Historic King Edward Barracks steps into the future with Smart Parking technology

In partnership with Wilson Parking, Smart Parking has deployed overhead guidance technology at the innovative Ngāi Tahu Property development in central Christchurch.

Located in the West End, the historic King Edwards Barracks site will become a vibrant and vital link between the CBD, Hagley Park, the Cultural Precinct and the Civic Building.

The new development aims to create the benchmark for post-earthquake commercial buildings having adopted the latest earthquake technology and quality design with one building being base isolated and the other using a buckle restrained bracing system.

As part of the master planned complex, a 20,000m² 683 bay multi-storey car park has been constructed with the same earthquake technology, for public use and as well as leased parking. Set to open in April 2017, the Car Park will have the latest in parking technology including licence plate recognition and Smart Parking’s overhead guidance indicator technology.

Smart Parking’s sensors detect the presence of a vehicle within each parking bay. Each sensor is linked to a large, clear overhead indicator, which lights green or red indicating live parking availability to motorists.

The new system is complemented by 11 variable message signs, each displaying the number of free parks alongside the number of free mobility bays strategically placed at every driver decision point improving the overall customer experience in this exciting new complex.

Ngai Tahu development manager Gordon Craig said it was very satisfying to open Christchurch's first high tech car park building which has three charging stations for electric vehicles with capacity for more if demand dictates. The building had been carefully designed for ease of access.

The deployment of Smart Parking’s overhead guidance indicators means that drivers are easily able to find and identify available bays saving time and frustration as well as vehicle emissions. Underused bays are also now much more visible ensuring no space is missed at busy times.

Intelligent data

The occupancy data collected through the sensors is relayed in real time to SmartRep, Smart Parking’s car parking management software tool. Accurate vehicle-by-vehicle, minute-by-minute data on actual usage of the car park gives Wilson Parking and Ngai Tahu the key data needed in day-to-day management.

The New Zealand Government is strongly supporting this central city development by becoming the anchor tenant in one of the two large office blocks, via the Ministry of Education, Housing New Zealand, and the Ministry of Health.

About Smart Parking

Formed in 1993, Smart Parking is now one of the largest and fastest-growing bay sensor technology companies in the world. Smart Parking specialises in some of the most technically innovative real-world solutions available within the market and continually leads the way in the development and application of these technologies, under the 'Smart' systems brand. They develop industry-leading technology and provide their clients with the very best parking management solutions.