Concrete offers several major advantages when it comes to the construction of parking areas, says The Concrete Institute managing director, Bryan Perrie, a global authority on concrete pavements.
Perrie says, in the first place, maintenance costs of concrete parking areas are minimal with only some joint sealing and cleaning usually required annually.
“Asphalt parking surfaces, on the other hand, need to be coated with liquid asphalt every few years and totally resurfaced at least every 10 years. Such maintenance work can be very disruptive to the operations of any office block or commercial shopping complex,” he states.
Studies in the USA have shown that over a typical 20-year life of a parking area, concrete required very little maintenance expense while maintenance for an asphalt lot ended up as much as 80% of the initial construction cost.
On a Florida, USA, project, an asphalt parking lot, in fact, ended up costing twice as much after 20 years than a similar concrete facility. Lighting of the parking areas also can be reduced through the use of the much lighter coloured concrete surfaces.
It has been estimated that three of 10 light fixtures can be eliminated without losing the level of lighting in a parking lot when using light concrete surfaces.
“With crime a constant problem in our country, the lighter concrete parking lots create safer storage of cars while reducing energy costs,” Perrie explains.
