At the 12th European Parking Congress, beeing held from September 28 to 30, 2005, the winners of the European Parking Award have been announced.
The award was given in 3 categories:
1. The best newly built car park
The car parks in this category have been opened to the public no longer ago than two years before January 1st 2005. They are situated in city centres.
2. The best renovated car park
This competition is open for older car parks that have been renovated no longer ago than two years before January 1st 2005. The main judgement factor is not the difficulty of the work, the height of the renovation cost or the condition of the car park before the renovation, but solely the parking product as experienced by the customers.
3. The best specialist parking product in car parks
Special projects are car parks built with a dedicated intention. Generally they are not situated in city centres. Aspecialis product can be also special means for parking management or operation.
Parkhaus Engelenschanze – Münster - Germany
"The best newly built car park"
The multi-storey car park with 480 spaces on 7 levels is a stand alone car park at the corner of the Engelstrasse and the Schorlemerstrasse, just off the city centre near the railway station. The car park serves visitors for the city centre, offices nearby and residents.
The car park with its glass façade all around the corner is an eye catcher in the city environment. Inside the car park has a system of ramped parking floors around an empty space in the middle. This empty space and the outside glass facade provide during daytime sufficient light to achieve required lighting levels at the parking floors. The empty space also avoids mechanical ventilation systems.
The floors of the car park are coated in light grey colour with simple indication of parking bays. Also the walls and ceilings are kept in light colours.
Pay stations are situated in the main entrance, with the supervisor area.
The project is a good example of a relatively simple and efficiently built car park. From the €8.4 milllion project €3.5 million was subsidised by the town’s “redemption fund”.
Waterloo Street Car Park –Glasgow - United Kingdom
"The best renovated car park"
The multi storey car park with 666 spaces, situated in the financial services district adjacent to the city centre, was originally built in the seventies. The renovation in 2004 comprised a new entrance with office desk and toilets, new parking equipment (including transponder technology for regular users, enabling 24-hour access), new painting and floor coatings, staircases and elevators and complete new lighting in the parking area and the pedestrian areas. The façade has been renewed with a wooden cladding, enabling natural ventilation.
Total renovation costs were £ 3.5 million or £ 5,200 per space.
The renovated car park appears like a new car park and provides a secure feeling to the customers.
ACCESS equipment Via Verde/Emparque – Lisbon – Portugal
"The best specialist parking product in car parks"
The access equipment provides easy entrance and exit with the motorway tolling transponder device in eleven car parks in Lisbon. The Q-Free transponder devices, used for the motorway tolling in Portugal, can be read by readers that are integrated in the parking systems of Skidata, Scheidt & Bachmann and ZEAG. At Ascom/Elsydel parking equipment customers must present themselves at a special device at the entrance.
Parking fees are collected through the tolling account.
As the tolling system is already in place with many subscribers, marketing of the parking payment facility was done through the tolling channels and very quickly high usage numbers were achieved: about 30% of the short term parkers use this system to pay their parking fee: over 250,000 transactions in eleven car parks per month
