Designer driveways: the latest trends

One of the star exhibits at the 2008 Hampton Court Flower Show was an area known as the ‘Porsche Garden'. It featured a driveway with a hydraulic lift. The lift meant that the car - in this case a Porsche - could be stored in a concrete pit under the ground.

The design, by the partnership of Sim Flemons and John Warland, was just one way in which top designers are looking at  how to deal with off-street parking. Sim Flemons explained: ‘It may look a bit futuristic, but it's very practical. Apart from anything else, it means that you can fit two cars into one parking space - one in the pit and one on top of it. In a city centre site, this represesents a good investment.'

For most homeowners, the front garden is an important part of the house. It is the first thing that people see and it gives a vital first impression. Designer Ian Dexter, believes that front drives are not given enough serious consideration. He explains: ‘A driveway is very important. For most people, their biggest investment is the house and the second biggest investment is the car. The driveway is the place that they come together. You want it all to look good.'

Dexter created the driveway which featured in this year's Chelsea Flower Show and which was specially designed with the needs of a young family in mind. ‘I figured that a young family would need a driveway, but would want some plants and colour. As a result I created an interesting looking driveway, and put up a vertical wall with plant containers built into it, which adds some interest.'

The drive has a central trackway, with two strips of gravel on which the car wheels can run. Between the two strips, there is an area of soil, planted with flowers. The track runs virtually all the way to the front door to maximise the parking area. However, because of the way it is split, it looks like a normal garden path, rather than an area for cars.  The appearance is softened by extensive planting, small hedges and there is a small area of permeable concrete block paving, with small clay cobbles as detailing.

Dexter believes that it is important to break up the harsh appearance of driveways. One method, which he often uses, is to grow small plants in special plastic mats or in ‘grasscrete' - comcrete blocks with recesses in which grass can grow.  Because the plants are protected by the plastic or concrete, cars can be driven straight over them. ‘These areas are much softer and more attractive than a normal driveway,' he said.

Another top designer, Sarah Eberle, has also been called on to design off-street parking. She points out that styles have changed with the times. ‘Partly because of the economic conditions, people don't want to be too ostentatious.' Increasingly, people no longer want their drives illuminated by spotlights. Instead they want more diffused lighting, often picking out the tops of bushes or the lower branches of trees. Until recently, a lot of people would get decklighting, sunk into ground along the side of their driveways, although this is now falling out of fashion.

The plants used on driveways of the moment are also less intrusive. ‘People don't want huge, single-stem trees. We are increasingly being asked for ornamental grasses and wider trees - often with multiple stems. There is also a lot of interest in small leaf trees, which allow the light to come throw and which throw dappled sunlight on the plants around them.'

Until recently many people would just put in a hammer-head shaped driveway, which looked ugly, but which made it easy to manoeuvre cars. ‘Homeowners are realising that they have to create the sort of place, which is suitable for human beings. People are now creating driveways that look like a courtyard. They are sleek, modern, attractive, and they don't just look like a bleak slab of concrete,' said Sarah.