Appendix B - Letter from carwash designer.docx

SPECIFICS ABOUT THIS PROJECT:
I have been involved in this project over the last 2.5 years and have worked closely with the site
owners Chris King and Joanne Hill throughout this time. Their passion and drive is unrelenting
and their desire to be environmentally friendly and sustainable with the Car Wash operations is
applaudable. In all of the projects that I have worked on over the years, I have never seen a
project that has had the quality and extent of specialist Consultants design, document and
review a site such as this one. In the future, I will be using this car wash site as an example of
what is possible especially from an environmental viewpoint. Some of the documentation that
has been produced for this submission is in the ‘game changing’ league and is to be
commended.

The built form of this Car Wash is an element that I am particularly proud of. I truly feel that the
Car Wash building materials, building siting, and actual architectural form is quite different from
the traditional car wash ‘boxy’ design. The proposed built form is a great reflection of the past
discussions with Council, reviewing the local architecture style and being creative to make the
Car Wash not ‘look’ like a traditional car wash site. The overhanging and high-level pitched
roofs, protruding verandah areas, inset windows, timber panel features, earthy/contemporary
colour selection, integrated shaded seating area and measured multi-terraced landscaping all
combine to create a unique design response that satisfies the Cooroy Local Plan Code.

The proposed “car wash” use is a growing routine that is widely accepted by the public as an
environmentally friendly, responsible, convenient, cost-effective method of washing and
vacuuming a vehicle. The location of a Car Wash is of upmost importance. A Car Wash needs to
be located in the direct path of travel of a customer for it to be successful. Customers using car
washing facilities will often visit the site as an ‘opportunistic’ use when on a trip to perform
another task, ie: re-fuelling their vehicle at the adjoining Service Stations, food shopping,
dropping off/picking up the kids to/from school, visiting family/friends etc… This means that
most of the customers that use car wash facilities do so as a secondary action- not as the main
purpose of the trip to drive past the site. Therefore, it is commonly found that many of the ‘trips’
generated by people that travel past the car wash site would have travelled past the subject site
anyway to conduct their main planned activity. If the car wash facility was located away from
these main trafficked areas (ie: in the Industrial zones along Jarrah Street and Holts Road) it is
likely that the business would fail as it would be located too far away from the usual customer
path of travel. Unfortunately, what I have found over the many years, is that if the Car Wash is
not located in an appropriate prominent location of the ‘normal’ path of travel for typical
customers- it is often the case of “Out of sight, out of mind” and the car wash is seldom used and
the business will fail.

In my opinion, the proposed location on Elm Street is an ideal location for the Car Wash. Many
Car Washes that I have designed over the years are located immediately adjoining or connected
to Service Station sites. This is so, as the car washing process is often seen as an ancillary use to
refuelling/maintaining your vehicle etc… History has shown that it would not be uncommon for
around 65-70% of customers that use the Car Wash site to also have refuelled their vehicle at the
adjoining Service Stations before/after washing their car. In some areas this percentage is even
higher.




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             TMC Building Design Group Pty Ltd