Now, park a car next to the door of your apartment in a high rise

Now, park a car next to the door of your apartment in a high rise

Space Crunch Makes Realtors Find Elevated Ideas

Paul John & Sachin Sharma TNN

Ahmedabad:23.12.2021

Imagine stepping out of your 13th floor apartment and getting straight into the driving seat of your car parked near the entrance door to hit the road. In concrete jungles where parking is becoming a headache in public places as well as residential complexes, developers across major Gujarat cities are getting creative to lift home-owners above the parking woes.

In Bhavnagar, a developer of a 13-floor high-rise residential building on a 6,200 square yard plot, has got a building plan passed to provide parking slots for owners on each floor.

The building will have a concealed hydraulic platform that will lift cars to the residents’ floors. This will effectively allow a resident to park his or her vehicle next to the home’s entrance. The developer has provided parking space for 10 luxury cars to be shared between five apartments on each floor.

The building will have a concealed hydraulic platform that will lift cars to the residents’ floors

‘Parking has become a crucial aspect of building planning’

Kamlesh Shah, the developer, told TOI that every 4BHK and 3BHK flat has parking space for two cars each. “As for conventional parking, there will be a two-level cellar," Shah said.

Tejas Joshi, president of CREDAI Ahmedabad-GIHED, told TOI: “Parking has become a very crucial aspect of building planning. Experiments of mechanised parking are finding favour with many developers in major Gujarat cities," said Joshi.

Experts said that Ahmedabad's expensive space economics is proving a deterrent to major experimentation with parking. "While many commercial and residential buildings are looking at stacked hydraulic parking systems, issues like limited consumable FSI (floor space index), height restrictions in certain areas due to zoning and limited plot sizes are some aspects that prevent builders from experimenting with new parking spaces.” Joshi said that builders are eagerly waiting for the 2022 GDCR norms.

Bhavnagar municipal commissioner M A Gandhi confirmed approval of the project with parking on each floor. “We have permitted the construction of the 13-floor building under Gujarat’s comprehensive GDCR (General Development Control Regulations),” Gandhi said. Earlier, nod was given to two projects in which vehicles are taken to the first floor by hydraulic lifts, he added.

In Vadodara, a commercial complex on the posh Racecourse area will have parking on its terrace, claimed to be first-of-its-kind parking space in the Banyan city. Amit Srivastava, project architect, said the complex has two levels of basement parking but an elevated parking area was added to accommodate more vehicles. “We wanted to boost the convenience factor for users without reducing the building’s commercial value,” he said.

Srivastava said that installation of solar panels is mandatory in new projects. “As these are installed at a height of 7 to 10 feet, they will provide shade to the parked vehicles. Lifts will be used to carry vehicles to the terrace.” In Rajkot, a commercial building to come up on Kalavad Road will have a separate parking tower for cars. The tower will use the hydraulic lift system. Permission for the tower envisioned as a 70 metre, 22-storey parking facility is underway.