Chase Commercial
ChaseXChange
12November

New 805-space Lichfield St car park building opens in Central Christchurch

New 805-space Lichfield St car park building opens in Central Christchurch

An hour's free parking will be available over summer at a newly-opened 805-car park building in central Christchurch.

The $31.3 million facility on Lichfield St, owned by the Christchurch City Council, opened to the public at midday on Friday. Built by Clearwater Construction, it came in $1m under budget.

Council transport operations manager Aaron Haymes said with the new building's opening, "nobody can say that, in the core of the central city, there's not enough parking anymore".

 

805-space-lichfield2

JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF

The new 805-park Lichfield Street car park building opened in central Christchurch on Friday.

 

He said the opening was a "massive milestone" for a city that had been struggling with gravel pits for parks and relying on on-street spaces.

"It's starting to feel like we're back at some level of normality again."

"The parking scene in Christchurch has been probably one of the most interesting ones in the country since the earthquakes."

Central City Business Association chairman Brendan Chase said people coming into the central city would now be able to find a park easily so there was no reason not to come in and help the businesses that had taken the steps to reestablish the area.

He hoped the pricing would encourage early patronage of the building, which would benefit all businesses within easy walking distance.

Chase said people could not expect to park "right outside the front door" of their destination, "but coming into a covered car park building in the very centre of town, it's quite a luxury".

While parking in the retail precinct was ideally placed, there was room for other parking sites to be developed in other parts of the central city, he said.

The Lichfield St facility is the third large parking building to open in the retail precinct, following the 400-park Crossing and 580-park Hereford St buildings. Another large car park will be built on Hereford St next year as part of The Terrace development.

The building, open 24 hours a day, has an hourly rate of $2.80 or an all day rate of $10. A night-time rate of $2.50 an hour applies after 6pm. Comparatively, the Crossing charges $4 per hour.

 

805-space-lichfield3

JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF

The building offers space and lockers for 96 bikes.

 

The eight-storey building also offers space and lockers for up to 96 bicycles, 24 disability access parks, and 10 electric vehicle charging bays. The building is wired so almost all of the parks can be converted to electric charging spaces if needed and there are plans to base a fleet of 30 Yoogo shared-use electric vehicles in the building.

Seven retail spaces have also been created and face onto the revamped Plymouth Lane, one side of which has been painted with a large mural by street artist Flox. A time capsule filled by children from a local school has been placed in the lane.

The building was made using about 11,000 tonnes of concrete and 980 tonnes of steel, and includes its own power substation. More than 40 kilometres of electric cable were installed.

There is also a separate water tank attached to the sprinkler system, which means it can respond to fire even if there is no water available from the mains.

The council is offering one hour's free parking at all of its off-street spaces in the central city for the next four months. The move is estimated to be costing the council $780,632 in lost revenue.

 

805-space-lichfield4

JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF

One hour free parking will be available over the summer months at the new Lichfield St building, along with all other council-owned off-street parks in the central city.

GET IN TOUCH
Phone: +64 3 377 9394
Mobile: 021 221 9988
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

facebook

icon-google

linkedin

Copyright © 2016 Chase Commercial | ChaseXchange All rights reserved