larger driveways that can achieve a proper fall to a drainage point, and it is worth knowing that standard tarmac is impermeable, so the drainage fall has to be built in at construction.
About Tarmac & Asphalt
Tarmac and asphalt driveways are formed from hot-rolled bitumen-bound aggregate, laid in one or two courses over a compacted stone sub-base and rolled while still hot to bond into a single dense, flat surface. It is quick to lay across a large area compared with unit-by-unit systems, copes well with sustained vehicle weight, and gives a classic, understated dark finish that suits both period and modern properties without competing with the architecture. Standard tarmac is not permeable, so correct falls and edge drainage need to be built in at construction rather than added afterward, and a sound, well-compacted sub-base is what actually determines how long the surface lasts rather than the tarmac layer alone.
Best suited to: larger driveways, properties wanting a low-fuss uniform finish, and sites that can achieve proper falls to a drainage point
Less suited to: sites with no viable drainage fall or where a permeable/SuDS-compliant surface is specifically wanted
Ground & property in Shirley
Shirley’s long Victorian and Edwardian terrace runs off Shirley Road mean tight frontages that sit right against a neighbour’s boundary on both sides, so edge work and kerb-drop coordination with the property next door come up more often here than in the more spaced-out suburbs. Space is genuinely at a premium on these plots.