Leppington & Edmondson Park Commuter Car Parks

• Rating Type: Car park
• Certification Date: 26^th of May 2022
• Practical Completion: Leppington: 18^th Oct 2021, Edmondson Park South: 24^th January 2022
• State: NSW
• Suburb: Leppington, 2179 & Edmondson Park , 7147

Project Overview

The Commuter Car Parks Program is an initiative of the NSW Government to increase the provision of parking at key locations throughout Greater Sydney. Transport for NSW is responsible for delivering 4000 new commuter spaces at 13 locations. This project covers the development of two carparks, situated at Leppington and Edmondson Park South, located in South-West Sydney.
The Leppington and Edmondson Park South carparks are five storeys and six storeys respectively and provide commuters with over 1,000 parking spaces each. The roof level of the carpark is covered with steel roofing to support solar panels, which have been sized to cover the whole roof. Electric vehicle charging points and additional infrastructure for future charging points have been provided throughout the carpark.
The two carparks have very similar structure and have achieved a joint Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) ‘Excellent’ Design rating.

Project Description

Carbon positive car park:

The Leppington and Edmondson Park South car parks have reduced the energy related emissions by 153% against a reference building through the following initiatives:

• The use of highly efficient LED lighting with motion detection and daylight sensors for each fitting, significantly reducing operational lighting demand
• A combined 1,370 kWp rooftop solar PV across both car parks, projected to produce at least 130% above annual operational energy requirements

The sizing of the rooftop PV system was informed by a detailed Whole of Life Cost analysis which included an analysis on PV sizing options, EV charging technology and the integration of battery energy storage. Following the outcome of the study, it was decided that the PV system was to be maximised for both carparks, providing the most benefits from the available roof space.

Promotion of local heritage values at Leppington Car Park:

During the design phase of Leppington and Edmondson Park South Car Parks, ongoing engagement and consultation with the Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council took place to explore collaboration opportunities. This developed into an Aboriginal led co-design process for the façades at both Leppington and Edmondson Park South, with future opportunities also identified around landscaping, and a story board interpreting local Aboriginal heritage and context to the designs.

Indigenous participation in design was conceptualised by Aboriginal Architect Michael Hromek-Yuin,(Badawang) and managed by Josh Loyd (Wajarri Yamatji), providing Indigenous led and managed participation throughout the design process.

Aboriginal artist Shane Smithers (Darug, Burraberongal) was engaged to assist with design and interpretation of artwork, and his artwork ‘Where Sky Meets Earth”’ which has been incorporated into the façade at Leppington Car Park, embedding cultural values and principles into the development. In this artwork, Shane has horizontal lines which represent Mother Earth, and vertical lines which represent Father Sky. The art piece reflects that Darug Country is a place where sky meets earth, and where the generative forces of Wiari (Mother earth) and Biari (Father Sky) come together to create all life.

For the Edmondson Park South facade, Shane produced a new artwork titled ‘Ghost Trees and The Lost Woodland’, which focuses on the destruction and degradation of the native Cumberland Plain Woodlands. The north, south and western façades show a pixilated form of the woodlands, resembling the remaining isolated trees and acknowledging the loss experienced. The east façade shows a detailed representation of the woodlands amongst an urban backdrop of houses and rooflines to provide hope for urban regeneration. The image details the tree roots in the soils and tree canopy in the sky, sharing Indigenous knowledge and connection to mother earth and father sky. This connection represents the coming together of the forces of birth, rebirth and regeneration.

Sustainable construction materials and design practises:

A number of initiatives to reduce the material impact of the carparks were undertaken, including:

• An average of 40% supplementary cementitious material (SCM) replacement in concrete mixes targeted across the concrete used in the project
• Optimising the column spacing and therefore reducing the overall number of columns required to provide structural support to the upper levels.
• Use of post-tensioned slabs with reduction of steel reinforcement used
• Rearrangement of band beam orientation to East-West direction, reducing overall band beam length and number of columns
• Optimising the foundation design, adopting larger piles and founding on rock with more skin friction. This has resulted in a 50% reduction in piles and the deletion of pile caps
• Deletion of concrete upstand, replaced with proprietary steel crash barriers providing the following benefits:
  • Reduction in overall building weight and concrete footings
  • Enabling slab to act as cantilever, removing the need for external columns
• Smaller stair cores with a reduction in concrete walls
• Re-use of the existing ground slab sub-grade at Edmondson Park South Car Park

Furthermore, the Leppington and Edmondson Park South carparks were designed for adaptability and disassembly to consider the whole of life material use. The following design initiatives were implemented to consider future carpark uses:

• Adaptable use of the ground floor through
  • An increased ground floor height from a typical 3m to 4.5-6m to enable future conversion into commercial space or other community use. Ramps accessing the upper levels have been provided to maintain access to the carpark while the ground floor is utilised for other purposes
  • Provision of hydraulic services on the ground floor so that future spaces can be easily created without the need to demolish existing structures.
• The carpark structure has been designed to account for further levels in case there is a need for more car parking space in the future.
• The roof and solar panels have been designed to allow for detachment and reattachment if the carpark was to be expanded by two more levels.

For the Mat-1 credit, the material savings from SCM replacement in concrete were quantified and resulted in an 18% reduction in the material impacts across the construction and operation of the car parks alone.

Project Website

Edmondson Park Commuter Car Park | Transport for NSW

TfNSW CCPP Edmondson Park South Commuter Car Park | A W Edwards