A common fixture in high-density cities such as Tokyo and Sydney, vehicle-stacking technology has been proposed for just the second time in a Perth residential project, with the latest unit planned for an apartment complex in West Perth.
A common fixture in high-density cities such as Tokyo and Sydney, vehicle-stacking technology has been proposed for just the second time in a Perth residential project, with the latest unit planned for an apartment complex in West Perth.
Campion Design Group is seeking approval from the City of Perth this month for a $9.5 million mixed-use apartment and office project at 1324-1326 Hay Street, which features an automated parking system that can stack 24 vehicles in pairs in the basement.
The nine-level development will comprise a total of 49 car-parking bays, 25 apartments, an office tenancy and alfresco cafe with extended frontage onto a park.
Crestfair Holdings Pty Ltd, a company part owned by Campion Design Group managing director Andrew Campion, bought the 832 square metre site for $1.07 million in 2002.
The West Perth proposal is the second project in Perth to adopt the technology, following the Criterion Towers mixed-use development at 560 Hay Street.
Robert Tan, owner of the Criterion Hotel, is building a three-tiered complex of 112 apartments to the rear of the hotel, which will include a vehicle storage and retrieval unit (SRU) for 141 cars.
Designed in Japan, the SRU can hoist cars up to a height of 12 storeys before slotting them into vertical parking racks within the 24-storey development.
Property Council of Australia WA executive director Joe Lenzo said the emergence of vehicle-stacking technologies in Perth was a symptom of the parking crisis that existed in the city.
Mr Lenzo believed the availability of car parking in the city had been restricted by government transport policy, to force more people to use public transport.
“With a city the size of Perth, you would think there would be sufficient car parking to avoid these colourful parking ideas. We tend to kid ourselves that we’re in good shape, but this is a blight if developers are forced to look at stacking cars,” he said.
“If we go down the route where developers can find ways to get around caps on parking, then the whole strategy by the government to limit cars in the city is dead in the water.”
Mr Lenzo said the government’s parking management policy was inflexible in that it did not allow vacant car bays in one building to be used by tenants of another.
The Property Council maintains that a solution to the parking shortage can be found in building several car parks on the city fringe, which could be serviced by small buses, CAT buses, and ferries.
Mr Lenzo said the construction of a light rail or tram service was another option that could help make parts of the city more accessible, therefore reducing people’s reliance on cars.
