Choosing between block paving and asphalt for a car park

What is the short answer?

Choose block paving when appearance, local repairs and frequent access to buried services matter, as in residential communities, villa entrances and business frontages. Choose tarmac when the area is very large, the priority is laying speed and the setting is purely functional, such as a long access road or an open industrial yard without fine detailing.

In both cases, the quality of the sub-base and drainage decides how long the surface lasts far more than the top material does. A tarmac car park on a poor base ruts and cracks; a block-paved one on a poor base sinks and loosens. The comparison only makes sense once you assume both are built on a sound structure.

How do repairs compare?

This is where block paving has its clearest advantage. A section of block paving can be lifted, the base corrected and the same blocks relaid, leaving no visible patch once the joints are filled. With tarmac, a repair is a cut-out and a new patch, which shows as a different colour and texture and forms new joints where water can enter.

• Burst pipe under the car park: blocks are lifted and relaid; tarmac is cut and patched.
• Local sinking at a gully: blocks are relaid on a corrected base; tarmac needs a patch over the repaired base.
• New cable for a charging point: a trench through blocks closes almost invisibly.
• Damaged area after a heavy vehicle: a few blocks are replaced rather than a whole panel resurfaced.

For communities with many services under the car park, such as water, irrigation, lighting and telecoms, this ability to open and close the surface cleanly is often the deciding factor. The repair side is covered by our sister site, which specialises in lifting and relaying paving.

Which handles water better?

Neither is waterproof in practice, and both need falls, channels and gullies to shed water. Conventional block paving lets some water pass through its joints, which is why the base must drain well and the falls must be clear. Tarmac sheds more water at the surface, so the drainage at its edges and low points carries a larger share of the rain.

Where rainwater management matters, permeable block paving is an option that tarmac does not offer in the same way: water passes through open joints into a base built to store it. It requires its own build-up and suits some sites better than others, as our comparison of permeable and standard pavers explains.

How do they compare in appearance and setting?

Block paving gives far more choice of colour, format and pattern, and parking bays, walkways and no-parking zones can be marked with contrasting blocks instead of paint. That suits urbanizaciones, villa complexes and business frontages, where the car park is also the first thing visitors see.

Tarmac gives a uniform, functional look that suits roads and large utilitarian areas. Painted markings need renewing over time. In a community setting with gardens and Andalusian architecture, owners often find tarmac too close to a public road in character, though that is a matter of taste rather than performance.

What about heat, turning and heavy vehicles?

Both surfaces can carry heavy vehicles if the structure below is designed for them. Under turning lorries, block paving needs an interlocking pattern and firm edges; tarmac needs an appropriate mix and thickness specified for the traffic. Specific performance values are a matter for the product specification and, on large sites, for the project engineer.

Dark surfaces get hot in the Andalusian summer, and lighter-coloured blocks are one way of reducing how hot the car park looks and feels underfoot. We avoid giving figures on this, because surface temperature depends on colour, material and exposure, and we have no measured data to quote.

For yards with forklifts and lorries, our industrial yard paving page explains how the build-up is set with the client's technician.

How do cost and installation compare?

Tarmac is generally laid faster over large open areas, because it is placed by machine in continuous runs. Block paving takes more labour per square metre for laying, cutting and jointing, but the base work for both is broadly similar in nature. On small or awkward areas with many edges, manholes and curves, the difference narrows.

We do not publish figures on this site. For block paving, the published rates and a calculator are on our sister site under paving price per m². Tarmac has no published unit price: we lay asphalt too and quote it individually from photos and the area in m², so both options can be compared side by side.

What about EV charging points and future works under the car park?

They are a growing reason to prefer a surface that can be opened neatly. When an owner in a community asks for a charging point, the installation usually means a trench from the electrical supply to the parking bay. With block paving, the trench is opened by lifting blocks, the cable is laid and the same blocks go back, so the car park looks the same afterwards.

With tarmac, every trench leaves a visible scar and a joint where water can enter, and several of them over the years give the surface a patchwork look. If the community expects more works under the car park, such as new irrigation, lighting or telecoms, it is worth factoring that into the choice from the start rather than discovering it after the first trench.

When do we recommend each one?

We recommend block paving for community car parks, shared drives, villa entrances and business frontages where looks, local repairs and access to services matter. For very large, purely functional areas tarmac may be the more practical choice, and as we lay asphalt as well, we can carry out whichever option the community decides on.

Our block-paved car park work is described on car parks and communities. Send us a photo and the approximate m² – free, no-obligation quote. Tell us which vehicles use the area and what lies beneath it, as far as you know, so we can judge how often it is likely to be opened up.

Frequently asked questions