Design Checklist
- Quality street environments are established where the building front is prominent, positively addressing the street and not obsured by the car or garage
- Convenient and safe routes between the parking space and the 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 manoeuvring
Parking located behind the house is sometimes referred to as 'rear-loaded' parking and includes parking accessed from rear lanes. Here the front entrance to the house is accessed off the public street.
Parking accessed from the rear should address:
- Access and connections between any rear lane and the primary street
- Quality streetscape design of the rear lane / courtyard
- Housing orientation and overlooking onto the rear lane / courtyard
- Organisation of the house and especially outdoor private open space to allow for the parking space / carport / garage whilst maintaining sunlight access and general amenity quality of the private open space.
- Possibility for shared / communal rear courtyards that serve as parking areas and open space.
This section will discuss the positive and negative attributes of parking behind the house, and offer guidance for achieving quality outcomes.
Advantages of parking behind
- The number of driveway crossovers with the public street to be minimised. This allows for a continuous and accessible footpath which is safer to walk along.
- Streetscape berms to be retained to create a highly landscaped and attractive street edge which encourages walking and cycling to local destinations.
- Car free front yards and good passive surveillance, creating good conditions for safe and walkable neighbourhoods.
- A direct relationship between the front of the terraced house and the street, or corner.
- An additional room or minor unit above a rear garage can add value to a house.
- Unit-titling, which offers ownership over the house and private back yard, is available.
Disadvantages of parking behind
- Access from rear lanes can be more expensive to build and use land less efficiently.
- Rear parking is less well surveyed which increases safety and security issues.
- Activity along the street front is undermined.
- Sunlight into private open spaces can be blocked if the garage is located in the rear yard and is too close to the house.