Can't see the point of a pop-up garage unless you were able to use the ground above the garage, and hence be able to park a car on top too.
Besides that, as far as I'm aware nobody uses a garage for storing a car but for keeping your fridge/kids bikes/freezer/washing machine or other kitchen utilities in. Now if they called it a pop-up toaster I could see the point.
The point of the pop-up is that you park one car in the garage and the other on top. The one I saw was a three decker i.e. two underground levels and a third parked on top.
Notice that the headroom is just enough for a saloon car... you get out onto the ground next to it so are in the open air and no headroom problems.
Yeah, just went back to the original link and the photo shows just enough clearance for the Porche (you get out at ground level) and "roof" that is not grass or flowerbeds or even a garden shed by more road surface for another car to park... I'd suggest they should have shown the second car to get the idea across properly.
We once had a deputy prime minister in the UK (the post somewhat of a novelty in itself as much as in its appointee; incidentally, his nom de guerre was "Two Jags") who decided that the way to tackle excess car ownership in the UK was to legally prevent local government planning departments insisting on more than one off road car parking space per property.
Of course, the developers were quite sanguine about this as they could put more of the land into apartments than into car parking.
As a policy it has proven a remarkable instrument.
Now, when putting up a block of 2 & 3 bedroom flats (apartments, for our colonial cousins) each one has only a single allocated parking place.
Of course few families moving into two or three bedroom flats will only have one car. More importantly, when considering the more expensive 1 and 2 bed luxury properties even a married couple usually has more than a single car.
So naturally enough, the limited off road parking provided did not, as Two Jags expected, result in abandonment of second cars but in an increase in street parking. In fact, it made worse the very problem it was intended to address... but nothing new in that, the law of unintended consequences as never been familiar to politicians.
Now that the law has been relaxed a little, we might expect some return to planning offices requiring more reasonable (and realistic) provisions.
For those properties with only one allocated parking space and no available land, the pop-up garage might well be a solution.
Of course, given the rainfall in this country, it may require some considerable investment in drainage or in automatic sump pumps.
Off course, since the current Prime Minister, in his effort to garner laurels from Mr President and Al Gore NL, has now decided that the UK shall become the worlds premier country for electric car ownership ... (possibly he hopes his "green" credentials will allow him to be able to trade his collection of US playable CDs for something more practicable on his next jolly to the US).
Quite how all those street parked cars will replenish their batteries has yet to be determined.
What happens if you want the "bottom" car? Sounds like Butterflies to me. Back in those days it was quite rare for a single family to have multiple cars, so the show got many laughs from the car rearranging antics.
You mean like a car half way in or on while rasing or lowering.
This should be common since, but because so few people have that, there will be a litigation problem.
So hand rails, to prevent people problems, and speed bumps to keep the car from rolling, and sensors for all kinds of other things.
Cheaper? I doubt it.
Even a beach hut can cost £20,000 and parking in town can be damned expensive.
Some one explained to me it was cheaper to buy a £50 MOT failure, drive it to London, park where you like and not bother with the congestion charge either.
If you're lucky the car will be there to take you back home where you dump it or sell it on (don't hang around for the fines to roll in). Of course, disposal is cheap because without an MOT they will impound it and scrap it for you.
All in all much cheaper than parking fees.
You know, it could work.
But not for me.
