Influence of The Hills District, Parklea, Glenwood and Ryde on Driveway Design

Concrete driveways have taken a greater role in the presentation of homes. Driveways in Sydney at a time were associated with the grey colour of traditional plain concrete. Driveways are commonly built with concrete as it is a practical and durable material.

As concreters for 40 years, we have seen concrete driveway design progress from essentially a functional space to where driveways are now seen as a design element in the presentation of your property.

Plain concrete being naturally grey in colour is the traditional look of concrete. Plain concrete is a timeless finish with a utilitarian appearance. Plain concrete can work as an aesthetic design element, however today there are a multitude of decorative finishes that you can use to easily blend with your home and landscape design.        

Concrete driveways in Sydney aesthetically became more prominent in the early 90’s. The Hills District, Parklea and Glenwood now part of the North West Sydney region, where the pioneering areas for decorative concrete.

Decorative concrete became the go to choice for residential concreting. With the high volume of new home construction in the Hills District as well as the residential development of North West Sydney at the time, new home owners in this period where at the forefront in optioning custom decorative driveway design.

Designing a driveway became an extension of the new home construction process. New home owners in this period leaned towards driveway options that carried over the characteristics of their home building design.

The concrete designer driveway period was born. Driveway aesthetic designs in this period leaned towards brick pattern driveways that resembled the brickwork style of the home. Colouring was also based on the brickwork colour of the home.

Driveway colours such as brick red, burgundy, sandstone, sandy beige and terracotta were well liked during this driveway design period. In contrast, a green colour concrete driveway although not common was seen as a way to differentiate from the common favorites.

Uniquely, driveways in Ryde was where the majority of green coloured concrete construction projects were completed. The preference for green coloured concrete sets Ryde apart in concrete design.
  
The suburbs surrounding Ryde such as West Ryde, Denistone, Denistone East, Denistone West, Eastwood and Marsfield have the highest concentration of green coloured concrete driveways in Sydney.

Understanding how the Ryde area developed this preference for green coloured concrete is difficult to pinpoint as it was different to the driveway design preferences of the time.

Historically Ryde was an agricultural district. This agricultural past of Ryde is evident today in the greenness of parks and open spaces compared with other localities in Sydney. Continuing with the green theme, the origins of the Granny Smith apple came from within the Ryde district in Eastwood.

Another nod to the past is Ryde Council and its use of green colour in signage and infrastructure throughout the Ryde local government area. The Ryde district and its affinity for the colour green go hand in hand with its historical past and geographical features.

Ryde has left its mark on concrete design language in Sydney.

- Concreting Sydney