Landscaping Services in London

Landscaping Services

Most landscaping work in a London garden is groundwork. Patios, paths, steps, retaining walls and drainage take up most of the time and budget, and planting goes in at the end. In a typical terrace garden of 10 to 15 metres, the main decisions are levels, where the water goes, and how materials and soil get in and out.

If the garden is being redone after building work, there’s more on layout and planting in garden design after a house extension.

Paving and patios

A patio that stays flat depends on what’s under it. The usual build-up is a dug-out formation, 100 to 150 mm of compacted Type 1 sub-base, and the slabs bedded on a full mortar bed. Slabs set on five dabs of mortar, still common, leave voids underneath that crack the stone and collect water.

Paving needs a fall away from the house, typically around 1 in 60 to 1 in 80, and the finished level should sit at least 150 mm below the damp-proof course of the house wall. Bringing a patio up level with the back door is a common way to cause damp in a ground floor room.

Porcelain paving needs a bonding primer on the back of each slab, or it can lift off its bed.

In front gardens, paving over more than 5 m² with an impermeable surface needs planning permission unless the water drains to a lawn or border, or the surface itself is permeable.

Drainage on London clay

London clay holds water. A soakaway that would work on gravel or chalk can fill up and stay full on clay, so a percolation test is worth doing before relying on one. Alternatives are permeable paving over a deeper stone layer, linear drains along the house, or a connection to the surface water drain where one exists.

Walls, steps and levels

Many London gardens slope, and retaining walls over a metre or so high, or close to a neighbour’s foundations, need an engineer’s design. A retaining wall holds back the weight of wet soil, and walls built like ordinary garden walls lean over after a few winters. They need drainage behind them for the same reason.

Hedges and boundaries

Boundary disputes over hedges have their own law. Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 lets a neighbour complain to the council about a high hedge, and defines one as:

“so much of a barrier to light or access as— (a) is formed wholly or predominantly by a line of two or more evergreens; and (b) rises to a height of more than two metres above ground level.”

Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, section 66(1)

A single tree isn’t a hedge under the Act, and nor is a deciduous one. The law is often linked to Leyland cypress, a hybrid that first appeared at Leighton Hall in Wales in 1888 and grows up to a metre a year.

Lighting, irrigation and outdoor kitchens

Garden lighting runs either at mains voltage in armoured cable or at low voltage from a transformer. New outdoor circuits are notifiable under building regulations and need certification.

Drip irrigation on a timer suits pots and borders against walls, which rain often misses.

Outdoor kitchens need a solid base, a power supply, and often a water supply and drain.

Soil and waste

A garden job on a terrace can fill several skips with soil, old paving and rubble. Householders have a legal duty over where it goes:

“It shall be the duty of the occupier of any domestic property in England or Wales to take all such measures available to him as are reasonable in the circumstances to secure that any transfer by him of household waste produced on the property is only to an authorised person or to a person for authorised transport purposes.”

Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34(2A)

If waste taken away from your garden is later fly-tipped, you can be fined unless you checked the carrier was licensed. A skip on the road needs a council licence.

Larger structures in the garden are covered on the garden houses page.

Force Builders carries out landscaping, paving, drainage and garden construction across London, including Kensington, Knightsbridge, Fulham, Putney, Wimbledon, Richmond, Notting Hill, Holland Park, Archway and Finchley.