THE Albany

THE Albany, built for banker and racehorse owner Richard Naylor as a renaissance classical-style office block, was opened in 1858.

It was originally offices and storage space for city cotton brokers.

The five-storey red brick and sandstone building is built as a quadrangle with a large centre courtyard reached by an elaborate spiral staircase.

It was designated a listed building after the campaign to save it from demolition during the 1970s.

A number of restoration projects fell through until Chris Nisbet came forward with his scheme in 2002.

It has now been transformed into luxury apartments and modern communal areas.

More

Albany Assests: Website

Albany Apartments: Website

Those apartments are fabulous. I love the Albany building. I remember it well when I worked in an office in Exchange flags ... I used to take documents there when it was offices.

IT SOUNDS like an episode of the famous TV series Knight Rider . . . You drop your car off, it parks itself - and when you call it later it is ready and waiting to take you wherever you need to go.

But this is in fact the UK's largest self-stacking car parking system - one of only three in the country.

The car park, based at the luxury Albany apartment complex, at the heart of the Liverpool's business district, is a first for the city.

In a space of 10 metres by 18 metres beneath, the Grade II listed building on Old Hall Street, it will be able to stack and store a total of 84 cars.

Residents in the Albany complex, where homes are priced between £160,000 and £680,000, will have a special fob, or transponder, which links up to their car.

When they drive into the garage, the doors open and they drive on to a platform and the car is lifted up and stored.

The car is brought back down automatically when the car's owner clicks the fob next to the garage.

Chris Nisbet, chairman of Albany Assets, said: "I'm very excited to be installing the largest car park stacking system in the UK.

"Technology of this nature has got to be the way forward for city parking, especially as space is scarce in developing urban areas like Liverpool city centre."

In eight weeks, work on the car park is due to be complete and the system will be in full operation. Using technology created by German company Wohr Parking Systems, the system knows where your car is parked and who you are.

Andrew Smith, project director for Wohr Parking Systems, said: "When the car's owner places the fob next to the transmitter, it bleeps to acknowledge the car's owner - we can even add a little message such as 'Mrs Jones, your car is waiting for you now'.

"This system is the largest automated stacking car park we have in the UK.

"In some ways the UK is behind the rest of Europe which had its first stacking system back in 1959, but we are now catching up.

"As parking becomes a real problem in city centres, new solutions like this are needed."

With a price tag of nearly £1m - worked out at around £11,000 per parking spot - it isn't something that homeowners will be installing soon.

But the manufacturers say it won't be long before the UK catches up with the rest of Europe and has public car parks organised on a stacking system.

Mr Smith said: "We are working on negotiations in the UK for projects even larger than this one now."

kate.mansey@liverpool.com

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I remeber reading about that a while ago, thinking *my god* thought it was a joke at first, but it is cool

WHEN supermodel Sophie Anderton bought a penthouse in Liverpool, she thought it would be an investment to lease out.

But now the 29-year-old has become the latest young professional to be drawn to the city centre.

The ex-Gossard model, who has battled a cocaine addiction, bought a two-bedroomed flat for £330,000 in the business district's Albany building.

"The plan was to buy it as a business interest, but I keep coming up and staying there myself," she said.

The conversion of an 1850s office on Old Hall Street won this year's Liverpool Daily Post and Echo property award for best development.

Under one of two deals available to buyers, she will only pay the interest on her mortgage for two years.

"I wanted to buy a property in Liverpool for two reasons," the Bristol-born model said.

"The first was that Liverpool has been recommended to me as a brilliant city in which to invest and after winning the Capital of Culture 2008, I couldn't see how my investment wouldn't work.

"I also hosted the Childline Ball last November which reminded me how many friends and family I have up here.

"My London friends thought it was a very clever move! We're all growing up and trying to invest wisely."

She has also invested in new Liverpool spa Oasis in the City, which offers customers 10-minute non-surgical facelifts.

After inviting friends round for a housewarming, Ms Anderton is now getting to know the area's celebrity haunts.

"I usually go to the Sir Thomas Hotel and despite not drinking alcohol myself, my friends usually go down to the Newz bar."

She said she had been impressed by the style of Coleen McLoughlin and Alex Curran - Liverpool's "Scouserati", and was buying clothes at Cricket on Mathew Street.

"I think they always look great. I first met all the girls at the Childline Ball. I see them in London as well, so up here feels like home from home."

The tabloid press have recently linked Ms Anderton with Guns 'n' Roses singer Axl Rose, but the model denied they were together.

"I am just friends with Axl - the press always blow these things up," she said. "I've always been a fan of his, all girls my age are. At the moment, I am not seeing anyone."

Earlier this month, it was reported that Boodle and Dunthorne could be suing Sophie after a £26,000 diamond bracelet mysteriously went missing at her 29th birthday party.

"I was really shaken when it was stolen from my wrist," she begins.
"Boodles have been just amazing, so understanding, and the police are doing all they can to catch the culprit.

"It was one of the worst things that could have happened on my birthday."
Having had her addiction to cocaine catalogued in the press, she urged young people in Liverpool to stay away from the spiralling cocaine use in some city bars.

"Don't do it. All drugs are evil and they destroy lives. I urge all young people to stay away from them. I work hard every day to stay clean - I've learnt the hard way."

adrian.butler@liverpool.com

Residents enjoy stacks of space
Aug 16 2006
Liverpool Echo

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THE SKY'S the limit for the residents of Liverpool's Albany Buildings after their hi-tech car stacker was commissioned this week.

Finding a city centre parking space is no longer an issue when you have an 82-space car park in the sky.

As soon as the driver passes a security fob in front of a special electronic reader it takes 40 seconds for the Old Hall Street residents to drive into a bay, exit and leave the rest to the stacker to whisk their wheels on to the nearest available platform.

When they're ready to retrieve their car a simple swipe of their fob sets the operation in motion again and the vehicle is plucked from the overhead bay and delivered to the exit for them to climb in and drive away.

Developer Albany Assets commissioned German firm Wohr was to install the vertical stacking system at the rear of the building.

The system took six months to build off site and six months to install and commission.

Laser beams assess the size of car to be parked and ensure it goes into the right bay.

• SEE how the stacker works - click here
  

Source: icLiverpool

I keep thinking it's a shame about the restaurant underneath - I'm sure you could do great things with it.:PDT_Aliboronz_24: