My blog focuses on Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Parking lots are integral parts of businesses, or businesses themselves. Their design is thus very important. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Design The Ultimate Parking Lot.
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Designing a parking lot is not as easy as many people think. It takes a lot of planning to make sure a parking lot is space-efficient, secure and welcoming. Here are just a few tips to help you design the ultimate parking lot for your premises.
Choose the right surface
First, you need to consider the surface. There are three main materials that are used as the surface for a parking lot. These include:
● Concrete: Long-lasting, but expensive and prone to cracks in cold weather. Concrete is a worthy investment if you’re based in a hotter climate and want to minimize future repairs.
● Asphalt: A lower cost option that can soften in heat and may crack in cold weather. You may need to repair asphalt more regularly, although it is much cheaper and easier to repair than concrete. This can make asphalt paving an economical choice.
● Gravel: Gravel is even cheaper than concrete and asphalt and can provide drainage, making it great for areas prone to flooding. It is however prone to weeds and can require more maintenance if you want it to look presentable.
Nail the balance between space and flow
Once you’ve settled on a surface, you need to then consider the layout. Ideally, you want to maximize the amount of available parking bays – especially if your premises gets a lot of visitors. However, you don’t want the parking lot to be so tight that it causes congestion or difficulty getting out of one’s car. Make sure each bay is suitably wide enough and provide enough space for maneuvering in and out. A one-way circular route around the parking lot might help limit congestion.
Make sure that it’s well-lit
If people are likely to visit after dark, providing adequate lighting could be important for security and safety. It can also help to make your car park more welcoming at night. Consider triggering lighting to activate on a timer and place lighting strategically so that you illuminate as much of the parking lot as possible using as few lights as you can.
Consider special parking bays for certain visitors
It could be worth designating special bays for certain visitors. This include:
● Disabled visitors: Make sure that disabled visitors don’t have to walk too far to the entrance.
● Families: Larger bays for families can allow room to get young children out or manoeuvre prams around the vehicle.
● Electric vehicles: Consider adding bays with EV charging points to encourage electric vehicle drivers to park up.
● Staff members: If your visitors include customers and staff, consider designating special bays for staff members.
● Carpooling employees: Some companies have started introducing specialist bays for carpooling employees to encourage carpooling.
● Deliveries/pick-ups: This could be important so that you can easily accept deliveries or so that customers and couriers can easily pick up items.
Consider access controls/payment
Do you need to limit access into your parking lot? Adding a barrier may be necessary if it’s a private parking lot for authorized personnel only or if you simply need to reduce congestion. This could be activated by a keycard or automatic number plate recognition cameras.
If you want visitors to pay to stay in your parking lot, consider setting up a parking ticket machine or set up a parking app. Try to keep the fee reasonable and consider how you will enforce the fee (will you add a barrier, cameras or employ a parking lot warden?).
