A 4.5 metre diameter vehicle revolve from British Turntable has allowed Coyde Construction to create extra parking facilities for residents in a new block of town houses, apartments and commercial units at Harbour Yard, Salcombe, at the same time providing extra revenue for the building owners. The powered unit, which has a vehicle capacity of 2.5 tonnes, is operated remotely from a push button station near the turntable, allowing users to point their vehicles accurately to the car park exit or parking space as required.

Access to the block, which comprises three 3-storey town houses, three apartments and three commercial offices, is situated off a busy main road at the end of a narrow street which incorporates a 90° bend, making it impossible for vehicles to reverse in and out of the shared courtyard safely. Without the turntable installation, therefore, a turnaround area would have been needed within the car park to satisfy town planners’ safety requirements.

Steve Heaver of Harrison Sutton Partnership, agents for the building, explains: “A planning department requirement was that parking facilities should be provided for each residential unit, and that, for obvious safety reasons, drivers should not reverse in or out of the courtyard as this would, by definition, mean they would need to reverse onto or off the main road.

“Installation of the turntable solves the safety issue without losing parking space to a turnaround area and, as residents pay for their parking facilities, the cost of its installation has been offset at least threefold. The turntable has therefore solved several problems in one go, at the same time turning a profit!”

British Turntable has solving vehicle access problems since its inception in 1959 and offers a wide range of options, manual and powered for both commercial and domestic users.

For the single domestic user the company has developed a simple, manually operated unit designed to make it safer for car owners living on main roads to drive onto and off their properties in a forwards direction. In many instances planning requirements demand this, and the installation of a DriveAway, as the unit is known, has allowed home-owners to create a safer parking area within the bounds of their own property rather than having to park elsewhere off the main road.

For multi-occupancy buildings such as Harbour Yard, however, a higher capacity, larger diameter units will generally be required to cope with differing vehicle sizes and increased frequency of use, and these can be built to suit the environment and individual needs of the development.

Both the DriveAway and custom-built vehicle turntables are designed with a low profile to make them easy to flush-fit into the base surface and all are available with manual or electrical operation as required.