Shopping centres from London to Glasgow have been investing in refurbishing their car park facilities, at a time when many owners are investing in their current stock instead of developing or buying anything new.

With consumer spending squeezed by increasing food and fuel bills and retail sales falling, shopping centres are having to work harder than ever to attract customers. Fuel consumption and car park charging are likely to be the key barriers stopping shoppers from visiting their usual retail centre as they are forced to tighten their belts and save a few pennies.

Liverpool One is the largest regeneration project to open in Europe this year, so it may not come as a surprise that three car parks with a total of 3,000 spaces have been built to cater for the thousands of shoppers visiting the scheme every day.

With its distinctive black and red logo, Q-Park is a recognisable brand in many of the UK's city centres, including Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool and Sheffield.

Putting cars in your car park may not sound like the most innovative idea - after all, isn't that what a car park is for? But when you add in branded stands, simulators, off-road experiences and motorbike rides, the picture changes.

The Mall Corporation has acquired the multi-storey car park at The Mall Chester from NCP as part of its plan to brand all its shopping centre car parks in The Mall livery.

Q-Park's former CEO, Alan Ashbee, has launched Parking Man - a full scope corporate level consultancy service for the parking sector - as announced at Parkex.

Berry Brisafe's Perimeter Edge System was chosen to protect cars and pedestrians visiting IKEA in Belfast.

Brent Cross recently joined forces with car park management company Creative Car Parks in a month-long campaign to overcome the centre's problem with staff parking.

Disabled parking bays are frequently a cause for controversy in the shopping centre industry. Whether it's people abusing the spaces reserved for blue badge holders or concerns expressed over limited provision, it is time for a radical overhaul of both the management and provision of these vital parking spots.

Shopping centre and retail park landlords are recognising the importance in achieving the Park Mark safer parking award in order to instill confidence in their customers. And this year has already seen a spate of these awards - run by the British Parking Association, and supported by the Home Office - earned by car park operators.

Payment machines on the market are getting far more sophisticated, giving shoppers greater choice of payment method and saving them from spending more time than necessary in the car park.

Pressure is on for shopping centre owners to encourage their customers to ditch the car and travel by public transport, bike or by foot to do their shopping. But for centres that operate car parks, it's important that shoppers still arrive by car. However, there are a number of ways they can ensure their car parks are as green as possible.

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.

All eight cars parks at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent are to receive Park Mark accreditation from the British Parking Association for their high safety standards.

The SFX Parking Post is a new aid to help protect parking spaces that are reserved by regulation for disabled drivers, parents with children or other special needs groups, including the seven-day business user.

Makers Parking, the car park refurbishment division of Makers UK, has been sold by its parent company, Keller Group, to management.

The St Enoch Centre in Glasgow has announced plans for a major refurbishment of its car parking facilities as part of the scheme's £100m transformation.

The Light in Leeds has been awarded the Park Mark Safer Parking Award for the third consecutive year.

The car park is a major financial asset at any shopping centre and as such the landlord should be continually striving to improve its financial productivity.

The Metric Group's latest recruit, Brian Nelson, has been appointed to the role of parking services manager following the parking equipment manufacturer's decision to enter into the parking management arena.

Parkex International is the event of the year for the parking industry and the 2008 conference brings 'Raising the Standards' and sharing best practice in parking and traffic management to the forum.

Ensuring your customers are relaxed when they embark on a Saturday afternoon shopping trip is vital to ensuring they want to return again to your shopping centre. Part of creating that stress-free experience is the knowledge that their vehicle is parked safely on site.

For most retail parks in the UK, on-site management is limited to employing a car park operator to look after the surface car park.

Shopping centres provide a number of key challenges in designing an efficient car park that will be well received by the shopping public.

New hi-tech traffic lights at Braehead automatically adjust the length of time they stay at green depending on how many cars are waiting to go through a junction.

An ambitious £30m reinforced concrete project to build Europe's biggest car park will soon feature as part of the £500m Cabot Circus development in Bristol, which is due to open in autumn 2008.

Europe's largest full-service parking contractor APCOA has acquired all of the CPS businesses across Europe from Central Parking Corporation, itself the largest parking firm in the USA. The biggest impact of the acquisition will be felt in the UK, where APCOA's operations will be nearly doubled in size. Meanwhile, the number of countries in which APCOA operates will rise by two, with the addition of Ireland and Spain.

Shoppers who abuse priority parking spaces at Asda supermarkets are to be fined £60. The retailer is piloting the scheme at seven stores in Merseyside but is planning to roll it out across the country.

Vinci Park is in discussions with the British Parking Association (BPA) about how best to promote the benefits of Park Mark to consumers.

Mention the Royal British Legion, and Remembrance Day and the fund-raising work the charity does for the serving and ex-service community will probably be the first thing that will spring to mind.

With a number of shopping centres having opened their doors this autumn, an array of new car parks have also been built to cope with the increase in shoppers to these towns and cities.

Proposals to introduce the first phase of a congestion charging system in Manchester by 2012, which would make it the second city in the UK after London to impose a charge on drivers for entering specific zones, have been met with much apprehension.

Ivanhoe Cambridge, the Canadian owner and manager of Glasgow's St Enoch Centre, has concluded a £10m deal with Glasgow City Council to acquire the scheme's car park.

Highlight Parking Systems has been awarded the contract to provide its patented 'bay monitoring' system for the new 3,500-space multi-storey car park at Terminal 5 Heathrow.

Les Knight, new business director at Euro Car Parks, has taken over from Peter Guest as president of the British Parking Association.

Land Securities has scooped a Park Mark award for each of its three retail parks in Livingston, demonstrating its commitment to safety at its scheme.

The car park at Prince Bishops shopping centre in Durham has received a highly-regarded international award in recognition of its exceptionally high standards.

Legion Parking Services has launched its new Managed Enforcement Controlled Charging Service (MECCS).

Retailers and shoppers in Cardiff have been left outraged after NCP more than doubled tariffs at its three city centre car parks.

Demolition of The Bentall Centre's Car Park B in Kingston-upon-Thames has begun with rebuilding work set to be completed and the car park in full service by Christmas 2008.

Bullring Birmingham has replaced all of the 'traditional' locks on its APT SkiData pay-on-foot units with innovative programmable electronic locks and 'cyber' keys from Ez-Assure.

MetroCentre, Gateshead, has been awarded five Park Mark awards for each of its car parks amounting to nearly 10,000 free car parking spaces.

Construction of Hammerson's extension to the Shires shopping centre in Leicester and its new state-of-the-art 2,000-space multi-storey car park is now only months from completion.

While parking is a requirement for most shopping trips, it would be wrong to think that as people will have to use the car park anyway, there is no need to invest in a good facility.

With environmental issues high on the world's agenda, it is only natural that being green is at the forefront of most car park management companies' minds.

Car parks are becoming an increasingly important asset to shopping centres as the gateway to their scheme.

The BPA has launched the Institute of Parking Professionals (IPP), an independent body representing individuals engaged in the UK parking industry and traffic management sectors.

Parkeon has installed three additional Varioflex automatic pay stations at the newly-extended Frenchgate Interchange in Doncaster, increasing the total number provided to nine.

CPV, the fixed valet hand car wash business, has announced its growth plans for Scotland as it secures new shopping centre and supermarket locations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Irvine.

Exhibitors at this year's Parkex International launched a variety of new products at the show, which, for the second time, had joined up with Traffex and EWX External Works at the NEC Birmingham.

Pleasant, grassy areas, five-a-side football pitches, tennis courts, places to eat and relax with nice views. Sound like an ideal place to spend a Sunday afternoon? Then soon you could be heading to your local shopping centre car park to enjoy this experience.

Parking enforcement may not be a favourite topic among shopping centre and retail park managers, but for some, it is a vital part of their car park operation.

Swindon-based parking solutions company Quadriga Parking has become the first UK contractor to offer a fully-integrated Car Park Bay Guidance System.

An additional 500 car parking spaces are set to be provided at Chelmsley Wood shopping centre in North Solihull as part of a major multi-million-pound redevelopment in the town.

For the second time, Parkex International has teamed up with Traffex and EWx (the External Works Exhibition) to create a wide-ranging event to be held at the Birmingham NEC from April 17 to 19. The sell-out Parkex show alone will bring together more than 100 companies from the UK, Europe and as far afield as China, Iran, Korea and Australia to meet their peers and discuss innovation and best practice. BPA chief executive Keith Banbury says: "These three exhibitions have been co-located to maximise the quality of experience for our visitors and better utilise their valuable time out of the office.

With an increase in the number of people relying on cars as their prime mode of transport, it is perhaps not surprising that car park spaces these days are expensive commodities.

Bracknell town centre is set for a major overhaul over the next six years, with the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership ploughing £750m into creating new retail, residential and leisure opportunities. But while construction is not expected to start for more than a year yet, Princess Square shopping centre, owned by the BRP, has started the ball rolling by refurbishing its multi-storey car park.

The Future of Retail Property research commissioned by the BCSC has highlighted the need for shopping centre owners and managers to think closely about parking provision and customer transport to and from their schemes.

Serving as a regional centre for shopping in Surrey and south-west London and attracting visitors from across a broad catchment area, it is little wonder that parking, transport and access is an issue of concern in Kingston-upon-Thames.