Lödige Industries has completed a fully autonomous car park for a new luxury high-rise apartment building called ‘The Lennox’ in Sydney’s Parramatta District. The system is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere using Lödige Industries’ robotic ‘Cubicle’ technology. The building’s nine-level basement combines three levels of conventional parking with six additional levels for the automated parking system, with capacity for 327 vehicles.
Thanks to efficient use of space, the automated parking levels required less than 15m excavation, which, given the sedimentary rock in the area, allowed for significant cost savings in the excavation and reduced building impact. In addition to the reduced footprint below the surface, the facility relieves pressure on the urban living space of its popular neighboring shopping and restaurant district by ensuring residents can always make use of a sufficient number of parking spaces inside the building.
With a payload of up to 2.5 tons per vehicle, the system can handle all common cars and SUVs. Users only need to drop off their vehicle at one of a total of five transfer cabins. From this point everything is automatic. The transfer cabin’s gate closes, and the car is transported to the parking level, where it is moved by flat robots, the ‘Lödige Shifter’ onto a horizontal transfer vehicle and delivered to a free parking space. Here the robots once again lift the vehicle by its tyres and move it into the parking space. This enables the most efficient use of the space in the parking facility. Up to 60% more cars can be placed in the same space in comparison to conventional parking structures. In view of high property prices in the construction area, the space-saving system is an attractive alternative for developers due to its cost-effectiveness, while increasing user comfort at the same time.
Lödige Industries’ intelligent system software monitors and controls all storage processes. The software calculates the most efficient parking positions as well as access and departure routes for the cars. Approximately 90 vehicles can be parked or retrieved per hour. In consideration of the size of the system, very fast pick-up times of around two minutes can be achieved. Just as with drop-off, users simply need to pick up their vehicle from the transfer cabins. This avoids the search for parking spaces and the risk of accidents. In addition to the time savings, the parking system creates a modern and practical user experience that underlines the prestigious character of the high-rise building.
“Efficiency and aesthetics do not have to be a contradiction and can complement each other very well,” says Nicholas Tripptree, managing director for Lödige Industries in Asia Pacific. “Our automated parking facility at ‘The Lennox’ proves this. While the state-of-the-art system provides as many parking positions as possible in a space-saving manner, it also contributes to the modern and sophisticated ambience of the new building by providing a convenient and modern user experience.”
