Car park physically adjacent to a building

Use and location together

The definition joins two tests. The car park must be intended for the residents, visitors or workers of a building, and it must be located within the property area of the building or in its direct vicinity. A public car park across the street that serves the whole neighbourhood fails the first test; a staff car park on the company's own site passes both.

The term decides when the car park counts with the building. Article 14(1) applies the recharging, pre-cabling and bicycle parking rules for new non-residential buildings and major renovations where the car park is located inside the building, or where it is physically adjacent to the building and, for major renovations, the renovation measures include the car park or its electrical infrastructure. Article 14(2) and (4) contain the same structure for existing non-residential buildings and for residential buildings. Article 10(3)(e) uses the term for solar: new roofed car parks physically adjacent to buildings need suitable solar installations by 31 December 2029.

For an owner, the term answers a practical question: whether the parking spaces on the site are counted when deciding if a building has more than five or more than 20 spaces. Spaces in an adjacent car park intended for the building's users are counted; spaces elsewhere are not.

The Directive does not define direct vicinity in distance.