Maybe it even has the potential to become a new Freising landmark. With the completion of the parking tower last autumn, Lerchenfeld gained an unusual eye-catcher. On Erdinger Straße, the building rises in the parking lot between the Fressnapf pet supply store and the Rofu children’s area.
The special feature: The model for the technical implementation is the paternoster elevators, which have gone out of fashion, which makes the design space-saving. As soon as the TÜV has approved it, the prototype can be put into operation after several delays, says Simon Schubnell, co-founder of the young Munich company Vepa Vertical Parking, which developed the tower.
The idea for the tower came from Simon Schubnell and David Schön, who already knew each other from their previous jobs and realized that they harmonized as a duo and worked well together. In doing so, says Schubnell, “we came across the topic of parking towers and decided to hold discussions with cities, municipalities and project developers.”
The parking tower could not only solve the problem that there is increasingly less parking space, especially in cities. Environmentally harmful soil sealing will also be reduced. Schubnell is certain that in areas where space is limited, “vertical parking technology will prevail.”
After the two developers received positive feedback, they took the step into independence in May 2021. The team has now grown to 13 employees.
The tower offers space for eight vehicles up to SUV size. The vehicles are parked inside on platforms provided for this purpose. An electric motor drives these and ensures that the platforms can rotate in both directions via a chain like a paternoster elevator. If users want to drive into the vertical parking garage, they hold a corresponding chip on the tower. Then a roller door opens, the next free platform moves down and the vehicle can be parked. The parking process must then be confirmed from outside.
The tower is designed to last at least 20 years
If you want to get your car back, you have to wait a maximum of 90 seconds in front of the closed gate. On average, it only takes half as long until the vehicle is available again, says Schubnell, “because the control is programmed so that the tower always looks for the shortest route down.” The effort for maintenance should be within a manageable range. Maintenance is only necessary once a year. The tower is designed to last at least 20 years.
The construction company Adldinger was the first investor to be involved in the start-up. Convinced by the idea, the Kranzberg-based company purchased the prototype and had it built on its own property. Schubnell speaks of a “closed user group”; only tenants of the Adldinger company can use the parking spaces. This is set to change with Vepa’s next project: the construction of a second parking tower is planned in Munich’s Werksviertel, which will be open to the public. The company not only wants to be active in development, but also as an operator.
In the future, booking via app should be possible
In addition, improved technology will be used in future towers. On the one hand, charging options for electric vehicles are planned. According to Schubnell, the complex development of this structure was particularly demanding, and the start-up also filed a patent for it. On the other hand, in the future entry will be possible using automatic license plate recognition or prior booking via app.
Thanks to their modular design, the parking towers “can be built in different designs and with different numbers of parking spaces,” says Schubnell. In addition to the Freising variant with eight spaces, towers with ten or twelve parking spaces can also be implemented. In the longer term, parking towers will also be built in other parts of Germany, including in Berlin. When asked about the biggest challenge, the co-managing director says “that we have to unite two worlds”: The construction of the parking tower as a building on the one hand and as a machine on the other is linked to a number of legal requirements.