Standards Development

Scope

This part of BS 7533 gives guidance on the design of permeable pavements surfaced with:

•           concrete paving blocks manufactured in accordance with BS EN 1338;

•           concrete paving flags manufactured in accordance with BS EN 1339;

•           natural stone slabs manufactured in accordance with BS EN 1341;

•           natural stone setts manufactured in accordance with BS EN 1342;

•           clay pavers manufactured in accordance with BS EN 1344; and

•           other modular paving units, including porcelain.

It applies to areas subject to pedestrian and vehicular loading, with axle loads up to 11 000 kg and a cumulative design traffic of up to 30 million standard axles (msa).

NOTE Attention is drawn to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 [1], which specifies the pedestrian and vehicular loading requirements.

This part of BS 7533 specifically excludes design traffic above the specified maximum and areas of higher vehicle loading such as aircraft pavements and those in ports and specialized industrial areas. Although permeable pavements are often used effectively in conjunction with tree pits and tree root protection systems, the design and construction of tree root protection and tree pits is a specialist application and is not covered in this British Standard.

Design for impermeable surface with a water stored within the pavement foundation layers, commonly known as a reservoir foundation below, is not covered by this British Standard.

This British Standard applies to the design and installation of permeable pavements formed from pavers bedded on and jointed with graded granular permeable aggregates and permeable mortar where there is a full depth permeable base and/or sub-base construction below. Following this guidance provides a sustainable drainage system (SuDS) component.

A surface constructed with a permeable laying course and permeable jointing material, bound or unbound, where the underlying pavement construction is impermeable (for example, an existing or new impermeable road base or similar) can be used to provide a surface drainage function or degree of surface water control in some scenarios and is covered in Annex C. This configuration, sometimes referred to as “permeable paving overlay”, in and of itself, does not constitute a SuDS component.