Winning style
Published: 16 June, 2008
While refurbished car parks are never quite as impressive as the new-build multi-storeys that we have seen come out of the ground in the past decade, the multi-storey car park at Edmonton Green shopping centre in north London is a fine example of how a 1960s structure can be transformed into a light, safe and attractive facility that can hold its head alongside its 21st century counterparts.
Having won the gong for Best Refurbishment at this year's British Parking Awards, Edmonton Green and contractor Makers Parking are leading the way in multi-storey design.
Built in the late 60s, the 460-space 12 split-level car park had been deteriorating for years until St Modwen, which owned the attached shopping centre, bought the car park back from the council and decided to refurbish the structure.
Peter Cowlard, technical director of Makers Parking, says: "There was a bigger global aspiration for this area and St Modwen made a decision that they were going to buy it back off the authority and refurbish it themselves."
Centre manager Brendan Webb adds: "There are a lot of opportunities to enhance the area and so St Modwen decided they would purchase the property. People either walk or drive to the centre and the car park was letting it down, so the priority was to either build a new car park or refurbish the existing one."
The decision was taken to refurbish as there was a cost benefit in doing so as the car park had some life left in it.
"It just needed protecting from this point onwards in order that it had a substantial life ahead," says Cowlard. "We have a 10-year warranty and as long as it's maintained correctly, the life expectancy is infinite."
A total of £2m was spent on the refurbishment works, which included re-siting the entrance/exit to the side of the car park in order to allow room to extend the shopping centre with the addition of a new Asda store, which opens in August this year.
Cowlard says: "A new ramp has gone in to allow the entrance/exits to be moved and we have a new stair/lift core to adhere to the requirements of Park Mark. We have also put in an attendant's office and put a complete digital CCTV system in there."
So far this combination has proven to be hugely effective. Webb explains: "The other week two youths drove in and tried to break into a machine. They didn't manage to break into the machine but they did cause damage.
"But the good news was the night guards saw them come in and called the police when they saw that they were up to something. The cameras followed them and the police were able to arrest them."
As it is a 24-hour car park, the lifts are remotely monitored to ensure any breakdowns are attended to immediately. Therefore, it is not even necessary to send an engineer on-site.
In addition, works involved structural repairs including deck coatings, top-deck waterproofing, a new energy-efficient lighting scheme, redecoration of the stairwells, new external aluminium cladding to the front elevation along with a front canopy added over the front entrance and anti-carbonation coatings on the parapet columns to protect the aesthetic appearance of the facility.
The car park has also been fitted with 64 CCTV cameras, which, in addition to the attendant on site, has ensured the multi-storey has achieved its Park Mark status.
"It hadn't had anything done to it for a significant period of time," adds Cowlard. "The concrete wasn't in too bad a condition, although we did electro-chemical and repair work to it. We also refurbished the link bridge across to the centre."
Referring to the DDA work they have also carried out, Webb adds: "We are never going to be able to convert an old car park into what we would like in an 'all singing, all dancing' new one, but a lot of the work has been done that most people with disabilities are happy with. We have widened the doors and it's a pay-on-foot system so we have two different height machines. Disabled drivers get to park for free and there are disabled bays on every level close to the lift core.
"There are certain things we are always looking at, for example, putting an electronic pad on a door for opening it, and that's being reviewed."
The car park is also used by residents of the new apartment buildings that can be found on the extended site, which also includes a new leisure centre and a number of external retail units. The new bus interchange, owned by the local authority, is also adjacent.
"We do contract parking to take up some of the spare capacity of the car park for some of our residents and workers and they are quite well used," says Webb. "We have given out electronic fobs - basically proximity cards - that allow the barriers to go up and down."
The revamped car park has now been operating for just over a year and Webb believes it has been well received by shoppers.
"As far as I am aware the car park has been received well. Multi-storey car parks have a bad reputation. People prefer to park locally to where they have to go and on a surface car park, but in a busy area you can't always do that.
"But it is well lit and as safe as we can make it," he adds. "It is monitored 24 hours a day, is close to the residential apartments and the shopping centre and there is a walkway into one of the office blocks as well."
But this is by no means the end to works at Edmonton Green and more car parking spaces are also set to be provided elsewhere on-site.
The new Asda car park opens in August and work is also expected to start at the end of next year in building a new split-level car park at the North Mall end of the scheme. South Mall is due to be refurbished next year and the rest of the scheme will also be refurbished in phases over the coming years. A total of £100m worth of development will have been carried out by the end. "We will have over 1,000 car parking spaces eventually," adds Webb.
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=== Double-decked refurb ===
Trade was maintained throughout the car park refurbishment at Edmonton Green by carrying out the work in phases, closing just two decks at any one time.
"It's always a tricky thing," says Peter Cowlard. "You have to drive people through your work area at one time, but we started at the top and got the top-deck watertight as it leaked, and then we were able to come down in a phased approach.
"Building the bottom ramp was one of the critical things we got in to allow new traffic flow to take place. Previously drivers entered the multi-storey at one side of the building and exited out the other."
Brendan Webb adds: "Making sure people were aware of what's going on was vital. If we were going to close a deck we would pre-warn customers. We kept the tenants involved and used positive signage."
Cowlard ends: "You need to manage properly, so the centre can continue to operate, as the car park is the lifeblood of the tenants."
