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Location: Chapel, Southampton, Hampshire, Southampton SO14 5GQ
Built: 2005
Designer: Persimmon Homes (developers) with Swaythling Housing Society / Chetwood Associates (architect)
Type: city centre
Density: 90 homes per hectare
Parking ratio: 82%
On-street parking supplements a semi-basement-level underground, the plinth exploited to give townhouses improved privacy and on-street surveillance. How to control unallocated spaces on street is a consideration for these blocks built close by a football stadium.
The site is close to St Mary's Stadium, home of Southampton FC. There are 174 homes including 64 affordable units with no differentiation in plan according to tenure. But market sale homes get one parking bay either in an underground or in an allocated bay on street, whereas affordable units have 50% on street in unallocated bays.
Homes are arranged in three perimeter blocks aligned north south, with flats to the north, west and south edges, townhouses mostly on the busier Paget Street to the east. Each block has a secure internal courtyard and bike store. There are balconies projecting over the street for flats at first, second and third storey and ground floor flats have a small terrace to the street and a private back garden. Townhouses have roof terraces.
Townhouses are entered half a storey above street level. This makes it harder to look into the ground floor while enabling views from within the homesover the street, increasing their contribution to street surveillance. Houses in the northern block are sat on a plinth over a semi-basement-level underground car park of 50 spaces, accessed by digitally controlled open mesh roller shutters. This is approached by driving down half a level; spaces are marked in two opposing rows of bays and include bays for residents in the middle block. Parking to the central block is entirely on street in layby style.
These are in blocks of up to seven cars, arranged on all four sides of the block including in the landscaped public realm enveloping the two slip roads that cross this east to west. Allocated on-street bays are not adopted. The management company reports disquiet that the bays are used too much by non-residents, especially on match days. The situation is being monitored with controls in mind.
The development features 1 and 2 bed flats; 2 bed duplexes; and 3 bed townhouses arranged in 3 and 4 storey orthogonal blocks with a landscaped courtyard.
Plan showing location of case study example within the wider development
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View north along central block. Townhouses are raised above Paget Street, the perimeter block's busiest side.
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Plan showing off-plot parking arrangement within the scheme, located underground.
Proceed with Caution! - Only 50 secure spaces for 110 homes, and underground parking available only to those buying on open market.
Green Light! - Underground parking provides controllable, unobtrusive solutions with easy and secure access to homes above. Scale makes underground less unattractive than is usual. Raising townhouses on plinth good for street surveillance and defensible space to ground-floor windows.
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Plan showing on-street parking arrangement within the scheme, in line with the pavement.
Proceed with Caution! - 32 unallocated spaces to 64 homes make limited uncontrolled parking provision a problem, especially given the proximity of a football stadium.
Green Light! - Good surveillance of on-street parking from ground floor level, multiple levels of balconies and large windows. Good material and detailing in most parts, with impact of parking reduced with planting and public realm. Simple and practical solution, keeping street busily active.
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Cars are parked directly in front of flats on the quieter western edge.
Proceed with Caution! - 32 unallocated spaces to 64 homes make limited uncontrolled parking provision a problem, especially given the proximity of a football stadium.
Green Light! - Good surveillance of on-street parking from ground floor level, multiple levels of balconies and large windows. Good material and detailing in most parts, with impact of parking reduced with planting and public realm. Simple and practical solution, keeping street busily active.
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Laybys face each other in a slip road alongside landscaped public realm.
Proceed with Caution! - 32 unallocated spaces to 64 homes make limited uncontrolled parking provision a problem, especially given the proximity of a football stadium.
Green Light! - Good surveillance of on-street parking from ground floor level, multiple levels of balconies and large windows. Good material and detailing in most parts, with impact of parking reduced with planting and public realm. Simple and practical solution, keeping street busily active.
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Balconies project from three upper storeys over street.
Proceed with Caution! - 32 unallocated spaces to 64 homes make limited uncontrolled parking provision a problem, especially given the proximity of a football stadium.
Green Light! - Good surveillance of on-street parking from ground floor level, multiple levels of balconies and large windows. Good material and detailing in most parts, with impact of parking reduced with planting and public realm. Simple and practical solution, keeping street busily active.
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Building needed opposite to enclose street.
Proceed with Caution! - 32 unallocated spaces to 64 homes make limited uncontrolled parking provision a problem, especially given the proximity of a football stadium.
Green Light! - Good surveillance of on-street parking from ground floor level, multiple levels of balconies and large windows. Good material and detailing in most parts, with impact of parking reduced with planting and public realm. Simple and practical solution, keeping street busily active.
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Bin stores and bicycle store sit above ramp down to car park.
Proceed with Caution! - Only 50 secure spaces for 110 homes, and underground parking available only to those buying on open market.
Green Light! - Underground parking provides controllable, unobtrusive solutions with easy and secure access to homes above. Scale makes underground less unattractive than is usual. Raising townhouses on plinth good for street surveillance and defensible space to ground-floor windows.
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Access to car park clear but not crude.
Proceed with Caution! - Only 50 secure spaces for 110 homes, and underground parking available only to those buying on open market.
Green Light! - Underground parking provides controllable, unobtrusive solutions with easy and secure access to homes above. Scale makes underground less unattractive than is usual. Raising townhouses on plinth good for street surveillance and defensible space to ground-floor windows.
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Wide carriageway and simple design.
Proceed with Caution! - Only 50 secure spaces for 110 homes, and underground parking available only to those buying on open market.
Green Light! - Underground parking provides controllable, unobtrusive solutions with easy and secure access to homes above. Scale makes underground less unattractive than is usual. Raising townhouses on plinth good for street surveillance and defensible space to ground-floor windows.
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Semi-basement means left side of car park has natural ventilation from courtyard.
Proceed with Caution! - Only 50 secure spaces for 110 homes, and underground parking available only to those buying on open market.
Green Light! - Underground parking provides controllable, unobtrusive solutions with easy and secure access to homes above. Scale makes underground less unattractive than is usual. Raising townhouses on plinth good for street surveillance and defensible space to ground-floor windows.
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Space submitted by Sam Brown
14 October 2013