Type-1 Footpath: Sub-Base + Bituminous Macadam – cost per m² – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & lay · typical budget rate before your adjustments

Labour, plant, materials, outputs and waste — yours to edit, as an Excel. Three free.

Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.

Type-1 footpath (sub-base + macadam)

per m² · supply & lay

£57 – £112 / m²

What is it

The construction of a new bituminous macadam (tarmac) footway, priced per m² of finished path: the formation trimmed to level, a ~150 mm compacted MOT Type 1 granular sub-base, and a ~65 mm bituminous macadam surfacing — a binder course under a wearing course — laid and rolled over it. This is the standard external-works footpath line on a UK BoQ; edgings and kerbs are measured separately (a linear item). The rate builds the footway as three operations by one gang:

Formation & sub-base — the formation trimmed to level and a ~150 mm MOT Type 1 sub-base laid & compacted.
Binder course — a ~45 mm 20 mm dense bitumen macadam base laid & rolled to the sub-base.
Surface course — a ~20 mm 6 mm macadam wearing course laid & rolled to the finished level.

Rate range

Low£57 – £74 / m²

Standard£69 – £89 / m²

High£87 – £112 / m²

Budget rate per m².

3 key cost drivers

Surfacing & sub-base spec

This rate prices a ~65 mm bituminous macadam (binder + surface course) over a ~150 mm Type 1 sub-base — the standard footway build-up. A thicker surfacing, a deeper adopted-highway sub-base or a coloured / SMA wearing course raises the bought-in material. Because footway construction is a sublet external-works package, the stone and macadam carry the full fee-on-fee mark-up.

Formation width & access

An open, straight, wider footway lays and rolls fast; a narrow path with many edges, cutting-in, bends and obstructions wastes more material and slows the gang, lifting the rate per m². Machine-paved runs beat hand-lay on a large open path.

Supply & quantity

Merchant prices for the bought-in materials move with supplier, account and load size, and the published band already spans that range. Rates are UK non-London; London & the South East typically run dearer — adjust the build-up.

Estimator

Budget rate generator

£69 – £89 / m²

Covers formation trim, the Type-1 sub-base, the bituminous macadam surfacing, the laying gang & O&P · excl. edgings & kerbs, drainage, prelims & VAT

Exclusions

Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
Edgings & kerbs — a separately measured linear (per-m) item under NRM2/SMM7 (the HB2 kerb rate)
Bulk excavation / dig to formation & capping layer, drainage, gullies & ducting, road markings & street furniture, prelims & VAT
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare
VAT