CAR PARKING

Safe and secure parking facility for their vehicle is a fundamental right of all visitors to a hotel property. Although such provisions have to be made by hotel owner yet most of the hotels are unable to provide sufficient parking space for their guests. Planning for car parking totally depends on the availability of the space size, configuration and contours of a site. Parking facilities are of different types such as following: ON GRADE ABOVE GRADE BELOW GRADE COMPOSITE ON GRADE: This is the most common and least expensive car parking facility and is totally dependent on the availability of space and its configuration. The most valuable point to consider is cost of land which generally exceeds the cost of a parking structure and in this case a parking deck will prove more economical. Low costs of land always support the on grade parking if the land cost is too high and does not support on grade parking such as high density area/ commercial plot then structured parking is the only choice left with the owner of the hotel. On grade parking requires a lot of maintainance in report of property management. For example small cracks and break of surface are common problems, which are unnoticeable and may become serious defects if not repaired immediately. there should be a preventive maintenance programme to ensure that all walks and drives are clean and good conditions ABOVE GRADE: - Above grade structured parking is a free standing parking deck of area structure and circulation and is least expensive after on grade parking

BELOW GRADE : - Below grade parking , commonly called underground parking is more expensive because of structure and mechanical systems required to construct it Below grade parking garages are commonly found in large commercial building such as apartments , mall building s hotel building and are used for parking and access to the above grade floors of the building . Below Grade parking is considered basement parking Acare full design must be consideration is required while planning for below grade parking in the areas where chance a flooding are more . Flooding of these areas may result in significant damage to the building and any mechanical, electrical or other utility equipment located there such as, lighting, elevator, equipment, and drainage pumps, etc. The garage walls which often are major structural components of building foundation are also susceptible to flood damage therefore, hydrostatic or hydronamics forces must be considered at the time of planning for below grade parking. A critical element in any flood proofing design for a below grade parking is the point where the garage entrance

ramp meets the street grade. The best method of protecting a dry flood proofed garage from flood waters is to design garage entry to the above COMPOSITE: - It basically integrates above and below grade parking types with the building above the structure. it requires special ventilation and sprinkler system and a more elaborate facade

ZONNING LAWS:Zoning laws determine the requirement of the parking space but as a thumb rule 1000 square feet is sufficient enough to park three cars in a sub urban area and 10 percent lesser space can solve the problem of parking three cars urban areas that is 900 square feet PARKING SPACE STANDARDS: - The following are the standards pertaining to parking spaces in various kinds of parking lots in hotels in the country STANDARD OFF STREET: - Parking space for standard automobiles shall be a minimum width of 9 feet and a minimum length of 18 feet. COMPACT OFF STREET: - Parking space for compact automobiles shall be a minimum width of 8 and one half feet and minimum length of 16 feet a maximum of ten percent of the total parking spaces may be compact spaces LONG TERM OFF STREET: - parking spaces for long term parking for employees or others expected to park a minimum of four or more hours shall be minimum width of eight and one half feet (8.5`) and a minimum length of eighteen feet (18`) HEIGHT :- Above grade parking structures shall conform to height limits for the zoning districts in which they are located except that in districts where building height may exceeds three stories no parking structure shall exceed four levels of parking or thirty five feet in height , measured from grade level to top of the parapet . ACCESS: - The distance from parking structure entry and exit points to a corner of a street intersection shall where possible occur from a interior street and shall conform to city standards for access points . To minimize conflicts between exiting or entering cars and pedestrians a minimum of two car lengths (approx. 40 feet) shall be provided between an exit or an entrance control gate and the inside edge of a sidewalk.