Hats Off! It’s Car Park 2025

As a leading specialist in the area of car parking refurbishment and maintenance, Car Parks 2025 presented by Parking Review and produced by Landor Links, invited Makers to attend and participate in what is a constantly changing demographic of today’s parking structure at 15 Hatfields London.

Attended by the great and good in the industry Car Parks 2025 caters to those involved in the parking industry to keep abreast of changes and demands, innovation and listen to current thinking and live case studies that continue to drive the industry forward. The event showcased several specialists covering the latest hot topics particularly in relation to safety and fire risk, car park collapse after recent events in New York, and the constant demand to re-evaluate the parking asset given the pressures of change and sustainability.

“As a key player in the market, Makers have always been at the forefront of testing and investigation to establish the issues and then design from a known base, fundamentally there are still many in the industry who fail to understand the importance of understanding the issues prior to proffering design”.

Jon Westwood, New Business Director, Makers

This year saw a key speaker from CROSS (Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures) who act on a confidential reporting system obtaining information from informed individuals then producing an anonymous report to create a positive change through a lesson learned process. The idea behind this is to share knowledge to help create a safer built environment.

The first topic being car fires, understanding their cause, the spread and impact on car park design and how those maybe addressed. Ian Bailey a former firefighter and safety consultant lead us through several examples of risk and case studies including issues on original design, lack of fire prevention and inevitable outcomes, most seeing the complete devastation of the structures.

The key points here were items outside the control of the building such as larger vehicles, plastic fuel tanks and closer car proximity, together with the sheer number of vehicles. Fire teams’ response teams being critical as the action changes from the containment to extinguish to control and defensive very quickly. If 10 vehicles are ablaze it is unlikely the blaze will be put out merely control measures to contain the spread and protect human life.

Thoughts turned to existing structures and particularly average larger more heavier vehicles created from acceleration into EV vehicles, where initial car park design of the 1960’s was based on 2.5KW/m2 or 2½ tonnes. Back in the 60’s vehicles were 30% smaller in volume but ore over around 800Kgs. Due to the need for range EV vehicles have become increasingly heavier due to battery volumes seeing weights exceed the 2.5 tonne limits with many SUV’s becoming the car of choice accounting for over 65% of new car sales.

Not only has the design load of the car parks remained static for many years but so has the traditional parking bay size 2.4 x 4.8m forming most of the configuration and car parks builds since the 1960’s.

Although designed on the original model “T”Ford, this configuration ha rarely changed despite the huge increase in car sizes.

The drivers here become slightly blurred in that older car parks with their internal configuration may be handcuffed both in column placement and internal ramp access leaving little or no adaptation, but more modern clear span designs can offer more in bay configuration but at a cost of capacity.

As vehicles are likely to become heavier and larger this may actually lead to older stock being replaced, however reductions in capacity to create larger bays, which can assist in reducing imposed load, may provide the catalyst for operations to enhance the parking experience whilst still maintaining revenue income. Andrew Potter; Director of Parking Perspectives created a game simulation that involved delegate participation to demonstrate the influences of parking behaviour, choice and a correlation between parking, pricing and quality of service.

With 4 car park operators to choose from across the city the audience received cards with specific elements and details that influenced choice, from price, security, proximity to key destination and time pressures. Although a conscious decision could be made by the players the driver of prices was not the only consideration.

The game itself provided wide conversation and discussions with all 4 operators failing to make budget, but a wider debate as to driver interaction and choice. It was clear that drivers expected to pay and depending on activity and dwell time the key was proximity to activity i.e. location. The model highlighted that those with time pressures would search out the nearest facility to their desired location, with price a secondary consideration. From audience discussion it was clear that people were happier to pay more for larger parking bays and a better parking experience.

 

Sean Cleary, Strategic Delivery Manager; Cambridge City Council, provided insight into the Council Operations to deliver sustainable parking and EV Charging for all, working with dependable partners crating an infrastructure that will deliver for the now and future.

“The secret is not to stand still, evaluate your asset and see how it links into the wider scheme, this may mean the asset is changed and new ones developed but you have to embrace change and not think of parking as just parking cars. This industry moves so fast that by the time you implement it’s moved on again…”

Sean Cleary; Structural Delivery Manager; Cambridge City Council

“We have worked with Sean on a number of his parking stock and Sean is different in so much as his military experience keeps him focused on the target. Seans insight into the process, problems and drivers is all about cohesive thinking and planning for the future and being able to adopt change, which isn’t necessarily easy. One thing for sure is Cambridge City Council will continue to push forward and embrace technology and innovation to ensure access for all”

Simon Lamb; Managing Director, Makers

Attended by of 120 delegates across the parking spectrum it is interesting to see the different dynamics depending on the communities they serve. As highly dynamic structures, car parks are in constant demand but are expensive beasts if left unattended and unloved. The constant message is “maintain and inspect” to avoid those nasty surprises and this is where Makers can help and assist. As experts in this field, early engagement is critical to establish a risk strategy and ensure these valuable assets remain safe, profitable and provide the parking experience demanded and expected of the parking public.

Please contact a member of our team for assistance.