How to Design a Parking Space in Nigeria

What is the most efficient parking layout?

Ideally, parking lots should be rectangular with parking on both sides of access aisles. For two-way traffic flow, parking spaces perpendicular (90 degrees) to the aisles provide the most efficient design.

Access to safe and convenient parking is a primary condition if you want employees to transition back to office. Whether you plan to operate a hybrid workplace or manage a full-time physical office space, a parking lot centered around the needs of users and administrators can only lead to overall employee satisfaction.

A well-designed parking space replete with technology that permits advance slot booking, payments, and navigation can motivate employees to turn up to the office more frequently. It also conveys that a business cares about its staff and wants to ensure productivity.

While you may have excellent intentions of developing a parking space that benefits everyone in the office, it’s not always an easy proposition.

Here is an ultimate free guide to help you design a commercial parking space you and your staff deserve.

Figure Out Your Lot’s Usage Patterns to Assess Overall Size

Not all offices run at full capacity all day, every day. Therefore, you must figure out how often your lot will be used and the kind of vehicles using it. Doing this will influence the size and banking angle of your overall parking space.

It will also provide an estimate of the total number of parking spaces required. Know that fully overestimating the number of vehicles frequenting your lot will only increase your real estate costs. Additionally, the number and types of vehicles and hours of usage can help you figure out pavement thickness and correct stall dimensions.

Decide Individual Parking Bay Size and Spacing

Once you have established the overall parking space dimensions, it’s time to work on the lot’s interiors. Using the estimated number of vehicles and their types, decide your lot’s pavement height, parking bay angles, entry and exit barrier locations, traffic lanes, and any other amenity like payment kiosk, etc., you need to fit within the lot.

For example, if your office parking space will only witness cars and bikes, that too, during the day, go for 45° to 60° angled slots. It’s easier to park in them. However, if your commercial parking space will witness inventory trucks, pickup vans, and small buses that may require overnight parking, be sure to have a few 90° parking bays. This parking angle provides a higher vehicle capacity, and you can fit more vans, trucks, and buses in even a small parking space.

After figuring out the individual stall angles, calculate their dimensions. Be sure that individual parking stalls are at least 9 feet by 19 feet. These would accommodate most vehicles – from hatchbacks, minivans, and SUVs to pickup trucks. For an office parking space, you don’t require wider stalls, as is the case with grocery store and mall parking, where people must have ample room to carry out shopping carts.

If too many people prefer bicycling or riding EV bikes to the office, you must assign a dedicated space for them to park. You must also consider fitting or retrofitting your EV biking space with electric chargers. They are inexpensive and easy to use.

Lastly, do not forget about providing the right number of accessibility parking stalls for employees and visitors with special needs. While constructing these stalls, be sure also to build any supporting infrastructure required, such as ramps and walkways.

Control the Driver and Pedestrian Flow

To make sure that drivers remain in their lane and are mindful of pedestrians, here are a few things you can do.

• Put up proper traffic signage with stop and yield signs. Doing this will protect the pedestrians’ right-of-way.
• Mark accessibility parking stalls clearly, so no one accidentally parks in them or too close to them.
• Paint yellow marking on asphalt to define stall boundaries. This will direct the foot traffic in the right direction.
• Paint stripes along the pavement designating pedestrian walking zones.
• Place parking bays close to the lot’s perimeter, so there are amply-sized traffic lanes.
• Include Sophisticated Safety Provisions

No matter the size of your company’s parking space, never compromise on safety features. Therefore, invest in proper drainage so there is no water logging when it pours, and get the right amount of lighting and access ramps to ensure all employees are safe.

Hire enough security personnel if required. If you have a tighter budget, invest in 24×7 surveillance technology like smart cameras and a license plate recognition system; and be strict when issuing parking permits.

Invest in a Parking Management Software

Any design of an office parking space is incomplete if you don’t find a way to improve its accessibility and usability for employees as well as parking lot managers. You can do this by investing in parking management software.

This cost-effective digital tool helps employees assess visual parking floor plans and reserve parking spaces in advance. An office parking management app also has navigational features that can guide employees to the right parking bay. All these features save time and ensure employees are not stressed coming to the office simply because they don’t know where to park.

By using a parking management app, employees can manage office parking on their own, thus reducing your facility manager’s administrative load. This solution usually comes with reporting and tracking features that can help you assess and optimize your current parking space utilization.

Wrapping Up

Designing an office parking space is a critical element to overall employee happiness. If you already have a lot ready and want to introduce the right technology to make it operational, try WorkInSync.

WorkInSync parking management software allows you to manage your parking spot in long term. It comes with an array of features. To know more about the product, schedule a demo today.

How do you optimize a parking space?

Basic best practices are to: Eliminate dead-end parking areas, so there’s always a flow-through of traffic along aisles (the driving lanes facilitating access to parking spots) Locate aisles and rows of parking parallel to the long dimension of the site. Orient parking on each side of an aisle.

Why is diagonal parking better?

The most important benefit to angled parking is that it promotes one-way traffic. One-way traffic is safer in general than two-way traffic, and that’s doubly true in a parking lot scenario. Having everyone moving in the same direction greatly lessens the chances of collisions and fender benders.