The Homebase garden

The Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show 2013 starts tomorrow, which marks the 100th anniversary of the event. It lasts for 4 days, between 21st and 25th of May, and promises to be the best ever to celebrate its centenary.

One of the main attractions this year is an installation called ‘The Rush Of Nature’, which is a collaboration with renowned British artist Marc Quinn. This is the first time in the show’s history that the RHS has worked with an artist on an exhibit. The installation is a closely guarded secret, and will be kept under wraps until tomorrows opening. It will then be auctioned off by Sotheby’s in aid of the RHS Chelsea Centenary Appeal, with the funds used to create an apprentice scheme.

Of course the event wouldn’t be the same without the traditional show gardens, which this year include ‘Windows Through Time’, a celebration of 100 years of Chelsea garden design, and ‘After The Fire’, a garden based on regeneration after forest fires. The Great Pavillion will display a mixture of exciting new plants and flowers, alongside favourites from 1913. As always there will be lots of awards given out, including Best Garden, Best Product and the big special award for Plant of the Centenary.

You can visit the Chelsea Flower Show 2013 website by clicking here.

Learn the 'art' of pattern imprinted concrete installation

Places are beginning to fill up for our pattern imprinted concrete training day, but there are still some available. Book now to avoid missing out.

The course provides a great opportunity to learn how to install and maintain pattern imprinted concrete, one of the fastest growing parts of the uk home improvement sector. There will be a mixture of classroom learning and hands-on practical experience. Everyone is welcome, from novice installers wanting to learn from scratch, to specifiers wanting to gain a greater knowledge of the materials and processes.

The course starts at 9am on Saturday, 8th June, with the booking fee being £25. If you would like to reserve a place, please phone us on 01706 827180 or email info@cd-designs.co.uk.

Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveway and Planter

This customer was drawn to our company from us being part of The Guild of Master Craftsmen. The customer wanted a transformation of the front of their property, with the space being split for use as a driveway, patio area and planting area.

Instead of steps we designed a seamless pathway that would cut through both the driveway and patio area, each section of the job was partitioned with the use of timber sleepers. The project incorporated two different colours and two different patterns, with the use of an acid stained compass pattern to finish. The use of the acid stain on the classic grey colour worked beautifully, contrasting but with subtlety.

On preparation a large planter was formed to the left using the sleepers. On completion the project was in complete contrast to the original job with room to park, plant and entertain.

To see the full case study for this job click here.

We have recently completed installation of our second McDonald’s drive-thru this year in Openshaw, Manchester. The other was in Nottingham in March, which you can see a blog entry for here, and a full case study here. The above video shows images of how the job was done and the finished results, and also a short time-lapse segment showing the concrete pouring and imprinting process.

The installation was similar to the Nottingham drive-thru, but the specification was slightly different. Instead of our usual steel mesh that we used on the Nottingham job, we used a new material called Novomesh 950, which was one of the first times that it has been used with decorative concrete. Both the pattern and colour where the same.

We really enjoy doing these big pattern imprinted concrete jobs, and hopefully we will have more of them to show you in the future.

Printing the pattern on a new driveway

Complete Driveway Designs are pleased to announce that in June we are set to begin training courses in the installation and maintenance of pattern imprinted concrete.

The courses will provide full practical lessons on the process of pattern imprinted concrete installation, from preparing the area and pouring the concrete, to applying the pattern, colour and finish. It will also offer technical knowledge on the art and science of pattern imprinted concrete, with our instructors sharing their 30+ years of experience in the industry. Further training is then given on how to maintain pattern imprinted concrete, and how to identify and then solve any problems that may arise.

The courses start on Saturday 8th June at our yard in Ramsbottom, Bury, and cost £150 + VAT. Limited places are available so book early. A booking fee of £25 will secure your spot, with the rest to be paid once the course starts. Lunch and light refreshments will be provided.

If you are interested in the scheme, or know someone else that might be, then please get in touch via telephone on 01706 827180 or by email info@cd-designs.co.uk.

Fully Resealed Driveway

Although we had snow in the middle of March this year, it looks like winter has finally gone. Sometimes the weather can affect a driveway, but it is usually only superficial damage.

If your driveway looks like it needs a facelift, there are a few things that could have caused it. The most common is what we call blooming, which is where moisture has gotten into the sealant. Don’t worry, the concrete underneath is fine and this is easily fixable. The picture above is a resealed driveway which previously had blooming, and as you can see it looks great! We did a blog on this last year which you can see here.

Another common problem is where the sealant has worn away over time, making the driveway look old and shabby. Be aware that this means the concrete is not protected any more, and we would advise a full reseal in order to protect it from the elements. You can see examples of where maintenance is needed in this blog from last year.

Your driveway may just have become dull over winter, with the colour not as vibrant as it once was. This is probably just an example of weathering on the seal, and shows that the sealant has been doing its job. A reseal would bring back the full colour of the concrete underneath, and make the driveway look as good as new.

If you would like some advice about driveway maintenance, or you would like to book a reseal, please phone 01706 827180 or leave a message here.

In March we braved the snowy Manchester weather to install this landscaped lawn in Bowdon. The area was first dug out using a micro-digger and a dumpy level was used to make sure the ground was flat. Topsoil was added before the strips of turf were carefully laid down to leave a beautiful large stretch of lawn.

As you can see from the video (available on our Youtube channel and our Facebook page), we really do work in all types of weather conditions, so although we need nice weather to install pattern imprinted concrete, we can carry out lots other work like this landscaping job, building walls and decking, erecting fencing and security bollards, installing non-concrete driveways like Indian stone or block paving, or just preparing an area ready for concrete, until the weather gets better.

Now that the weather is (finally) looking a bit nicer, we can start to plan our summer schedule, and we will be installing lots of pattern imprinted concrete driveways and patios throughout. If you would like a quote for this or any other work then please call 01706 827180 or click here to send us a request.

Ian and Ben receiving the award

During February we were delighted to find out that we were the ‘Most Loved’ driveway and patio business in Bury on thebestofbury website. They were running a promotion called ‘14 Days Of Love’, a Valentine’s Day tie-in finding the best businesses in the area based on the number of recommendations that they got, and we came top. Not only were we the most recommended driveway and patio company in Bury, we were the third most in the entire country!

We’re thankful that so many of you are finding the time to give a review of our work, and delighted that you are so pleased with it. We will continue to give you the best driveways and patios possible, and in doing so hope to get many more reviews, so that by this time next year we will be number one in the country.

Charcoal coloured pathway

Black has long been the colour of elegance and simplicity. In fashion, the black suit or tuxedo is the standard formal attire for men, and for women the black dress is regularly seen on red carpets and catwalks. Designer Karl Lagerfeld was once quoted as saying “Black is the color that goes with everything. If you’re wearing black, you’re on sure ground”. The same is true outside of fashion, and black is increasingly being used for interior and exterior decorating. White walls and black furniture is often considered a ‘modern’ look, and the contrast between black and other colours looks beautiful, adds drama and never goes out of style.

A good example of how we use black to contrast other features is a driveway we installed in Blackpool in 2011, as shown in the photo above. We used our charcoal colour on the whole of the front drive and side path leading to the front door, and in contrast with the white walls, doorway and gravel, the black concrete gives a stylish and sophisticated look. We also use charcoal for our McDonald’s and KFC drive-thru’s. We are finding that more and more customers are choosing black for their pattern imprinted concrete driveways.

Ian and Tim receiving the award from thebestofbury's Phil Fellone

In earlier blog entries we told you about our move to a new yard and office, and also about 2013 being our 10th year in business. In part due to these, and also because of our two big new contracts with McDonald’s for their pattern imprinted drive-thru’s, we have been awarded the ‘Movers and Shakers’ award by the bestofbury, which recognises local businesses that have done something extraordinary that month.

The award came with a full page interview with our director Tim (pictured above) in thebestofbury magazine, and also a segment in the Bury Independent newspaper, which states “A key factor in Complete Driveway Designs’ success and continued development has been their ability to win large commercial contracts and still offer a high standard of workmanship on domestic projects”.

If you would like to take a look at the newspaper article, it was printed in the Bury Independent on the 8th March, and is also available to view on their website.