Clean, green, portable car-parking system

The U-Parkit system can be revolutionary for landlords and tenant, says its Auckland manufacturer. Photo / Supplied

Part of a Fanshawe St building in Auckland's CBD will shortly be transformed by a robotic car-stacking system from an area containing seven conventional car parks into a space that will stack 42 cars.

It will be the second car-stacking system manufactured by Auckland-based U-Parkit to be installed in New Zealand, with the first increasing the parking capacity of a former hangar building at Rotorua Airport from 15 vehicles to 42.

Murray Brough, a director of Australasian Parking Systems (APS), which is marketing the U-Parkit system, says it has the potential to revolutionise commercial and apartment car parking given its ability to park the same number of cars as a conventional car park in 40 per cent of the space and, in some situations, as little as 20 per cent.

He says the major differences between its system and other car-stacking options are its cost and space efficiency, modularity, reliability and speed of entry and exit of vehicles. This is achieved by the use of unique electro-mechanical technology as opposed to pneumatic and hydraulic technologies, which are more expensive to maintain and much noisier.

The "modularity of the system" enables it to be expanded by adding more parking cells as demand increases, Brough says. This is made possible by using prefabricated steel beams that are linked together by nuts and bolts.

"The system is like a large Meccano set, which means that it can be dismantled and moved to another site as land use changes," says Brough. "This is particularly attractive for landlords who do not want to tie up the use of their land for a car park for an indefinite period."

He says the U-Parkit system technology, which is also being marketed internationally, could see conventional concrete car park buildings become obsolete because of the vast spaces they require and the additional costs of lifts, lighting, security and exhaust ventilation

With the U-Parkit system, cars are delivered to and from the car park entrance. "Drivers switch off their engines when they arrive at the entrance, apply their coded swipe card/ticket and the car is stored safely by clean electrical energy," says Brough. "The pattern is simply reversed when the driver returns to pick up the vehicle."

He says it is a very environmentally friendly system that ties in well with the increased focus on green-rated buildings. Car fumes are eliminated within the building, noise is greatly reduced due to the use of quiet electrical motors and vehicle fluids are absorbed by specially designed and supplied drip trays.

Power requirements are reasonably low - the maximum load for a standard 100-cell system is 80 amps, which is the equivalent of the demand of a basic three-bedroom house.

"Buildings constructed to house the U-Parkit systems can also be clad in harmony with the surrounding architecture, ensuring aesthetic values of the urban area remain in place," says Brough.

APS has recently completed a design for a system that sits above an existing driveway to a conventional car park - holding an additional 43 car parks without going above the height of the existing building, while still allowing the use of the driveway to the conventional car park.

"Where the system is placed next to a building the aesthetics and light into the building can be maintained as the options for cladding the exterior of the system are almost limitless, including transparent and opaque claddings," says Brough.

Colin McKenna, of Bayleys Auckland, who is assisting APS with the leasing and selling of the system in New Zealand, says the challenge that many commercial landlords are facing in keeping or attracting quality tenants is leading many to look at other options to improve their offering to tenants without having to significantly reduce rents; car parking is a key component of this.

"Landlords also have to look very carefully at land-use alternatives in order to maximise returns from the space available. This is happening at the same time as competition for inner-city parking is increasing and on-site parking is becoming more of an issue for tenants." APS has developed a series of finance and lease packages that Brough says overcome many of the capital constraints that come with investing in conventional multi-storey car parks. He says the lease cost of the APS parking system is comparative to inner-city lease parking rates for conventional car parks in Auckland and Wellington, meaning that tenants or landlords can lease a system as a cost-effective alternative to parking off-site.

For those purchasing the system, the interest cost of financing the purchase is normally significantly less than leasing conventional car parking, he says.

Brough says in some instances the system can be leased directly to the tenant, with the consent of the landlord. "The portability of the U-Parkit system means that the landlord has the option of requiring that the system be removed at the end of the tenancy or he may wish to take over the lease for the next tenant or buy the system outright."

Brough says another significant benefit of the APS system is that it is exempt from fringe benefit tax where parking is provided to staff on business premises.