Concreters in Belmont, 2280
Belmont occupies a sandy peninsula with Lake Macquarie on one side and the Tasman Sea on the other, twenty kilometres to the south-west of Newcastle’s CBD. Its town centre is strung along the Pacific Highway, which meets Macquarie Street and its pedestrian mall. Brooks Parade traces the lakefront, Belmont Baths stand at the lake end of Maude Street, and the Fernleigh Track finishes near the TAFE. Council calls Belmont the sailing capital of the lake, and its sailing club dates from 1920. The town grew from 98 occupied homes in 1921 to 1,292 in 1947, and council describes the result as mainly detached single storey dwellings on large blocks.
Sand, low ground and old pits
The centre and south are flat and sandy, and the ground rises to hills on the northern side, where the Lewers Estate was auctioned from 1919 on the strength of its lake views. Council notes that the north western end of the centre is lower-lying and subject to localised flooding, and records acid sulfate soils beneath the town centre. The northern and central parts of Belmont lie inside the Lake Macquarie Mine Subsidence District, while the lakeside strip in the southern half is mapped outside it. Because Subsidence Advisory NSW exempts driveways and hard stand spaces under all of its guidelines other than 4 and 5, the district is chiefly a question for whoever is planning a garage or a shed.
What large lakeside blocks produce
A deep block means a long driveway, and many here have served since the post-war decades. Removal and replacement is the core job, commonly with a hardstand added alongside for a boat or trailer. Worn paths are renewed in the same visit. Behind the house the list is a patio and a garage or shed slab for the gear that goes with the boat. More than a quarter of dwellings are flats, apartments and townhouses, and council is steering higher density towards Brooks Parade, so shared accessways and unit courtyards form a second stream.
Surfaces that suit the water’s edge
Exposed aggregate hides tracked-in sand and grit well, which makes it a sound pick for a frontage. A plain broom surface is the one for a trailer hardstand, where grip under a jockey wheel matters more than appearance, and a coloured mix suits a sheltered patio. If exposed stone is wanted on the crossing too, council asks that no less than three quarters of it be rhyolite or basalt.
Belmont rates
Each figure is per m², supplied and laid. A driveway runs from $95 to $185 across the finishes, and exposed aggregate on its own from $130 to $185. Paths sit at $90 to $130, patios and alfresco areas at $100 to $180 and shed and garage slabs at $110 to $150, with about $35 more wherever an old slab is broken out first. What shifts a Belmont price is distance from the street: on a deep block the far end of the pour can lie beyond the reach of the truck’s chute, which means a pump. Pace out your lengths for the calculator, see what a rate covers in the cost guide, and bring the specification and the Section 138 guide along to the site measure.
Council and the crossing
Belmont sits in the Lake Macquarie City Council area. What that council asks of a driveway crossing is set out on the areas page and, step by step, in the Section 138 guide.
Nearby: Warners Bay, Charlestown