Driveways, Patios & Landscaping in St Albans
BMS Building covers St Albans from a base in Watford, about fifteen minutes away, on driveways, paving, patios, fencing, artificial grass, groundworks and brickwork. Perry Niven sees every job before it is priced, and the price agreed at the start is the price at the end.
Working in St Albans
St Albans is the closest of the towns BMS Building works in regularly, roughly fifteen minutes from Watford, where the firm is based, so somebody is in the area most weeks rather than on a set day. That matters more than it sounds: a job that needs a second visit for levels, or a delivery met on site, does not cost a day. Work runs across the whole district, from the streets around the Abbey and Fishpool Street out to Marshalswick, Jersey Farm, Bernards Heath, London Colney and the villages either side of the A1081. Access is the thing that varies most. The older central streets are narrow, often with no off-street parking and restrictions during the day, so muck-away and deliveries are planned around them rather than assumed: a grab lorry that cannot get down the road is a wasted morning for everybody. Every job is quoted after a site visit by Perry Niven, and the quote states what comes out, what goes back in and what it costs.
St Albans is the town BMS Building works in most often after Watford itself, and the short distance is the practical difference. A site visit is a morning rather than a day out, and a job that needs somebody back on site for levels or to meet a delivery does not turn into a week's delay.
What we do in St Albans
Driveways and paving are the largest part of it: block paving and resin bound surfaces, paths, steps and edging. Patios are the next, in porcelain, Indian sandstone, natural stone and granite. Alongside those run garden landscaping, close board and picket fencing, artificial grass, groundworks for extensions and porches, and brickwork for garden and retaining walls.
The one thing worth saying plainly is that these are not separate trades hired in. The same firm digs the base, lays the surface and builds the wall at the edge of it, which is why the levels meet where they are supposed to.
Working around the older streets
The streets around the Abbey and Fishpool Street, and much of the Victorian terracing towards Fleetville, were not built for skips and grab lorries. Several have no off-street parking and daytime restrictions on the road. None of that stops the work, but it does change how it is planned: where the waste goes, when it goes, and how materials reach the back of a property.
That gets settled at the site visit rather than discovered on the first morning.
Before you agree anything in a conservation area
The St Albans Conservation Area covers the city centre, including the Abbey and Fishpool Street. Being inside it does not, on its own, change the national rules for a hard surface in a front garden or for the height of a wall or fence near a highway. What does change them is an Article 4 direction, and two apply in parts of the conservation area: Verulam and Fishpool Street, and Sopwell Lane and Albert Street. A planning condition on the property can do the same, a listed building brings consents of its own, and in a conservation area taking down a wall, fence or gate can need permission.
St Albans City and District Council's District Mapping Service shows whether an address is in a conservation area or an Article 4 area, and the council is the authority on your specific address. Check it before anything is ordered. We will tell you what is obvious from the site, and we will not tell you a job is permitted when that is the council's call to make.
Recent work in St Albans
BMS Building replaced a cracked concrete slab drive at a St Albans home with a multi-tone block paved driveway. The front garden was redone at the same time, with a curved edge to the new drive, a buff border and a fresh bed of white gravel beside the brick pier.
What St Albans properties are like
St Albans has an unusually wide spread of housing for one district, and the spread is what decides most of the work. There are Victorian and Edwardian terraces close to the centre with small frontages and no vehicle access at all, 1930s semis with the original crossovers, substantial inter-war and post-war housing out towards Marshalswick, and newer estate development on the edges. The St Albans Conservation Area covers the city centre, including the Abbey and Fishpool Street, and Article 4 directions apply in two parts of it: Verulam and Fishpool Street, and Sopwell Lane and Albert Street. Being in a conservation area does not, on its own, change the national permitted development rules for a front garden hard surface or for the height of a fence or wall. An Article 4 direction or a planning condition can take those rights away, a listed building brings consents of its own, and in a conservation area taking down a wall, fence or gate can need permission. St Albans City and District Council is the planning authority, and its District Mapping Service shows whether an address is in a conservation area or an Article 4 area: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/conservation-areas. The ground is the other variable. The British Geological Survey maps most of the district as chalk, with sand and gravel over much of it and the clay, sand and gravel of the Lambeth Group in places, including parts of the city centre. What is under one address is no guide to the next, which is why the site visit measures rather than assumes.
St Albans questions
Where are you based, and how quickly can you get to St Albans?
- BMS Building is based in Watford, about fifteen minutes from St Albans on a normal day. That is close enough that somebody is usually in the area during the week, so a site visit does not need booking weeks ahead. What a start date depends on is what is already running, not the distance, and you will be told a realistic one in writing rather than a hopeful one.
Do I need permission for a driveway or a wall in a St Albans conservation area?
- The conservation area alone does not decide it. Being in one does not change the national rules for a front garden hard surface or for a wall's height. What can change them is an Article 4 direction, and two apply in parts of the St Albans Conservation Area (Verulam and Fishpool Street, and Sopwell Lane and Albert Street), a planning condition on the property, or a listed building, which brings consents of its own. Taking down a front wall in a conservation area can need permission too. The council's District Mapping Service shows whether your address is affected. We will tell you what we can see on site, but the council is the authority on your address and the check is theirs to give.
Which parts of St Albans do you cover?
- The whole district, and the villages around it. That includes the city centre and the older streets near the Abbey, Marshalswick, Jersey Farm, Bernards Heath, Fleetville, London Colney, Park Street and Chiswell Green. If you are just outside and not sure, ask. It is a short conversation and the answer is usually yes.
Will access be a problem on a narrow central street?
- It is the thing we plan around rather than the thing that stops the job. Older central streets are tight, often with daytime parking restrictions and no off-street space, so waste removal and material deliveries get arranged to suit the street instead of the other way round. That is worked out at the site visit, because a grab lorry that cannot reach the house is a wasted morning.
What we do in St Albans
We also cover Radlett, Park Street, London Colney, Chiswell Green and Bricket Wood from the same base.