Driveways for Inverleith's Botanics-Area Villas, EdinburghEH3 · Marshalls Heritage Specialists

We visit your Edinburgh property, measure the area, assess drainage falls, kerb access and existing sub-base. You receive a physical Marshalls sample pack — Driveline, Argent, Tegula, Heritage and Drivesett — to compare against your stonework in natural light.

We dig out 200–250mm — 40% deeper than many cowboy installers. All spoil is removed from site by tipper. Geotextile membrane is laid over the formation to prevent sub-base contamination from Edinburgh's clay-heavy soils.

Marshalls' specification calls for a minimum 150mm of MOT Type 1 for residential driveways. We lay it in two 75mm lifts, each compacted with a 1.5-tonne vibrating plate to refusal. Falls are set at a minimum 1:60 toward the drainage point.

Every Marshalls driveway needs a rigid perimeter — without it, blocks migrate and joints open up. We bed soldier-course edging on a wet C20 concrete bed with full external haunching, exactly as specified in the Marshalls installation guide.

Sharp grit sand (not building sand) is screeded to a uniform 30–50mm. We never lay blocks on a wet bed and never use mortar — both are explicit Marshalls warranty exclusions.

We lay Marshalls blocks in your chosen pattern (45° herringbone, 90° herringbone, stretcher bond or random). Crucially, we mix blocks from 3 or more packs simultaneously to blend any minor batch shade variations — a Marshalls Register requirement that prevents 'patchy' driveways.

Edge cuts are made with a diamond-blade saw or hydraulic block splitter — never a chisel. Cuts are kept to a minimum of one-third of a full block to maintain interlock strength.

Kiln-dried silica sand is brushed into every joint and the entire surface is compacted with a rubber-matted plate to lock the blocks together. We top up jointing sand a second time, then sweep and pressure-rinse the surface.

Final inspection against the Marshalls installation checklist. You receive a written 25-year workmanship guarantee from us, plus the Marshalls product guarantee on the blocks themselves — only available because we're on the Marshalls Register.