Design Checklist
- Quality street environments are established where each home positively addresses the street
- 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
Grouped parking courts include a shared area or areas for resident and/or visitor parking which is accessed off a shared driveway or accessway. This section discusses the positive and negative attributes of grouped surface parking, and offers better design practice and rules of thumb for achieving quality outcomes.
When parking is in a shared courtyard, the design of the courtyard should also:
- balance movement modes / not just the car;
- be attractive and promote residents' use as a quality open space, including use of planting and paved / block surfaces; and
- be overlooked from adjacent housing with appropriate fence design to promote visibility as well as privacy.
Advantages of grouped (surface) parking
- Greater opportunities for direct connections between the ground level indoor living and dining area of a terraced house and the private back garden.
- Greater opportunities for visual contact between ground level habitable spaces, and the grouped parking area and the shared accessway.
- Inexpensive.
- Opportunity for shared use of the courtyard including recreational use.
- Parking spaces can be allocated to each dwelling.
Disadvantages of grouped (surface) parking
- Can often result in car-dominated spaces.
- Possible security limitations if there is a lack of visibility from dwellings.
- A body corporate is often required to certify the ongoing maintenance of the grouped parking area.