My office, which has an underground (well ground floor actually) car
park, currently devotes a small amount of space kitted out with wall
mounted wheel benders (mounted high for vertical parking). There are
not as many of these as there are regular cyclists but most people
don't use them anyway and just lean their bikes against the wall in
that area or lock to some pipework in the same area. Some users do not
lock at all. The area is also used for motorcycle parking and there is
a reasonable understanding of which area each vehicle type is expected
to use and conflict is minimal even though capacity can be quite tight.
There are presently seven or eight winter cyclists with more in the
summer (and if the firm ever introduces the IR176 tax break, hopefully
even more).
Access to the garage is via an automatic roller gate controlled by
access cards. Contractors and delivery drivers often get access to the
garage but tend to be supervised for short stays (<15 mins). I
wouldn't leave my bike unlocked there but plenty of people do and I am
not aware of any thefts ever.
There is talk of devoting a new space to cycle parking and I am meeting
the building manager on Monday to try to head off any bad choices. The
new space will possibly be a lockable cage[1] (previously used to store
end-of-lease computers for return to the leasing company) and I guess
it is likely to be in the order of 1-2 car spaces in size. I have sent
my building manager the LCC parking guidelines so far but this focuses
more parking in insecure locations.
I would be grateful for any suggestions for UK sourceable higher
density parking solutions that still provide adequate support and
reasonable locking points but compromise some public parking
requirements to reflect the semi-secure location and more heterogeneous
nature of the users focusing more on density and price. All of the
current users ride fairly conventional diamond (or Y) framed uprights.
There was a 20" wheeled folder, but she left and there is one beach
cruiser which is longer than normal with wider handlebars
[1] the area may not be lockable or there may not be a cage, I don't
know yet.
best wishes
james