A Rugby shopping centre has received Park Mark status following an independent audit by the British Parking Association and a local Police Officer specialising in measures to help crime reduction.

Parking technology specialist APT Skidata has implemented a substantial software
and hardware upgrade to the parking systems at Telford shopping centre in the West Midlands

Free parking in out-of-town retail destinations is the norm but could parking costs be waived, if only for limited periods, in town centre shopping centres too?

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has removed centrally-imposed restrictions on how many car parking spaces can be provided in English town centres

Parking technology has moved on considerably in recent years, as has the desire of landlords to make their car parks as inviting and efficient as possible.

When Jon Brewer damaged his car after driving into a hidden kerb in a car park, he set out to make protection from low walls, barriers, kerbs, bollards and other vehicles commercially viable. 

The multi-storey car park at Gloucester Quays Designer Outlet has achieved the coveted Park Mark award for safer parking.

Thought to be a first in the parking industry, Amano has launched a new fully funded rental offering at parking exhibition Parkex- on this week at the NEC in Birmingham - allowing car park operators to see profits from day one of installation.

This year’s Parkex saw the typical range of quality product launches and new innovation. One area of heightened focus was the relationship between parking and retail. Having been a hot topic of discussion for years, parking companies are finally turning ideas and research into enhanced technology and marketable products.

APT Skidata
According to Nigel Young of APT Skidata, the recession is prompting centre owners to see car parks as a vital aspect of their business: “If owners and managers want to run their car parks as a business model, then we’ll happily help them do that.”
What with the recession and its impact on footfall and spend, landlords are fighting to attract people who stay at home or shop online to save money. It’s this renewed focus that Young wants replicated in the handling of car parks.
“Centres are really trying to boost loyalty in shoppers. I’m always staggered by the amount of money they put towards increasing footfall, spend and rates in the centre itself. Where is this level of investment in the car park?”
However, Young puts the recent improvements in parking systems down to the constant innovation occurring in shopping centres. “The shopping centre market has been the most proactive in embracing technology to increase footfall and branding. It’s this philosophy that has been driving car parks to become more technologically minded,” he argues.
With major banks such as Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland rolling out contactless credit and debit cards, this is exactly the kind of technology that Young has in mind. By integrating ‘Wave and Pay’ into APT Skidata’s car park payment system, drivers can simply wave their cards in front of the reader as they enter a car park.
“The credit or debit card becomes your unique identifier,” explains Young. “If you’re a loyal member of a particular shopping centre, you can start an account by entering your details online so the system will recognise you as you wave your card on entry. You’d never have to use a ticket, which reduces overheads, lowers congestion, and decreases crime because people won’t need to carry cash on them.”
Building on the marketing and customer loyalty so vital to shopping centres, APT Skidata’s ticket processing system also displays the driver’s name when they enter a car park. “They are welcomed by name at the barriers, so people go in and out with a personal message. It makes you feel special.”
The website also enables drivers to use their number plate as their unique identifier, with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) employed at the entry barrier. But the future of car park payment, in Young’s opinion, lies in the mobile phone. After all, everybody has one: there are more mobile phones currently in circulation than credit or debit cards.
Rather than using licence plates or waving a debit card, drivers can use their mobile phone as a parking ticket. After the proper details are inputted online, a phone enabled with NFC (Near Field Communication) can be read by the system to allow the driver entry.  
At the end of the month, a bill is sent out to each driver based on their usage. “The parking charges would be at a reduced rate,” says Young, with another nod towards customer loyalty, “and once someone has signed up online, we get all their details and can offer targeted promotions like free parking after three next Thursday. It can be used as a proper business tool.”

Parkeon / Parking Applications
Parkeon is another leading company working to establish car parks as business models alongside adjoining shopping centres. Having introduced “Wave and Pay” to Westminster City Council’s car parks, Parkeon has come up with the technology to specifically target individual shoppers.
The barrier-less solution, called ParkingPal, combines Parking Applications’ Veri-Park control system with the Parkeon Strada pay-and-display terminal. Integrating the two solutions has created a new approach to pay-on-foot, with advanced technology in the form of touch screens and contactless payment.
On entering a car park, images of each car and its registration plate are captured and transmitted via a network to the payment terminal. The images are then displayed on the full colour touch screen, and drivers can scroll down to find their own car. After selecting their vehicle, they can pay for parking either on arrival or on departure. Because all activity is logged by the system, no ticket is issued. “It saves drivers the hassle of going back to their car with the ticket, and no manual enforcement is required because it’s all there on the system,” says Danny Hassett, Parkeon’s UK parking director.
As with many up-to-date parking systems, drivers have a choice of payment methods. Contactless card and non-subscribe mobile phone payments are fully integrated, and paper receipts are issued so that users can keep a record of their costs.
Everything is centred around making the driver’s life as easy as possible, supporting the idea that car parks can establish consumer loyalty. “Retail property owners have got to review parking as part and parcel of their business approach,” stresses David Barrington, executive director of Parking Applications.
“The car park is the first and last thing people see when they visit a shopping centre. In the past it’s been tagged on to the side; now it has to become integral.”
Tied into this is the removal of barriers. According to Barrington, barriers at the entrance to a car park “give the impression that we don’t want people to come in”. Just as eliminating tickets reduces hassle for drivers, so a barrier-less system allows people to enter any car park without having to wait in a queue. And taking both tickets and barriers out of the equation will reduce the equipment infrastructure, resulting in lower capital, installation, maintenance and running costs.  
But arguably the greatest appeal for shopping centres lies in ParkingPal’s marketing potential. Frequent users can set up an online account with Parkeon enabling them to come and go without paying for individual stays. Once someone enters their details, the system can capture a range of information about that user.
“Not only will we know when they arrived and how long they stayed, but we can communicate with them. It’s a channel through which we can target people,” says Barrington. All promotions being held inside a shopping centre will be listed on the touch screen at the payment terminal, alongside a car finder application.
And the promotional possibilities for shopping centre car parks are endless. “The centre could run a special offer at a certain restaurant between 5pm and 6pm. If supplies ran low, they could immediately stop the promotion.”
Another idea is for retailers or centres to set up a loyalty scheme. “If someone was a frequent visitor to a centre, then they might have reduced parking charges or free parking,” suggests Barrington. “But their data would still be captured, making it easier to target them with specific marketing campaigns.”
Both Hassett and Barrington understand how important it is for landlords to be in control of the promotions and of parking management in general. As Barrington puts it: “Asset owners see it as a very useful channel, but they want to manage that channel. They need to have a handle on everything. So landlords have the power to stop and start any campaign whenever they like.
ParkingPal also puts the method of enforcement in the hands of centre owners. According to a study of non-compliances in car parks, over half of the drivers investigated had paid for their parking but hadn’t paid enough.
“This is very different to someone who didn’t want to pay in the first place,” says Barrington, who points out that many people pay on entry to the car park and simply get held up. “Centres are always holding promotions that encourage shoppers to stay a bit longer. Why penalise someone for staying in the centre, when that is exactly what every landlord should want?”
So ParkingPal allows the client to choose a soft enforcement method, where a letter might be sent out to give drivers a chance to repay the money without further penalty.
Despite the flexibility of ParkingPal, Barrington recognises that pick up among retail property owners might take time. “That’s why we offer layers of implementation, giving clients the chance to opt in or out or various services. After they have installed it, centre owners will see the value of having marketing and footfall statistics to such a high level,” he says.

Town and City Parking
Another product launched at Parkex was RepNet – a new parking analysis tool supplied by Town and City Parking (TCP). It relies on a sensor system to relay detailed, time specific information of occupancy, average length of stay, and the way in which the car park is being used in any given period.
“All the people we’ve shown from retail love it,” claims TCP managing director, Bernie Dickson. This explains why 14 Sainsbury’s sites in the UK have already picked it up, with a further run of supermarkets in the pipeline. Asda at Trafford Park, which lies in close proximity to Manchester’s Trafford Centre, goes live from the middle of March.
“It’s great for retailers because they all want to gather data on footfall. This will give them detailed information on exactly what is happening: how long shoppers are staying; whereabouts they generally park; and whether the car park is being abused.” Abuse might occur if people park in a shopping centre car park, only to get on a bus into town or shop in a nearby supermarket. Landlords need to be aware of this kind of misuse because their own customers might be unable to find a space as a result.  
Lauded as a revolutionary product that in Dickson’s words will “bring parking into the 21st century”, what is it about RepNet that stands it out from other sensor-based products? “Sensors have been out there for a while, but other products just don’t give off the same level of information. We’ve had geniuses working on this from the Swedish company Metereye and they have it off to a fine art.”
As there is a sensor in each parking space, RepNet can produce a heat map for landlords and managing agents showing areas most used by shoppers.
“You can research into the history of individual spaces to see how many people have used them over a period of time. If a retail park had large areas of a car park being underutilised, they might want to put in a coffee shop or kiosk to up the value of the scheme as a whole,” Dickson explains.
“Centre managers love the heat map because it’s a visual representation of how trade is picking up. They can immediately see how many shoppers are arriving at the centre and how long they’re staying. Landlords and managers can watch in real time, or they can watch it back at a faster speed to see what happened overnight when they weren’t around.”
Another benefit is forward planning. If centres have a particularly busy period, like weekends or Christmas holidays, managers can look at the report to see whether more marshalling should be in place in the future, and whereabouts to position attendants.  
The flow of traffic around the car park can be assessed by looking at preferred parking spots and where the average shopper parks in relation to the shopping centre and car park exits.
“A further advantage is the ability to measure the efficiency of parking attendants,” adds Dickson. “It can often be the case that guys in yellow jackets wander aimlessly around a car park with no particular focus.
“But now these attendants will have hand-held devices showing them in real time which areas need overseeing.  Managers, who can view the data in their offices or at home via the internet, can then plan where attendants should be placed and even what time they need to come in.”

UK Parking Control
Linking the car park owners to attendants on the ground is something that UK Parking Control (UKPC) has also been dealing with in the recently launched Total Parking Management (TPM). The concept behind TPM was based on client feedback and a desire to enhance the image of parking enforcement to both clients and consumers.
“We are always looking at ways to improve the services that we provide to our clients and add value in a market that can be at times deemed unfair and unrelenting,” explains UKPC managing director Rupert Williams.
Wardens are equipped with a mobile phone on-screen ticketing PDA which produces time stamped pictures of offending vehicles. ANPR captures all vehicle information on arrival and departure, while the warden is able to ensure all cars are parked within the client’s site regulations. Offences such as overstays can be pinpointed and dealt with far quicker because information on each car is stored and made readily available to the wardens, without the need for parking permits.
This system’s main advantage, according to Williams, is the combination of ANPR technology with the personal touch of a patrolling warden. “Clients want the reassurance of a professional warden onsite, but also wish to utilise the benefits that ANPR can bring as an additional security and indeed marketing benefit,” he stresses.
While many parking systems make use of both technology and people, the key to TPM’s success is proper integration of the two. Every level of management, from centre owner to parking attendant, has access to real time information on parking offenders. Once an offender has been identified, the PDA immediately uploads the time-stamped picture and parking ticket to the client extranet as well as the park change facility, making them available to both the client and the offender.
Williams notes that types of parking offence have traditionally been dealt with as separate issues demanding different types of control and enforcement. With TCP, he wants to give wardens overarching control over every type of offender with the use of one efficient device. “Retail parks and shopping centres all experience varying parking control issues, from being able to protect their disabled bays to vehicles overstaying the time limit,” he explains.
“Historically it has been feasible to support and provide resolution for most of these issues. With TPM we are able to provide a total solution that benefits both the client and, in turn, the visitors. This is supplemented with a variety of reporting facilities which can be bespoke to the client’s needs and requirements.”
Added to the identification of offenders, managers are able to capture the frequency of offences committed as well as general data on car park users. And landlords and managers are able to monitor wardens by checking how much time they spend in a given location via GPS.
Despite a mix of different concepts and uses, new products are making a splash in the parking world by sharing passion and innovation with the retail sector. Opening up channels of communication between landlord, attendant and shopper; giving centre owners flexibility in how they deal with parking offenders; and capturing detailed information for management reports are all ideally suited to the shopping centre industry.
Incorporating car parks into the business model is a valid move for landlords, but the question is will they make it?

All car parks are legally required to have ventilation systems adhering to strict building regulations, which are set out to control exhaust fumes and vent smoke in the event of a fire. Over the past few years, the method of ventilating underground car parks has changed dramatically. Traditional ducted systems have been replaced by ‘jet’, ‘impulse’ or ‘induction’ systems, which use small fan units positioned around the car park to direct smoke towards an extract point.
The use of jet fans eliminates the need for distribution ductwork throughout the car park, which can help create more space and makes car parks brighter and less cluttered. However, fan-based systems installed even a few years ago are likely to be running at too high a speed and for too many hours, costing owners and operators money and generating tonnes of unnecessary carbon.
The standard method of designing air movement systems leads to larger fan motors being installed than are required, thanks to allowances built into the calculations.
It is also fairly common practice for extract fans to run continuously whether the car park is being used or not. This has resulted in a considerable waste of energy and of money in paying for that energy, with figures of £20,000pa for a single level car park. There are many such legacy systems still in existence which are fully compliant with the building regulations despite using far more electricity than required.
It is possible to make extract fan systems more efficient by installing special optimisation controls. And the good news is that all car park operators can benefit from this technology because the controls can be fitted retrospectively.
Variable speed drives can be retrofitted to most extract fans. The speed of the fan can then be adjusted to deliver the optimum performance, making savings of 20 per cent or more in energy use.
Existing systems can easily be linked to CO monitoring, enabling them to react to the level of pollution in a car park so that fans only run when pollution is present. The fan’s speed also varies according to the concentration of CO within the space, and the result is a potential reduction in energy of around 60 per cent.
Yet there remain many hundreds of car parks all across the UK that are guzzling unnecessary energy. The reason for this is easy to understand when you consider the capital investment required upfront, which is money that many companies cannot spare in these financially trying times. Quite simply, the payback period is too long.
We asked our customers across the UK what was preventing them investing in this technology, and we came up with a unique finance package which means there is no need to spend any money upfront and saving can begin immediately.
Removing the main barrier to investment in green technology means that there has never been a better time to start slashing car park energy bills while maintaining a safe environment for the staff and customers who use it.

Parkex 2011, Europe’s largest dedicated parking exhibition, which takes place between 29 – 31 March at the NEC in Birmingham, has revealed its programme.

Information systems can make the most efficient use of available parking spaces, and improve the customer experience.

WPS provide complete integrated parking solutions with a continuous focus on innovative end-to-end solutions, reliable products and trustworthy support and maintenance providing customers with a tailor-made solution to every unique challenge.

The recent snow has underlined the need for the correct equipment to keep car parks and access roads open.

Car parks are often the first and last points of contact for shopping centre visitors and customer service in this area is often overlooked. So, how can customer experience be improved before people even set foot in the mall?

USL StructureCare and BASF Construction Chemicals have been working together for the past decade to provide integrated solutions for multi-storey car parks.

Standard Life‘s UK Property Fund has bought the Rockingham Street car park in Sheffield for £13m

Keeping shopping centre car parks in good condition is a great way to improve customer experience and increase loyalty in a lean time when keeping customers coming back is vital to revenue streams. Refurbishments also help to save on future maintenance costs and ensure the car park is safe. So, what products and services are available to prevent the deterioration of car parks? And what are the best practices for keeping car parks in top condition?

Vinci Park has acquired Meteor Parking from the Go-Ahead Group, in a move which will double the specialist parking operator’s size in the UK

The government has announced that wheel clamping on private land – including shopping centre car parks - will be banned in England and Wales.

Until the internal combustion engine is superceded, car parking is not going to be agreen activity. But there’s plenty that can be done to reduce the carbon footprint of a typical car park

Vinci Park is looking to bring a fresh approach, based on its international experience, to the UK parking scene

Disabled spaces are a challenge for car park operators everywhere, and new research suggests legislation is forcing them to provide too many spaces

The typically shady and inhospitable environment of underground car parks has been radically transformed in Brighton, where the 350-space ‘The Lanes’ facility has received a welcoming and flawless finish thanks to the Sikafloor System

Fire safety and air quality are key considerations in shopping centre car park design. Lee Hewings, car park specialist at the SCS Group, explains how it is possible to cut energy costs and help the environment while achieving safe conditions, even in older car parks.

Parkex, Europe’s largest dedicated parking event, took place in Earls Court at the beginning of March with some new products designed to shake up the retail sector in particular.

A new iPhone App has been created to help shoppers find the cheapest car park when they make a trip into town. The Nosey Parker is the only application to provide specific car park locations and prices in the UK, with a database containing 13,400 car parks offering a total 1.8 million spaces.

Car park operators are going to great lengths to entice cash-strapped shoppers by drastically slashing rates. But are low prices sustainable?

Mobile phone technology has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. Along with making calls and sending texts, they can now be used to pay for parking. So how has pay-by-phone established itself in the UK?

The extent of corrosion damage to car parks often reveals itself mid-way through a major refurbishment. Operators need to keep corrosion levels in check or else pay the price

The UK’s leading car park company NCP turned to Siemens to overhaul its infrastructure to improve customer service.

Ensuring that car parks are used for legitimate shoppers only is a growing concern among centre managers and retail parks

The BPA has got safer parking in the bag, says Kelvin Reynolds, director of technical services and head of the Safer Parking Scheme

Parkex is nearly with us again, and it’s time for operators and managers to start gearing up for Europe’s largest parking exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham

Croydon’s Centrale centre undercuts neighbouring car parks. Hannah Prevett speaks to David Parham to find out more

Image and customer service are key considerations to bear in mind when choosing the right pay-on-foot system for a shopping centre.

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.

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