Need your thoughts for garage design to minimise presence

[kryten22uk]

I've got about a 15m square front garden which is pretty much level, but because of the hilly area sits about 1-1.5 metres above road level. At one side of the garden there is a sloped driveway.

I wanted to build a garage in said front garden so that I can buy a sports car that really needs to be garaged/hidden. But the height of the front garden would make any garage build horrendously imposing. So I got plans drawn up where I excavated the garden down to road level, which reduced the imposition of the garage. See drawings below:









The problems I now have is with the last picture which is the view from my neighbours house. When he saw the plans he came round to discuss as he was unhappy with the impact that a solid brick wall (back of the garage) would have on the overall outlook of the house. I know that there will be plenty of you on here who will take the 'who cares, its your house' view, but he's a mate, so I really want to try to get to a place where we can compromise. Certainly dont want ongoing hard feelings.

So I've been racking my unimaginative mind trying to think of alternatives. I dont think I can lower the garage any further as it would make too steep a hill into it. Not sure if you can see from the 1st picture, but the slope of the garden means that slope of the garage entrance is level at the bottom (nearest road) and 1:6 slope at the top (nearest house).

I half thought about creating an underground garage style, which would have a grass top, but I think the same issue applies in that I'd have to dig down much further, creating too steep a slope, otherwise it'd produce a daft-looking towering grass hill.

I could just do a flat-roof garage, but I think that'd look awful for the area, too cheap and urban looking, whereas we're in an oldy worldy village.

Any thoughts?

[kryten22uk]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

Doesn't have to be flat roofed but you could easily do a lower pitch.

Yep, we (my Architect and I) discussed this. The idea was to lower the pitch to 35degrees, and possibly introduce barnhips at each gable. My architect was going to respond to my neighbour with this but I dont think it made any difference to his objection.

[kryten22uk]

Foliage said:

That's a bloody aweful design. It should be flat roofed, could be a more sympathetic material (block with wood facing), could be wider to create a shorter appearance.

How is flat-roofed a nicer design? Sure, its an alternative, and I'm very interested to hear how it might be tastefully done, but as mentioned above, its a very urban style, and theres not a single flat roof or bit of roofing felt in the village. So I'd probably get shot if I stuck a bog-standard flat roof box that in plain view.

The materials were chosen to match the house, which is brick lower, with hung-tile upper. This would presumably be better fitting than a completely contrasting wood facia? I do like the wood clad garage style, but just thought it wouldnt fit well in the plot.

Dont understand the 'wider' comment? If I make the garage wider, then it makes the rear wall wider and compounds the primary issue the neighbour has! The garage will be 6m deep by 4m wide.

Edited by kryten22uk on Friday 1st April 14:57

[kryten22uk]

Hi, yes it needs PP, and it's already been submitted. Precedents in the area mean it's more likely to get passed than usual for builds in front gardens.

[kryten22uk]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Anyone had any experience/understanding of what you can/cant do with a slope leading to a garage? I am finding it hard to visualise what the limitations are for the excavation.

[kryten22uk]

Muncher said:

I'd go for hips rather than gable ends, much less imposing. Even better would be a flat roof but with a high quality design and materials.

Any such links/pics on tinternet? Couldn't find much myself to get inspiration.

[kryten22uk]

Those garages look great, but they need to be in the right setting. Very modern design. Wouldn't sit right in our village.

Maybe if I can work out an extra depth to the excavation, I can use a flat-top design, but integrate the whole garage into the front garden, and have a grass top or something.

If not, I'm tending towards the idea of reduced pitch, hips or barnhips and wood cladding to the neighbours side, possibly even with trellis and climbers to green it up a bit.

[kryten22uk]

RichB said:

From the side elevation you can see that the garage floor is above road level so surface water/rainwater drainage will not be a problem.

Yeah, the garage floor is shown at reference level 8.8m, with the drain connection to mains at 8.2m. So looks like I couldnt go any lower with the excavation, given the drain needs to be lower than the garage floor. Maybe 20cm or so.

[kryten22uk]

I think we decided above that level of the drains means it wouldn't be possible to get the garage lower than shown without some solution. I like the underground villain solution. Reckon drainage would involve pumps etc, and be a real pain?

[kryten22uk]

hidetheelephants said:

It depends where the main drain is and how deep.

In the first picture in my original post you can see the main pipes running straight from the house to the road. The connection to the main drain on the road is indicated by the rectangle, on the road boundary, and shows the level as 8.235m. Ground level is 9.2m, so the floor of any underground garage would likely by 6.5 to 7.0, hence a 1-1.5m vertical difference to pump garage drainage to main drain.

[kryten22uk]

SAB888 said:

What garage drainage? Do you mean the rainwater collected from the roof or is there a fitting (sink) inside the garage?

If you have a driveway leading down to an underground garage, then you'll need to pump back up the rainwater which collects/falls at the entrance.

[kryten22uk]

Thanks Bispal, interesting alternative to hidetheelephants's Bond Villain idea. I quite like it in theory. But whilst it would probably look ok from Neighbours house, I think it'd probably not provide a nice street scene, so illicit a lot of negative response to any application. Cant please everyone! This is the main reason I've been trying to consider designs which maintain the hedgerow on the road boundary, in order to hide much of whats going on.

[kryten22uk]

jdw1234 said:

What is the budget?

Would one of those CarDock lifts be a neat solution?

Could you install electric gates to the property and park the sports car in the proposed garage location concealed behind the proposed hedge?

CarDock waaay out of price bracket, particularly with heavy ongoing maintenance costs.

I'm thinking maybe go the concealed (partially) parking route as you say.
Something like this:

[kryten22uk]

Thanks. I am in comms with the neighbour, and before long we'll have a chat (as well as with the large number of other villagers who objected!) to discuss all the options (lots garnered from this thread, thanks), then resubmit a planning application.

[kryten22uk]

Thanks for all the advice in this thread. I've now completed this project, albeit without a garage!

'Before' picture:


The dig starts








Retaining block wall done, now starting the kentish ragstone wall:


Type1 aggregate arrives.


Ragstone done, type1 hardcore down and whacked


Cellular grid system down and Shingle arrived. We bought waaay too much, and actually had to use a grab lorry to take away loads to the dump!


All finished and tarmac'd.