Australian concrete journal
Custom Concrete ConceptsIssue in perpetuity · Australia
An Australian journal of decorative, architectural and outdoor concrete. We write for homeowners, builders, landscape designers and architects who need more than a brochure: climate, soil, standards, finish and the conversations that happen before the truck arrives.
Lead essay
Architectural concrete · 8 May 2024
A wall poured in place is a drawing executed in timber, steel and vibration. This piece treats formwork as the face of the architecture, compares board-form and smooth work, and uses Canberra’s civic concrete only to show what residential scale can and cannot borrow.
Outdoor living · 28 February 2024
Reactive clay in Melbourne’s west, Adelaide and western Sydney will move a driveway whether the photograph looks solid or not. Thickness helps, but joints, edge beams, trees and drainage away from the house decide whether the slab stays serviceable. This is a briefing on what actually fails — and what to ask before the truck arrives.
Polished floors · 22 January 2024
A house slab can be a finished floor if you decide, before anyone trowels, whether you are polishing a new pour or grinding what a builder left. This piece covers exposure, joints, dogs, rugs, seasonal comfort and the sample grind that should happen before you commit a living room.
Materials and method · 4 December 2024
Good concrete is commissioned, not hoped for. This essay sets out a written brief, sample panels, hold points, weather call-offs and payment stages, plus the photographs this journal expects a reader to keep before anyone books a truck for the job.
Architectural concrete · 27 November 2024
A concrete stair is structure and finish in the same pour or the same precast flight. This essay treats geometry, nosings, lighting and handrails as design problems, and asks what Australian weather and bushfire rules do to an outdoor stair.
Outdoor living · 13 November 2024
A landscape retaining wall is a structure that holds soil, water and often a driveway surcharge — not a vertical finish. Height, drainage behind the wall, and whether an engineer is required matter more than the face. This briefing compares sleeper, block and poured concrete, and the roots and loads that rewrite an undrained wall.
Polished floors · 29 October 2024
Heating a slab and then polishing it is one system, not two trades who meet at handover. This piece compares hydronic and electric, cover to pipes, thermal mass from Hobart to Brisbane, cracking risk, when to polish, energy honesty, and the rugs that undo the heat.
Materials and method · 8 October 2024
A lower-carbon mix is a specification, not a colour. This essay looks at embodied carbon, the real availability of fly ash and slag in Australia, the limits of recycled aggregate on a decorative face, and the questions that separate a plant conversation from greenwash.
Outdoor living · 25 September 2024
Garden paths fail as circulation long before they fail as photographs. Trip geometry, landings, lighting and tree roots decide whether a level change is a stair or a hazard. This is a plain-language briefing on NCC ideas, permeable versus slab paths, and routes that can take a pram or a wheelchair — not legal advice.
Decorative concrete · 16 September 2024
Faux slate and printed timber ask concrete to impersonate a material it will outlast. This essay argues for honest grey and oxide in the lineage of Australian modernism, names when a stamp becomes kitsch, and sets out the few cases — access, heritage streetscape — where imitation still earns its keep.
Architectural concrete · 4 September 2024
A table, bench or planter is a small structure that has to move, drain and wear. This piece covers glass-fibre mixes, weight, frost and heat, and the honesty required when outdoor furniture is asked to look new after a decade of weather.
Each hub gathers long-form pieces that belong together. Start with the essay, then read across the related articles.
Decorative concrete
Colour, stamp, stencil and exposed aggregate.
Polished floors
Grind, hone, polish, live with the slab.
Outdoor living
Driveways, patios, pools, kitchens, garden structure.
Architectural concrete
Walls, stairs, benches, furniture, precast.
Materials and method
Mix, cure, seal, repair, specify.