How to get rid of pond?

[Yasin Ismail]

Recently bought a house with a fairly large pond in the garden. The previous owners have removed the fish and emptied out the water, and now all that is left is a roughly 10-15cm thick layer of green slimy junk at the bottom of the pond.
My aim is to pave over it. Not interested in turning it into a flower bed.
How can I best do this?
Would I be right in saying full it with hardcore and then paving slabs on top? Or hardcore, then topsoil and then paving slabs?
Any advice would be helpful

Thank you

 

[r896neo]

What is the base? Liner or concrete?

 

[Yasin Ismail]

Liner

 

[John D v2.0]

We had that and yanked out the liner with difficulty and got a tenner on Gumtree for it.
Then we filled it with soil by leveling the general area and waited for grass (and weeds) to grow. No need for hard core unless you're parking on it or making a soakaway, for a patio it would help stop it sinking though.

 

[Yasin Ismail]

Thanks for that.
Do I need to break the concrete at the bottom to allow for drainage? I'm planning on paving that area off and maybe putting a garden swing there so maybe hardcore is a good option?

 

[John D v2.0]

Not sure how well patios would drain in the first place, they're not classed as permeable. Usually you would lay them to a small fall and make sure the lower end can soak away effectively enough.

 

[r896neo]

If it has a concrete base its easier. Is it a fully contained masonary structure like a small swimming pool?