Groundwork Contractors in Redhill

For a Redhill extension the first job is finding out what the footing will sit in. Near the station the Folkestone sand often gives good bearing at a modest depth, but on the Weald Clay around Earlswood and Salfords, or the Gault north of the town towards Merstham, building control may ask for deeper trench fill, particularly where there are established trees in the garden or next door. Low ground beside the Redhill Brook can need a raft or piled design from an engineer.

We dig, pour and build up strip, trench fill and raft foundations, and lay oversite slabs and concrete bases for extensions, garages and outbuildings. The trench stays open and clean until building control has inspected it, then concrete is placed straight away so rain cannot soften the formation. On terraces and semis where the new work goes close to the neighbour's foundations, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 notice needs to be in place before we start.

Larger digs around Redhill include reduced levels for new houses on infill plots, cut and fill on the sloping gardens of Redstone Hill and St John's, and stripping sites before slabs and car parks. On the chalk at Merstham the material breaks out in lumps and rubble rather than coming away cleanly, while on the Weald Clay south of the town it stands well when dry but turns sticky and heavy after a wet week.

Getting spoil off a Redhill site efficiently matters on busy roads such as the A23 and A25. Our 16 tonne grab lorry loads from the heap with no extra machine, so it can work from a drive or the kerb, and for continuous digs we book tippers in rotation. Clay grows by about a third once excavated and chalk by even more, so we size the loads on the ground type, not the hole on the drawing.

Water is the recurring theme in Redhill. The Redhill Brook drains the low ground east of the railway, and the Weald Clay at Earlswood, Whitebushes and Salfords lets very little soak away, so surface water from a new roof or drive normally needs a connection to a surface water sewer, an attenuation tank or a permeable surface. On the sand around the town centre a soakaway can work, but only once a percolation test confirms it.

We dig and support drainage trenches, lay and bed foul and surface water runs to the designed falls, build inspection chambers and backfill in compacted layers. Every dig starts with a scan for buried cables and pipes and a look at the utility plans, as HSE guidance HSG47 recommends, which is important in the older streets close to the railway where services have been altered many times.

Redhill demolition work is often about making space: an old prefabricated garage behind a Victorian terrace, a conservatory or rear addition cleared for a larger extension, outbuildings on a garden plot, or a bungalow taken down for a pair of new homes. We dismantle in a controlled order, hand strip anything that sits on a shared boundary, and separate concrete, brick, timber and metal so as much as possible is recycled.

Anything that may contain asbestos needs a refurbishment and demolition survey first, and HSE advises that buildings put up before 2000 may contain it. Notice to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council can be needed under section 80 of the Building Act 1984. In Redhill's conservation areas, including Linkfield Street, Redstone Hill and St John's, demolishing some buildings and walls also needs planning permission, so we check before anything is touched.

Many Redhill gardens slope, especially on the sides of Redstone Hill and around St John's, and a patio there usually means a retaining wall, steps and careful levels so the terrace drains away from the house. On the flat clay gardens further south the challenge is water sitting on the surface, which we deal with through falls, edge drains and a sub base that will not trap water.

We lay Indian sandstone, porcelain and block paths and patios on a compacted MOT Type 1 base with full mortar beds, and we build steps and garden walls to suit. We help with the layout and choice of stone, set the finished level below the damp proof course, and make sure downpipes and gullies are dealt with so the new surface does not send water towards your neighbour.

Plenty of Redhill homes were built before the car, so a new drive often means turning a small front garden into parking, which brings questions of levels, steps and where the water will go. We dig out to a stable formation, lay a geotextile membrane and around 150mm of compacted MOT Type 1, then finish in block paving, tarmac or resin bound, with edgings set to line.

A front drive over 5 square metres needs to be permeable or drain onto your own garden to stay outside planning permission in England. Crossing the pavement needs a licence from Surrey County Council for the dropped kerb, and on A, B or C class roads planning permission is generally needed as well, so we talk this through before you commit. On clay we often add a channel drain across the entrance so water from the drive does not run onto the pavement or towards the house.

Our 2 tonne mini digger with its own operator suits the tight spots Redhill is full of: a rear garden reached through a side gate, a footpath behind a terrace, or a plot where a full size machine would do more harm than good. Builders use it for footings and drainage, and homeowners book it for levelling, stump removal and clearing ground before a garden room.

The operator handles the machine, its maintenance and the attachments, and knows how chalk, sand and clay behave in a trench, so the work goes in the right order. We deliver on our own lorry, and if the job grows we can bring a larger excavator and the grab lorry to clear the spoil.