The Gables
by DK Architects for FP Homes The development strikes a balance between achieving a higher density of dwellings with a sense of openness in the
Houses
Parking and Garages
Introduction
Residential parking solutions can be provided in a variety of ways. In well-designed places, vehicle parking does not dominate the streetsceneAll spaces and features which form the street environment, including buildings, street furniture, fittings and finishes and green infrastructure and open spaces. More. Applicants must consider the provision of car parking and should design it in conjunction with the code and guidance set out in the Landscaping and Nature Chapter of this Code.
Garages can provide valuable storage space to a dwelling and help conceal cars from view, however they offer little to the animation of buildings or the spaces around them. Their impact on the street sceneAll spaces and features which form the street environment, including buildings, street furniture, fittings and finishes and green infrastructure and open spaces. More should be carefully thought through, ensuring that they appear secondary to the dwelling house and avoid placement on direct sight lines and vistas or on prominent corners.
Features of parking and garages
Integral
Side
Front
Garages
Street
Integral
- Parking hidden to side of housing
- Landscape on front boundary
- Accessible path to entrance
- Electrical charging beside house
- Planting and boundary treatments must not exceed 0.6m adjacent to the highway
Side
- Tandem parking is the preferred way of delivering car parking on new build development
- Adequate separation distance between neighbouring parking spaces to allow for car doors to be opened
- Short wall to delineate the boundary between neighbouring properties
- Built and landscape treatments to delineate private space
- Permeable paving materials
- Planting and boundary treatments must not exceed 0.6m adjacent to the highway
Front
- Clear and wide access pathway between cars and front entrance of house
- A hard and/or soft landscape boundary to hide the view of cars from dominating the street sceneAll spaces and features which form the street environment, including buildings, street furniture, fittings and finishes and green infrastructure and open spaces. More
- Space for tall vertical landscape, ideally trees, to be planted
- Adequate space for storing of bins, bikes and other utilities to rear of dwelling
- Hedgerow used on boundaries whenever possible
- Planting and boundary treatments must not exceed 0.6m adjacent to the highway
Garages
- Adequate garage dimensions for cars
- Garage set back behind the principal building line of house
- Where cars cross the public realmThis is the space between and within buildings that is publicly accessible, including streets, squares, forecourts, parks and open spaces. More there is no change in level or cross fall of the pavement
- Built and landscape boundary treatments delineate private space
- Permeable floor surface materials used for external parking space
- Planting and boundary treatments must not exceed 0.6m adjacent to the highway
Street
- Street trees used ideally every double bay but no more than every 4 bays
- Dropped kerbs to allow wheelchair users to access disabled parking
- Built and landscape boundary treatment to delineate private and public space
- Change of materials used to show parking bay instead of painted lines
- Planting and boundary treatments must not exceed 0.6m adjacent to the highway
HPG 1
Front and side parking
CODE
Description
Compliance
CODE
Vehicle parking to the front and side of dwellings must be broken up with landscaping and must not dominate site frontages. Parking layouts must comply with the relevant codes set out in the ‘Layout, Parking and Public Realm’ sub-chapter in ‘Landscape and Nature‘.
Description
Front and side parking areas should be sensitively designed with plenty of landscaping to ensure the provision of visually attractive streets and avoid car dominated housing layouts and streetscapes.
Compliance
Applicants should demonstrate in their submission how this element of the code has been complied with.
Documents required:
- Site plan
- Landscaping plan
- Code requirement signposted in the Design and Access Statement.
Examples of front and side parking
Front parking
Side parking
Front parking
- Clear and wide access pathway between car and front entrance of house
- A built and landscape boundary to hide the view of cars from dominating the street sceneAll spaces and features which form the street environment, including buildings, street furniture, fittings and finishes and green infrastructure and open spaces. More
- Space for trees to be planted
- Adequate space for storing of bins, bikes and other utilities
Side parking
- Adequate seperation distance between neighbouring parking spaces to allow for car doors to be opened
- Short wall to delineate the boundary between neighbouring properties
- Built and landscape treatments to delineate private space
- Permeable paving materials
Single parking
Vehicle parking to the front of dwellings must ensure that sufficient space is provided to accommodate landscaping, vehicle parking, a pedestrian pathway and boundary treatment.
Double parking
Pavement cross-fall gradient
Where cars cross the pavement, there should be no change in level and cross fall gradient should not exceed 2%
HPG 2
Garage and carport parking
CODE
Description
Compliance
CODE
Detached garages and car ports must be set back from the principal facade of the dwelling and integral garages must not dominate the facades of dwellings. Both garage types must allow for sufficient space to accommodate a parked car in front of the garage. Parking must not dominate the site frontage and must be broken up with landscaping.
Description
Well designed garages help to provide visually attractive streets and avoid car dominated housing layouts and streetscapes. Garages must be of sufficient size to accommodate a parked car, a minimum size of 6m x 3m must be provided to count as a parking space. Garage doors should be set back a minimum of 1m from the front facade of the building and 5.5m from the back of the footpath, well detailed and constructed of high quality materials. Garages and carports must be constructed from high quality and natural materials.
Compliance
Applicants should demonstrate in their submission how this element of the code has been complied with.
Documents required:
- Site plan
- Floor plans
- Elevation plans
- Street scenes
- Code requirement signposted in the Design and Access Statement.
Example of garage car parking
Garages
Garages
- Adequate garage dimensions for cars
- Garage set back behind the principle building line of house
- Where cars cross the public realmThis is the space between and within buildings that is publicly accessible, including streets, squares, forecourts, parks and open spaces. More there is no change in level or cross fall of the pavement
- Built and landscape boundary treatments delineate private space
- Permeable floor surface materials used for external parking space
Principles of garage design
Garage behind building line
Locate garages and car ports behind the principal building line.
Garage and car port dimensions
The minimum internal dimensions of a single garage or car port should be 6m x 3m. A garage created below these sizes will count as storage space only.
HPG 3
Courtyard parking
CODE
Description
Compliance
CODE
Courtyard parking must be well landscaped and allow for natural surveillance and easy access to the dwellings it serves. Parking layouts must comply with the relevant codes set out in the ‘Layout, Parking and Public Realm’ sub-chapter in ‘Landscape and Nature‘.
Description
Courtyard parking must be well designed with high quality hard and soft landscaping. Boundary treatments to rear gardens backing on to courtyards must comprise brick walls and soft landscaping, including tree planting. Parking spaces should be sufficiently wide to allow easy access in and out of cars and located in close proximity to the rear access of dwellings. Courtyard parking areas must benefit from natural surveillance and be designed to prevent indiscriminate car parking such as parking on verges and pavements.
Compliance
Applicants should demonstrate in their submission how this element of the code has been complied with.
Documents required:
- Site plan
- Landscaping plan
- Code requirement signposted in the Design and Access Statement.
Example of rear parking
Rear courtyard
Rear courtyard
- Adequate separation distance between neighbouring parking spaces to allow for car doors to be opened
- Short wall to delineate the boundary between neighbouring properties
- Built and landscape treatments to delineate private space
- Permeable paving materials
- Include EV chargingThese are parking spaces that are easily adaptable to accommodate electric vehicles. Passive provision requires the necessary underlying infrastructure (e.g. capacity in the connection to the local electricity distribution network and electricity distribution board, as well as cabling to parking spaces) to enable simple installation and activation of a charge point at a future date. More point
Principles of rear car parking
Electrical charging points
Provide electrical charging points on rear boundaries when cars parked behind houses.
Access to house from rear boundary
There must be a clear, firm and stable route between rear car parking and an accessible entrance to house
Permeable surface materials
Use permeable paving for car parking surfaces whenever possible
HPG 4
On-street parking
CODE
Description
Compliance
CODE
Applicants must demonstrate that they have optimised opportunities for delivering safe and attractive on-street parking as part of a landscape led strategy. Parking layouts must comply with the relevant codes set out in the ‘Layout, Parking and Public Realm’ sub-chapter in ‘Landscape and Nature’.
Description
Rarely will on-street parking be an acceptable alternative to off-street parking, it should only be considered as part of a range of parking solutions. This may provide visitor parking in new residential developments. Any on-street car parking spaces must be well landscaped including the provision of street trees, landscaping and high quality sustainable materials.
Compliance
Applicants should demonstrate in their submission how this element of the code has been complied with.
Documents required:
- Site plan
- Landscaping plan
- Code requirement signposted in the Design and Access Statement.
Example of on-street parking
On-street parking
On-street parking
- Street trees used ideally every double bay but no less than every 4 bays.
- Dropped kerbs to allow for wheelchair users to access disabled parking
- Built and landscape boundary treatment to delineate private and public space
- Change of materials used to show parking bay instead of painted lines
Principles of on-street parking
Dropped kerbs
Where there is change of level between pavement and parking spaces, dropped kerbs should be provided.
Street landscape
Landscape including trees and hedgerow should be used where 4 or more street parking bays in row.
HPG 5
Undercroft parking
CODE
Description
Compliance
CODE
Undercroft parking will only be considered acceptable where other solutions cannot physically be accommodated on site. The design of these parking solutions must be integral to the overall architecture of the dwelling with retaining walls and pillars kept to a minimum.
Description
Where undercroft parking is considered to be acceptable it must be obscured from view from the street, form an integral part of the overall elevation design, with openings kept to a minimum.
Compliance
Applicants should demonstrate in their submission how this element of the code has been complied with. Retaining walls should be clearly shown on floorplans, elevations and sections.
Documents required:
- Site plan
- Floorplans
- Cross sections
- Elevation plans
- Existing and proposed level plans
- Street scenes
- Code requirement signposted in the Design and Access Statement
HPG 6
Basement parking
CODE
Description
Compliance
CODE
Where basement parking is considered to be acceptable, it must not be located on a principal elevation and must be integral to the overall architecture of the dwelling. Retaining walls must be kept to a minimum and designed to minimise the visual impact on the external appearance of the dwelling, the site and streetscene. A high quality landscaping scheme must form part of the overall design proposal.
Description
Basement parking will only be considered acceptable where other parking solutions cannot physically be accommodated on site. The design of basement parking areas must be integral to the overall architecture of the dwelling with retaining walls kept to a minimum.
Compliance
Applicants should demonstrate in their submission how this element of the code has been complied with. Retaining walls should be clearly shown on floorplans, elevations and sections.
Documents required:
- Site plan
- Floorplans
- Cross sections
- Elevation plans
- Existing and proposed level plans
- Street scenes
- Code requirement signposted in the Design and Access Statement.
House car parking and garages case studies
Fairways View
Fairway View by Calderpeel Architects for Cube Homes The houses in Prestwich, Manchester display good use and balance of robust materials that are appropriate to
Heatherley Wood
by Bellway Homes The project demonstrates how housebuilders can achieve a generous ratio of large windows to walls on forward elevations. As well as a
