Eco-friendly & hi-tech parking

Tuesday, Sep 01, 2009

Believe it or not, Delhi's getting a parking lot which is a green building, has rainwater harvesting, a sewage treatment plant of its 
own, solid waste management and energy efficient gadgets and devices to make it a building of the future. The capital's first "green'' car park, which also run on a state-of-the-art robotic technology to move cars, is soon coming up on Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

The parking lot is coming up on an area of 66,941 square feet, on a triangular plot located behind Kasturba Gandhi Marg. It will have 15 levels 12 overground and 3 basements, all of which will have parking lots. The same plot will also house a commercial complex with several levels of office space.

What sets it apart from the other multi-level parking lots is the fact that this is the first environment-friendly building. The building itself has been designed in a manner that there is a lot of natural light and fresh air coming in. The building has features like roof top thermal insulation, double-glazed windows to reduce power consumption. All the light fittings are going to be energy efficient and even the main lights of the building will be fitted with timers for switching on/off and dimming the lamps. The parking bays, ramps and garages are 100% disabled-friendly in design to enable use by everyone.

Even during construction, there will be use of fly ash instead of concrete and cement wherever possible. Use of timber has also been restricted and barring door frames, wood is not being used anywhere else. The replantation of about 20 trees, which had to be cut at the site for construction, is being done at the site itself as the building design has green spaces where over 230 trees will be planted.

For water conservation, the all rain water from the roof and storm water drains will be collected in underground lines and discharged into an underground aquifer using detention tanks and recharge wells. Even inside the building and office spaces, water efficient devices like quarter turn taps in wash basins and infra-red operated no-touch urinal flushing are being installed. The building will recycle all the water used bringing down need for fresh water by about 90%. No surface or groundwater source from NDMC will be required even when it is operational.

All the trash from the building will be put in separate colour-coded bins provided for biodegradable (green), recyclable (blue) and non-biodegradable (red) trash. These will be given to NDMC under their solid waste management. Provision has also been made to deal with e-waste.

The car parking itself will be state of the art. Minus the hassle of haggling with parking attendants and long waits to find a slot, this multi-level parking will be controlled by computers, without any human interface. All one will have to do is drive into the garage, pull the hand brakes up, lock the car and move out. The rest will be handled by a centralized computer and the car will automatically be moved to an empty slot using specially designed travelators and lifts. The car owner will be issued a receipt for safe keeping, using which the computer will retrieve the car later.

"We wanted to make maximum space available for vehicles, for which going for a fully automated robotic technology was the best option. Even in a normal multi-level ramp parking, more than 50% space gets wasted because of the ramps and alleys required for movement of vehicles. The parking lot will have space for 1,582 cars,'' said Krishan K Mutreja of DSC Limited, which will construct and maintain the lot for NDMC.

A parking survey carried out in the area projected a demand for parking space for about 2,300 cars, of which, some amount will be serviced by existing basement parking lots in a few of the office buildings. The same plot was being used to park about 250 cars till now.

Construction on the plot will start soon. "We are waiting for a few approvals, which are expected anytime now. Soon after, construction will start. The building will be ready within 18 months and is coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 198.65 crore,'' Mutreja added. It has been given to DSC limited for 30 years.

Article sourced from timesofindia.indiatimes.com at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/City/Delhi/TNN29parkintimattn-all-centres-from-delhi-metro-deskheenaHEAD/articleshow/4956072.cms