Traditional Methods of Paving Not Complying with British Standards
Understanding traditional paving methods not complying with British Standards is essential for contractors, designers, and specifiers working outside conventional construction techniques. While BS 7533 provides a robust framework for modern paving installations, there are legitimate scenarios where historic, aesthetic, or design-led methods fall outside its scope — and knowing when this applies is critical to managing legal responsibility.
Whilst we are very pleased to champion the new British Standards on paving works – BS7533:101 and 102, as they provide the industry with a firm, written foundation describing in detail the working practices and methods of laying a wide variety of paving materials in bound and unbound schemes, making life much simpler by regulating techniques and quality across the board, there are times when British Standards cannot apply.
Both Gareth and I are qualified, vetted, expert witnesses, dealing with well over a hundred cases each year between us. We have to follow strict protocol laid down in a format known as Civil Procedure Rules 2015. We are obliged to follow British Standards or Industry Best Practice as our guide when describing projects in reports for use in Court as instructed by a legal practitioner in a format known as a ‘Brief’. The usual question is ‘Has the contractor met British Standards?’, which is a sensible foundation to begin a report statement.
The Royal Horticultural Society and Society of Garden and Landscape Designers have both expressed strong views against the use of cement in garden projects, mainly involving paving, going to great lengths at the Shows and in presentations championing the use of ‘alternative’ methods of securing paving, none of which would meet BS7533. As long as designers make it clear that their elected specification does not meet BS7533, they will not be bound to comply.
Similarly, the use of pedestals under paving slabs would not meet BS7533, but are sold for use in domestic and commercial paving projects including patios and pathways.
‘Old Fashioned’ paving techniques using ‘Soil Cement’ – mixing ordinary Portland cement with friable soil to produce a sticky mix ‘concrete’ under crazy paving to enable mosses and lichen to colonise the joints, certainly would not meet either BS or RHS requirements, although it is a popular, low-cost alternative, eschewing the requirement for imported aggregates. (I find it especially useful and attractive using variable thickness Purbeck paving/rejects in cottage garden projects).
If you use any of these ‘non-standard’ methods and materials, providing you have included and explained their purpose in your quotation or design details, you cannot be held liable to meet British Standards, as there is no attempt to cheat the customer. You should be clear about the use of non-standard methods, even if they are not as long-lasting as more robust constructs. If they provide the purpose for which they have been designed, you will not fall foul of the Consumer’s Rights Acts as being unfit for such purpose.
Crucially, if you state that all works will be to British Standards in your documentation, you will be held to those standards.
