Design Checklist
- Quality street environments are established where the building front is prominent, positively addressing the street and not obscured by the car or garage
- Convenient and safe routes between the parking space and house are provided
- Car and cycle parking is safe and secure
- An efficient use of the land is achieved without excessive land taken by parking and manoeurving
Parking located on the site and accessed from in front of the terraced house includes parking on hard-standings and integrated garages accessed off the street or shared accessways, as these areas are also considered a 'front'.
The advantages and disadvantages of parking in front of the house on the site are defined below, and better design practice presented.
Advantages of garages and hard standings accessed from the front:
- Easy and convenient access.
- Car parking is generally safe and visible from the dwelling.
- Land is used efficiently through minimising the space needed for manoeuvring, where located directly off the street.
- Cycle parking can also be provided within the building envelope.
- Horizontally stacked (one car parked in front of the other) garages can provide a route from the back of the house to the front without going through the house itself, which is useful for removing rubbish etc.
Disadvantages of garages and hard standings accessed from the front:
- A large, wide garage can block visual contact between the house and the street, limiting the contribution to safe streets and accessways.
- Double-width garages and their crossovers can dominate the street and undermine the continuity of the footpath and landscaped berms along the street. This creates physical and psychological barriers to walking, which is an important choice for all, especially those who do not have access to a car
- Frontages dominated by cars can affect the value of the house and the development as a whole.