Planning systems in the UK ensure that things are built in the right places and to a certain standard. Whether that’s a housing development, office buildings, or a new supermarket, criteria apply. The same goes for cycle parking. There are bicycle parking standards to follow, which are designed to ensure it’s easy and convenient to park bikes.

After all, bike storage can shape the look, feel, and usability of places we live, work, or visit. It should be designed and installed to make that impact a positive one.

As cycling gets increasingly popular – as a hobby and a way of getting from A to B – it’s important to consider how bicycle parking can be efficiently integrated into your project. Cycling is a sustainable and healthy form of transport – so it’s hardly surprising considerable effort has been put into providing the right infrastructure to choose to cycle a more convenient one.

The aim of all types of private and public projects is the same: to provide enough secure cycle parking in well-placed and accessible locations. Ideally, access to cycle storage should be as convenient as access to car parking. It’s a huge factor in convincing people to ditch their cars and consider cycling a viable option.

As such, cycle parking must be considered early in the design process. The space needed to accommodate bikes is more than you might expect. It could be left empty if it’s too difficult to manoeuvre cycles into the designated spaces. If the location is inconvenient, bikes could end up attached to street furniture closer to the cyclists’ destination.

In summary, cycling parking facilities should be:

• Located somewhere convenient
• Secure
• Easy to use and manoeuvre around
• Protected against vandalism e.g. well, lit
• Well-connected – no barriers or difficult surfaces to reach the road

Features such as sheltered design and decent signage are also desirable. For planning application needs, you need to plan and provide the following details:

• Location
• Type of rack(s)
• Spacing
• Total numbers
• Installation methods
• Access

Picture yourself as the user. Would you feel confident heading into a dark corner of a car park to secure your bike? So long as they’re not obstructing pedestrians, cycle parking facilities should be near—and overlooked by—the buildings occupying those who use them. This acts as natural surveillance.

How Much Space Do I Need to Install Bike Parking Facilities?

One of the key requirements is space. Do you have the room to install cycle parking that meets the required standards? It’s generally agreed that a parked bike requires a space of 2,000mm (length) by 600mm (width) when parked horizontally. Choose vertical storage; the footprint required can be reduced to 1100mm (length) by 305mm (width).

Other dimensions to consider to comply with bike parking standards include:

• The average width of a pedestrian wearing winter clothing is 700mm
• A mounted cyclist is slightly wider, at 750mm
• When a cyclist is pushing a bike, they’ll need a gap of at least 1100mm
• Two parked cycles typically require a space of the same length (2,000mm) but a width of 750mm to avoid clashing handlebars. Our space-efficient bike parking can reduce this width requirement to 305mm.

A cyclist needs to park their bike but also be able to push it through and manoeuvre it into a space comfortably. It’s not just the distance between each parking space but the distance to walls and other obstacles.

The importance of cycle parking standards is all about usability – facilities are much more likely to be used if they’re fit for purpose.

You can also break it down by the type of bike storage you want to include. With the range on offer from The Bike Storage Company, you can install parking facilities in even the most difficult spaces. Here are some of our popular products:

• Sheffield stands. A popular choice because it parks two bicycles to one stand, the overall footprint is 1800mm by 1 metre, with an aisle of 1100mm. The stands can also be placed diagonally to save space.
• Two Tier stands. With its modular design, the two-tier stand can be extended to store unlimited cycles. The depth needed for a single row is 3000mm, so bikes can be turned, loaded and lowered. If you’ve got stands on two sides, you need a minimum depth of 5000mm to make two-way movements easy.

At The Bike Storage Company, we can produce in-depth product and layout drawings tailored to your product. Below is an example of a two-tier stand. Each project gets a dedicated contact whose expertise you can capitalise on to ensure all space available is maximised.

Where Is Bicycle Parking Needed?

Where isn’t bike storage needed? Nowadays, the demand is strong all over the place. Whether for short-term parking (public transport interchanges, workplaces, shops, leisure facilities and so on) or longer (major transport interchanges, student accommodation, housing developments, holiday sites), cycle parking is a welcomed sight at most destinations.

We’ve worked on many varied projects for councils, universities, developers, workplaces and more, often returning to increase the capacity of parking available due to the excellent response.

It’s time to consider how you can give people the choice to make healthier, cleaner, and cheaper journeys via cycling. Parking that lives up to a certain standard goes a long way in ensuring cycling is not only a viable and desirable choice but an inevitable one.

Work with us to design the most efficient layout for your bike storage.