Setting industry standards with its closed cell design, heat-welded membrane, and iconic honeycomb shape, CORE DRIVE is the ideal solution for creating smart, stable gravel driveways and parking areas.
While gravel offers an attractive, affordable, and versatile surface for landscaping and construction projects, it can shift and spread if it’s not suitably controlled. Our gravel grids provide an effective solution by creating a porous base that keeps gravel in place, free from ruts dips puddles or potholes!
THE ORIGINAL
HONEYCOMB DESIGN.
Site Specific Solutions.
Incredibly easy to install, cost-effective and virtually invisible once filled, CORE DRIVE is unlike any gravel grid on the market. Our permeable pavers are specifically designed for different traffic types and site conditions, whether your project is a sloped residential driveway or a busy commercial parking area, CORE has you covered.
The CORE DRIVE system can be used to construct new porous driveways, or it can be installed over existing surfaces. For more information, please download our installation guides:
Creating New DrivesOverlay Existing DrivesSub Base Calculations
• CORE DRIVE 40-30: A customer favourite. This grid withstands over 450tn/m², making it more than capable for domestic driveways, supporting all of the traffic you’d expect, including removal vans, emergency services and delivery vehicles.
• CORE DRIVE 40-40: Best suited for smaller car parks or compact on-and-off driveways with tight, repetitive vehicle movements. Its enhanced torsion strength ensures durability in high-stress areas.
• CORE DRIVE 50-35HD: The ultimate choice for those wanting the very best. With reinforced cells, locking system, and larger panel sizes, it’s perfect for projects where no expense is spared.
*For most domestic driveways, CORE DRIVE 40-30 offers unbeatable performance and value.
Why CORE DRIVE?
CORE DRIVE was one of the first gravel grid systems available in the UK back in 2008, originally developed for use on our own landscaping projects. Over the years, we’ve tweaked and refined the design, creating a product that combines nearly a decade of production expertise with real-world contractor insights.
What sets CORE DRIVE apart is its focus on quality and longevity. We don’t aim to be the cheapest (great products rarely are!) but we’ve always strived to be the best – delivering a grid that’s designed to stand the test of time while being as easy as possible to install for professionals.
Built for the trade, by the trade, CORE DRIVE is the result of genuine experience and dedication to excellence.
High Load Bearing.
The honeycomb construction of CORE DRIVE forms tightly packed pockets of loose gravel, which create a completely porous, hard standing surface. The finished result can easily withstand extreme pressure from vehicular traffic without aggregate displacement, creating one of the most versatile, cost effective paving solutions.
Interlocking Cell Shape.
CORE DRIVE gravel grids provide hassle-free gravel paving for all types of vehicle or pedestrian traffic with no compromise in strength and durability – the cell shape allows you to interlock the sheets as you lay them to avoid any gaps. Our large panel sizes allow for faster installations – giving our product a huge advantage over smaller alternatives, as our customers can install more product – saving precious time.
Clipping on Slopes.
Our flagship product, CORE DRIVE 50-35HD features an interlocking mechanism on all four sides. This means that adjacent panels can connect seamlessly in any direction, forming a continuous matrix across the surface.
Combined with the heat welded membrane, this unique design allows us to produce one of the thinnest, strongest, and least obtrusive driveway grid systems available in today’s market, making it an exceptional choice for projects that simply require the best product available.
Incredible Drainage Capabilities.
Perfect for fully SuDS compliant build ups, our free draining permeable pavers are capable of withstanding heavy traffic.
The membrane allows rainfall to permeate back down into the ground below for natural drainage – ensuring that your system never waterlogs and isn’t damaged by flooding in any areas.
Unique Honeycomb Design.
The honeycomb shape is one of the strongest and most efficient shapes found in nature. The hexagonal shape distributes force evenly, providing maximum strength with minimal material. This makes the honeycomb ideal for applications where weight and space are limited, but strength is crucial.
CORE DRIVE’s hexagonal ‘honeycomb’ design, combined with our custom blend of high density polyethylene (HDPE) material, and high-quality geotextile base combine to create, possibly the strongest, most aesthetically pleasing gravel grid on todays market.
Attached High Quality Membrane.
Thanks to our advanced manufacturing process, CORE DRIVE has a thermally heat-welded, high-quality geotextile membrane fused to the underside of each panel. This attachment to the honeycomb structure forms a tray for the gravel to sit in, effectively preventing any from moving beneath the gravel grids and causing damage. This ensures enhanced durability and performance. The membrane is also the key feature that makes our grid a closed cell design, the preferable choice for contractors, mitigating gravel migration. This structure is commonly referred to as a ‘Closed Cell Design’ and is considered the bare minimum for long-term gravel stabilisation.
CORE DRIVE – Benefits.
Find out the benefits of using a gravel driveway grid. Whether you’re looking for a SuDS compliant drive or a DDA compliant gravel surface we will be able to help.
CORE DRIVE – Videos.
Browse our informative videos demonstrating the straightforward installation process and showcasing the key benefits of using our driveway grid on your next project!
Frequently Asked Questions.
What vehicles can use CORE DRIVE?
CORE DRIVE can be used by almost any wheeled vehicle, we have gravel grids suitable for vehicles ranging from golf buggies to fire engines. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly to discuss the best gravel grid for your project.
Please note, whilst some of our gravel grids are capable of taking HGV traffic loads, no plastic gravel grid available on today’s market will withstand the immense pressure and friction created by the screwing action of a large vehicle performing a static manoeuvre.
Can CORE DRIVE be used on driveways that are on a slope?
Yes!
CORE DRIVE gravel grids can be used on driveways that have up to a 20% gradient, Please see recommended grids below and their capabilities:
If you are planning to use CORE DRIVE on an area that has a steep gradient and it is likely that your vehicle will come to a complete standstill whilst still on the gradient, we would advise on taking the precautionary measure to install ‘traction strips’ across the driveway to help provide the initial traction required that will allow your vehicle to pull-off and accelerate on the slope without wheel-spinning.
If a vehicle loses traction on the slope and begins to wheel spin this will inevitably lead to a risk of damaging the grid. If there are any areas on the driveway where it looks like a loss of traction may be unavoidable due to design or curvature of the gravel drive, we recommend installing a hardstanding such as block paving, macadam, or similar surface to these areas to help maintain traction and preserve the longevity of your new driveway!
Is CORE DRIVE environmentally friendly?
Yes!
CORE DRIVE provides a porous paving solutions which returns water back to the environment where it belongs instead of pooling or causing the flooding problems of traditional driveway surfaces. In addition CORE DRIVE is made from pure white recyclable virgin Polypropylene (PP) or High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). The HDPE products are also available in 100% recycled options.
Are CORE DRIVE installations easy to maintain?
Yes!
While you do not have the rutting and aggregate migration of traditional gravel installations, you still need to occasionally rake the gravel.
If you can see the CORE DRIVE structure, you should rake the gravel to completely cover the honeycomb, thus preventing damage.
Is there a suggested speed limit for CORE DRIVE grids?
In theory there is no suggested speed limit. However if you were to break sharply the friction caused by the skidding vehicle would be similar to that of a wheel-spinning vehicle. This could potentially damage the CORE DRIVE grid. For this reason we would advise a maximum speed limit of 5mph.
Is CORE DRIVE easy to install?
Yes!
Please take a quick look at our install video to see how easy it really is.
What type of gravel should I use?
For best results we recommend using a 6-12mm angular aggregate as this helps the surface dressing to stay in place, and ensures an attractive surface. However, CORE DRIVE grid will work with aggregate sizes up to 20mm.
Your finished CORE DRIVE will consist of hundreds if not thousands of small cells full of loose aggregate. This unique design prevents the aggregate from shifting or over compacting.
Is CORE DRIVE SuDS Compliant?
Yes.
Our products are one of the best Sustainable Urban Drainage Solutions available.
A SuDS compliant sub base build up should contain nothing smaller than 2mm in its construction, this is referred to as a ‘no fines’ or ‘reduced fines’ build up. By using a reduced fines sub base material such as type 3 or 4-40mm clean aggregate, below a grit bedding layer, the water is able to infiltrate through the complete build up and back into the subsoil.
Whilst all of our grids are completely porous and can therefore form a SuDS surface course, the free moving loose aggregate layers required to form a truly SuDS compliant surface can prove difficult to compact adequately to provide a sufficiently stable sub base.
Is CORE DRIVE Suitable for wheelchair users (DDA Compliant)
With regard to local government approval of our system there is no such document or set standard in the UK with reference to disabled access, which is why we refer to the American version in our literature where we have obtained U.S. approval.
In the UK Governments approved document, part M “access to and use of buildings” it states that the surface of an approach available to a wheelchair user should be firm enough to support the weight of the user and his or her wheelchair and smooth enough to permit easy manoeuvre. It should also take account of the needs of stick and crutch users.
Loose laid materials such as gravel and shingle are considered unsuitable for the approach. However we have proven through video footage and case study that loose aggregate laid in a CORE DRIVE or CORE PATH stabiliser is sufficiently stable to allow safe passage for all of the above named users.
Will weeds grow through the gravel?
No.
The geotextile membrane that is heat welded to the bottom of CORE DRIVE prevents weed growth from underneath the grid. You may however experience a few air borne weeds that are caused by birds dropping seeds or natural pollination; these can be easily removed due to the fact they are restricted to rooting in a single cell full of loose gravel.
Is there a guarantee with CORE DRIVE?
Yes – if the install is carried out to our specification then there is a 15 year guarantee.
Resources.
Discover all of our products, and download the specification & installation guides.
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