The perfect gateway, published in Parking Review April Issue 2017

Rose Lane was conceived by Norwich City Council as a car park with a social purpose. The council’s goal was to not just park cars but to build a landmark building that would signify the start of the redevelopment of the Mountergate part of the city. This is the city’s nightclub district and the car park operates 24 hours a day. The city council awarded the contract to design and build the new facility to HUBER car park systems international. The German company’s in-house architects created a building that has a permeable façade made from perforated powder coated steel panels. In keeping with the nightclub district around it, the building’s exterior sparkles from its inner core and relates to its surroundings not only at daytime but also at night. The illumination scheme means yellow wall elements of the building unit become visible at night. Rose Lane is actually two buildings: a car park and an office building. The ground floor of the office building serves as the parking attendants’ office, which sits right next to the car park. The 595-space car park it was erected using HUBER’s systemised components. Inside the car park has clear-span decks and a space-efficient VCM (vertical circulation module) system. There are two entrance and exit lanes set apart from each other to avoid queuing in the adjo9ining roads. Entrances and exits have been fitted with electrical roller shutters. All parking bays and stairwells are colour-coded to ease recognition. All the parking bays are extra width. There is also secure bicycle parking.

The car park is equipped with LED lighting that provides uniform illumination; there are also several electric vehicle charging stations. An 80 kWp photovoltaic plant on top of the 530 m² roof generates more energy on a sunny day than the car park needs for itself. The ground floor offers high specification public toilets, a baby-changing facility and several pay stations. On the exterior of the site there is also a bank of toilet cubicles for use by night clubbers. Markus Lauble, HUBER’s managing director says: “All in all, the sophisticated car park concept, which takes into consideration the needs of the user and the owner and operator, represents a sustainable quality product. Thanks to the use of first class materials its longevity is a given.”

Jury Comment

Car parks are gateways to the destinations they serve. Rose Lane takes this mission very seriously, providing a high quality parking experience. The structure has been designed to be a landmark, and its striking exterior does this both during the day and at night, when its illuminated façade is in tune with the locale’s nightclub business. But the attention to detail continues inside, with the car park featuring excellent public toilets, spacious lobbies and stairwells whose detailing picks up the façade’s motifs.

The perfect gateway, published in Parking Review April Issue 2017 (Download the PDF-format)