External Works · Redditch · 2025

Redditch, New Porch & Double Driveway.

Item: Redditch, New Porch & Double Driveway
Rating: 5
Author: Homeowner, Redditch

Knocking down a tired, dark timber porch and replacing it with a bright, substantial rendered porch, then digging out an unusable front lawn and tree stumps to create a proper brick-edged double driveway.

Overview

The clients came to us with two problems on one elevation: a dated timber-and-leaded-glass porch that had stopped being useful years ago, and a front garden that was all lawn and tree stumps with nowhere sensible to park.

We demolished the old porch and built a new one from the footings up, brick plinth, rendered walls, a clay plain-tiled roof tied properly into the existing house, and a full-height glazed return so the entrance actually gets light. Alongside it we cleared the garden, grubbed out the stumps, dug the whole frontage out to formation and laid a brick-edged tarmac double driveway.

It's a small-footprint job by area, but it changes the way the house is used and looks every single day, which is exactly the kind of work we enjoy.

The brief

A useless porch and a front garden nobody could use

The original porch was a dark timber frame with leaded glazing under a low tiled canopy, the kind of 1980s addition that looks tired long before it fails. It was shallow, cold, and did nothing for the front of the house.

In front of it sat a lawn broken up by old tree stumps, with barely enough hardstanding for one car on a road where street parking is tight. The clients wanted the whole frontage rethought as one piece of work rather than two separate jobs, porch first, driveway around it.

The original dated timber porch with leaded glazing and dark stained frame on a red brick house in Redditch before JRC Developers rebuilt it — Before, the original timber and leaded-glass porch, shallow, dark and long past its best.

The porch

Built from the footings up, tied properly into the house

We took the old porch out completely, dug and poured new footings, and built the new structure in blockwork off a red brick plinth that picks up the existing brick colour. Walls were rendered and painted in a clean off-white so the porch reads as a deliberate addition rather than a bolt-on.

The roof is a clay plain tile lean-to with new leadwork to the abutment, black fascia and half-round gutter to match the house. A full-height glazed return to the side, plus a window to the front, means the entrance now takes daylight from two directions, the single biggest change the clients notice day to day.

Inside the threshold we laid a recessed matwell and finished the step in brick-on-edge, so the transition from tarmac to porch floor is flush and clean.

The new rendered porch at the Redditch property with red brick plinth, clay tiled lean-to roof, white uPVC French doors and a full-height glazed side return, built by JRC Developers — After, rendered walls off a brick plinth, clay plain tile roof, glazed return pulling light into the entrance.

Front-on view of the completed porch in Redditch showing the clay tiled roof, white French doors, side window and brick soldier course at the base — Straight on, the tile courses run level with the existing roofline and the brick plinth ties back into the house.

Close-up of the full-height glazed side return of the new Redditch porch with brick plinth meeting the new tarmac driveway — The glazed side return, full height, sitting straight off the brick plinth onto the new driveway.

The driveway

Lawn and stumps out, brick-edged tarmac in

With the porch weathertight we moved onto the frontage. The lawn was stripped, the tree stumps grubbed out, and the whole area dug down to formation and re-graded so surface water runs away from the house rather than towards it.

We laid a compacted MOT sub-base, set red brick pavior edging on concrete haunching to define the shape and hold the edges, then laid and rolled tarmac in two courses. New linear drainage and a recessed manhole cover were set flush into the finished surface.

The result is a genuine double driveway, two cars off the road comfortably, with a crisp brick edge that ties the new hardstanding to the porch plinth and the house brickwork.

New brick-edged tarmac double driveway in Redditch running from the road to the garage and new porch, laid by JRC Developers — The finished double driveway, brick pavior edging on concrete haunching, tarmac laid and rolled in two courses.

Wide view of the completed Redditch frontage showing the new tarmac driveway, brick edging, recessed drainage and the rebuilt porch — Where a lawn and tree stumps used to be, parking for two, draining properly, edged in brick.

The outcome

A frontage that works every day

There's nothing better than finishing a project and knowing the client is genuinely happy with the result. Transforming spaces is one thing, hearing how much it's improved someone's home and day-to-day life makes it all worth it.

Our thanks to the clients for trusting us with their property, and for taking the time to write to Jack afterwards.

Gallery

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Before, the original timber and leaded-glass porch, shallow, dark and long past its best.

In the client's words

"Firstly I would like to say a massive thank you to you and everyone that worked at our property. We love how you have transformed what was a useless front garden and porch into what it now is. JRC Developers recently transformed the front of our house. They knocked down our useless old porch and built a wonderful substantial replacement. They also dug up the front garden and removed the old lawn and tree stumps replacing it with a very usable double driveway. Jack and his team worked tirelessly and were always reliable, courteous and very hardworking. I would highly recommend this company and would use them again without hesitation."

Homeowner, Redditch · via Letter to Jack Coote