Car park at Aarhus Hospital
The old Municipal Hospital on Nørrebrogade has far too few parking spaces for its staff and patients. Staff have to take part in a lottery to allocate the scarce parking spaces, whilst patients are directed to pay-and-display car parks, if they are lucky enough to find a space at all.
To increase parking capacity, Aarhus City Council has granted the Central Denmark Region permission to build a multi-storey car park for 400 cars.
iThe multi-storey car park is to be built on a site where there are already 135 parking spaces, so the net increase will be 265 parking spaces.
The car park will be constructed in exposed concrete over three storeys, but the developer is obliged to ‘green’ the façades.
The local plan was the subject of considerable debate, including a number of protests from the northern neighbours, who comprise a local community centre. The Technical Committee even carried out an on-site inspection to assess the situation, and the local plan stipulates, for example, that the second storey must be screened off from the local centre to reduce the amount of exhaust fumes directed in that direction.
It has been argued in the debate that the car park is a waste of money, given that the old KH will be vacated in the near future in favour of Skejby Hospital. However, there is nothing to suggest that the future use of the buildings and the site (Aarhus University has expressed a desire to take over the whole site) will require fewer parking spaces than at present.