The vilafranca city council and saba open the extension to the plaza del penedès car park

The Vilafranca del Penedès City Council and saba, the abertis Group's car park business unit, today opened the extension to the underground car park managed by the company in Plaza del Penedès. The opening was officiated by the Mayor of Vilafranca del Penedès, Pere Regull, and the saba General Manager, Josep Canós, and was attended by numerous personalities from the region and company management.

The works, which were started in March 2008, consisted of extending the car park by 295 new spaces, distributed over two underground floors and located underneath Sant Francesc boulevard. A two-level tunnel has also been built underneath Avenida de Tarragona, connecting the two areas of the car park.

saba has invested a total of €6 million in the extension to the Plaza del Penedès car park, which following the works now has a total of 511 spaces. The duration of the concession for the car park as a whole is 39 years and 6 months from the signature of the contract, in February 2007.

The car park has the latest technological advances, in order to offer its customers a quality service, based on saba's policy of prioritising innovation and using new technologies in the car parks it manages.

The extension to the Plaza del Penedès car park has consolidated saba's presence in the city as a leading operator in the car park sector. The company also manages the 240-space Cal Rondina car park, situated at the junction between Calle Cid and Calle Santa Clara, as well as the "blue zone", with a total of 585 ground-level parking spaces. In total, saba manages more than 1,300 spaces in Vilafranca del Penedès.

Archaeological findings

During the excavation of the tunnel which connects the car park between Sant Francesc boulevard and Plaza del Penedès, archaeological remains belonging mainly to the base of the defensive tower of the city walls were found. These have been preserved and will be visible from inside the car park. In order to integrate these remains into the car park, saba modified the plans for the connection of both areas.

The defensive wall of Vilafranca dates back to the 14th century, although the tower which was found could be from the 15th or 16th centuries, judging by the remains of pottery from this period which were found inside.

International leader in the car park sector

Saba is not only a leader in the Spanish car park sector but also in the international arena. Innovation, the use of new technologies and the idea of the car park as a fundamental element for mobility and access to urban centres and metropolitan areas are some of the factors which have marked the development of the company.

The company currently has a total of 136,147 spaces spread over 201 car park centres in Spain, Italy, Chile, Portugal, France, Morocco and Andorra. In addition, the company is developing new projects which will increase the total size of the network to 219 parking centres and almost 150,000 managed spaces.

Saba is the car park subsidiary of the abertis Group, a European leader in infrastructure management, which also operates in the tollroad, telecommunications infrastructure, airport and logistics park sectors.