CONCRETE PAVER EVOLUTION

The popularity of the stylish large format paver is not about to suffer a crash any time soon. In fact, Australian’s preferences are evolving to a softer colour palette in keeping with what is architecturally desirable in landscaping and house design.

According to Priscila Manio, spokesperson for Boral Clay & Concrete, Australian homeowners and landscape designers are responsible for a second evolution of the very popular large format paver. Starting at a hefty 400x400mm paver size, large format pavers stretch to the maxi 600x400mm Boral Aspenstone paver.

With the trend in large format pavers beginning around 12 years ago, the latest transformation features the fine tuning of textures and colours. There has been a steady trend away from earlier rustic textures and strong colours, such as dark brown and ochre. Today’s pavers feature barely there finishes and neutral colours to create clean, simplified lines for uncluttered outdoor areas. The latest large format paver to be released by Boral is Coast with its subtle sawn-cut finish, smooth sandstone texture and pale tones of Driftwood and Shell.

These lighter colours are a perfect foil to the popular dark renders and retaining walls increasingly present in contemporary landscaping designs. To match landscape designers’ preferred palette of monochromatic and neutral colour schemes, Boral has been moving to a lighter colour range for the past couple of years. The popular Boral Aspenstone paver now also offers the pale but warm Cappuccino, while the Boral Stoneworks Travertine paver has added the restrained notes of Smoke to its range.

Manio says the borders, trims and feature pieces in paving have long gone, giving way to single colour schemes for entire outdoor areas. “It’s really about taking the indoors to the outside – inside we see clean lines, light-coloured, large format floor tiles and this extends all the way out in a smooth, uninterrupted motion.”

In keeping with today’s uncluttered outdoor designs, paver laying patterns have also been simplified with only one or two patterns, stacked and stretcher being the most popular with landscape designers.

While heavy, the large format pavers are easy to lay, and need only four to six pavers per one square metre of ground. With the average pool size around 7m x 10m, the larger size pavers are ideal for poolside paving. At a minimum of 400mm deep, one large format bull-nose paver can be used to create a single step tread.

For more information contact Boral on 1300 134 002 or visit www.boral.com.au/landscaping