NEWS INTERNATIONAL PARKING
In a reversal of the Joni Mitchell song, the trees are returning to the parking lots. Trisha Wilson explains how aesthetics are being placed at the heart of Australian parking lots
he parking area at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne has been designed as a ‘garden with cars in it’. Throughout Australia, city and suburban councils are adopting a similar attitude by incorporating landscape design features into studies and guidelines for car park layouts. In a campaign to improve the visual quality of parking areas, soften large areas of hard paving and surfaces and to better integrate car parks into their surroundings, plantings of shade trees and vegetated planter beds are becoming an integral part of car park design. The Australian Standard for Off-Street Parking (AS/NZS 2890.1:2004) aims to ‘provide planners, designers and regulatory bodies with requirements and recommendations for the design and layout of off-street parking’. Included within these standards are parking bay dimensions, aisle dimensions to accommodate manoeuvring, circulation and traffi c movement, access sight lines, gradients and surface materials, all taking into consideration parking facility user categories. Examples include long- and short-term parking, residential, sporting facility and industrial parking.
The standard ‘does not remove the need to comply with regulatory requirements of local government’.
In addition to the Australian Standards, there are clauses that ensure car parking areas are appropriately designed and constructed to suit the intended purpose. While researching this article, I came across variously titled guidelines, design standards and requirements developed by city and shire councils in New South Wales, Australian
12 APRIL 2012
Plantings should not restrict driver and pedestrian visibility Australian Standards
paradise T
Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, containing substantial sections on landscaping as a component in car park design documents.
Aesthetic considerations When incorporating landscaping features, the aesthetic and practical are taken into consideration. Trees, hedges and ground cover beds provide shade and visual relief from large areas of paved surface, but other factors must be considered when choosing trees and plants. In terms of safety and security, internal and perimeter plantings should not restrict driver and pedestrian visibility, and clear sight lines must be maintained between the car park, access roads and pathways. Problems caused by root damage to car park
surfaces may be reduced by using buried root barriers in shade tree planting areas, while drainage issues may be addressed by location of sump holes in planted beds and weep holes in concrete kerbing around planter beds. In Australia, where extended exposure to long hours of bright sunshine and heat may result in damage to vehicle paintwork and high temperature build up within vehicle interiors, high on the list of motorists’ priorities is a ‘shady spot’.
A space among the gum trees is a very welcome sight. TW
www.britishparking.co.uk
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