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Q-Park Belgium opened the prestigious Q-Park Steendok car park on 3 December 2020. This car park is part of a large development including:

• An urban park, park Dok Zuid;

• Another underground car park, Kooldok, planned for opening Spring 2022.

Reshaping disused docklands

This is the first of two underground car parks being built at the site of Antwerp’s former docks. This site, known as the Gedempte Zuiderdokken, has been an open air car park since the docks were filled in the late 1960s after they were no longer needed for stone and coal imports by boat.

Repurposing public space

Antwerp city municipality commissioned these works in 2016 and can now start to redevelop the public space, transforming the grey car park area into green parkland, as cars now park underground.

This will revitalise this area which is home to museums, art galleries and trendy restaurants. The car park also provides safe, secure and economic parking solutions for residents.

The car park access and exits have been positioned to minimise traffic entering the old city from the south. Less traffic searching for a place to park means lower vehicle emissions!

Considerable parking capacity

Column-free parking; historic dock wall visible on level -1 (Photo by Lucid)

The spacious car park is situated within the walls of the former dock. The historical dock walls have been preserved and are visible on level -1.

The car park provides space for about 1,000 cars on four underground levels and has space for 125 bicycles on level -1. The spaces nearest the pedestrian exits on levels -2, -3 and -4 are reserved for people with reduced mobility. There are spaces for EV charging on all levels and the bicycle parking also offers an e-bike recharging service.

Each parking level has its own 'Antwerp icon' to help visitors remember where they have parked. The icons show aspects Antwerp is famous for:

• Level -1: Diamond (Antwerp Diamond District)

• Level -2: Hand (Souvenir biscuits and chocolates)

  • The hand refers to the legend of the giant Druoon Antigoon. He demanded a very high toll from the ships that passed by on the river Scheldt. Those who refused to pay had one hand chopped off. Silvius Brabo challenged the giant to a fight, killed him and threw one of the giant's hands in the river.

• Level -3: Boat (Docks were part of Antwerp harbour)

• Level -4: Rubens (Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist and diplomat)

  • Rubens is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque period.

Antwerp icons help visitors remember on which level they have parked

Q-Park features

Q-Park house style and signature features are a guarantee of quality, they make parking pleasant and convenient as well as environmentally friendly. The customer experience starts at the access where visitors can see how many spaces are available on each level.

In off-peak periods, the lowest levels are kept closed to save electricity, heating and cleaning. LED lighting with smart controls turn off lights in parts of the car park not in use.

Signature features include:

• ANPR for access, exit and payment

  • for pre-booking and event parking

  • with payment and parking apps

• 26 EV charging points

• E-bike charging

• Column free parking

• Wide angled parking bays

Customers feel safe and secure thanks to:

• Optimised energy-saving LED lighting

• Transparent pedestrian entrances above ground

• Many glass features including glass lift doors

• Light and open staircase

Transparent pedestrian entrance (Photo by Lucid)

Wide staircase and glass-fronted lift (Photo by Lucid)

Pedestrian area visible from parking deck (Photo by Lucid)