IdentiPark in Grantham UK
by J Gibson
KNOWING WHERE YOURE GOING IN GRANTHAM
Knowing where you are going is the theme behind South Kesteven Councils newly opened Welham Street multi-storey car park in Grantham, in which Nortech has installed its IdentiPark bay monitoring system.
Located close to the Civic Centre, it was designed by Rance Booth and Smith and built by Allenbuild. The aesthetically pleasing design provides 332 spaces on six split-levels and the facility will meet the exacting standards of the Safer Parking Scheme and Park Mark accreditation.
Says Paul Stokes, South Kestevens Asset and Facilities Manager, It was the councils aim to provide a flagship car park to firmly establish Grantham as a leading provider of safe, secure, efficient and attractive parking.
One of the key elements for selecting IdentiPark was the need to provide a means of directing motorists to the unoccupied parking bays in the multi-storey quickly and easily to minimise the risk of congestion in the busy adjoining streets, whilst maximising the utilisation of the car park.
The system installed streamlines parking management using ultrasonic sensors and displays to monitor bay occupancy and update the occupancy display of individual parking bays in real time. This information is co-ordinated with Intelliboosters and data concentrators to send the information to the facilitys system computer which then accurately directs vehicles to the floor levels and zones where bays are available. The system is enhanced with illuminated guidance displays to direct the driver quickly and accurately to the first available space.
The overall scope and capability is augmented with variable message signs and numerical signs in various formats and are all linked through an advanced vehicle counting device to provide the most complete solution available.
The Welham Street car park control room is located in the adjacent Civic Centre and the powerful IdentiPark software package generates a wide range of audit and statistical reports. The PC provides a graphical user interface to depict the graphical representation of the car park facility and gives real time information about the status of the car park. This capability is paramount in enabling the control room to perform a wide range of operational control functions including remote diagnostics.
To meet specific site requirements, the bay monitoring sensors have various display colour options as standard. As well as the Red-occupied, Green-vacant, there is also Blue-disabled and orange-reserved. Additionally, bay occupied displays can be included. There are particularly useful when the standard bay sensor could be obscured in areas affected by structural beams or columns.
The advantages offered by the system are too many to mention, but motorists will most certainly benefit from a pleasurable and stress free parking experience. The council too will benefit from the reduction in parking bay search times, which in turn will reduce pollution from car exhausts. This will make a major contribution towards achieving the governments policy to reduce the carbon footprint.
The on-site installation was carried out by Secure One Ltd who was contracted by the council to provide an advanced CCTV system and help Points
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