While car park operators will claim to be the experts in car park management, some centres have enjoyed huge success from retaining the management control in-house.

For many shopping centres, the car park is, in fact, one of the scheme's anchor tenants. If leased out to a car park operator, it often brings in more rent than the centre's biggest stores.

As an investor/developer of a shopping centre, the most worrying thing about outsourcing the car park is maintaining control, particularly with regard to service quality, maintenance and tariff. However, by leasing the car park to an operator with a good covenant, owners can maximise rental income and enance investment values.

The British Parking Association (BPA) suggests adapting its On-street Model Contract into a contract for outsourcing car park operations. This will offer owners a certain structure with operators' renumeration linked to the quality of service provided.

Iain Guest, Donaldsons partner with a focus on retail management set-up, says that leasing out the car park guarantees the shopping centre an income, and it is then down to the centre manager to manage the chosen operator.

However, Guest insists he is an advocate of operating the car park in-house, in order to maximise flexibility, economies of scale and future income streams.

Twenty or so years ago, a lot of car parks were leased out to car park operators as owners viewed this as a way of de-risking a lump of the asset.

But things have changed. Guest says: "From my point of view, working on a range of schemes, there are good reasons for managing in-house. From a customer services and aesthetics point of view it's about control. The car park is the first and last thing the customer sees and and if you control it you can directly influence it. If you lease it out, you're reliant on the operator doing what they want to do."

He also believes there are a number of cost benefits in retaining control in-house. Firstly, to drive economies of scale, the control room used to run the shopping centre can also manage the car park, so there's no need for two separate control rooms. "Secondly, car parks are often part of a three-dimensional structure and therefore the maintenance of the car park is integral to the structure itself. Whether the car park is on top of the shopping centre structure or in the basement, you can't maintain one without the other. If you control both the shopping centre and the car park, the costs are easier to manage."

Guest also points out that there are a number of additional revenue streams available from car parks, including opportunities with vending, advertising and car wash facilities.Additionally, if residential accommodation is part of the scheme, the car park can help make the flats a more attractive option.

Finally, by retaining control of the car park, Guest explains that centre management can link collated shopping centre data, such as footfall and turnover, to information gathered by the car park, such as how long people stay, what days are busier and so on. "This enables the owner to be flexible in the quiet periods," he adds.

A new entrant to the parking scene is Karspace Management Ltd (KML), which has been acquired by Mission Capital in the company's first move into the parking industry. Mission Capital views the industry as a sector with significant growth opportunities and managing director Emma Sinclair and her team plan to develop the business further through a continued strategy of organic and acquisitive growth.

Currently KML carries out a variety of car park management-related jobs, managing private and public sector car parks, providing a consultancy service to help car park owners address problems with their systems or to offer advice on installations, as well as offering capital finance for new build or car parks in need of an upgrade. Sinclair says that one of the areas KML wishes to expand into is shopping centre car parks.

Sinclair also takes the view that in-house operations make financial sense in certain cases. "In-house operations start with the best intentions to ensure quality and to control costs on a different level, but management concepts can be flawed as they don't have the same expertise in equipment selection or operations," she says. "For example, KML has a lot of contracts around the country, and so we have expert knowledge reagarding value for money, operating costs and so on. Breadth of experience is a very valuable asset."

Sinclair points out that there are options to outsource the management of the car park, lease the car park to a parking operator or use parking experts in an advisory capacity, but with all of these she believes it's important that shopping centres get the car park experts in right from the design stages.

"Whether they just have someone in an advisory capacity or outsource the operation completely, they'll have a car parking expert to give them advice," she says, adding that there is more to designing a car park than trying to cram in as many parking spaces as possible. "We're talking about what they should build, not what they have built," she continues.

"You really ought not to notice the car parking experience. You should only notice it if there's a problem. Even if we just provide all the options and give advice and nothing more, it's still about bouncing ideas off people that do this day in day out; and with some of the changes being introduced by the government, which is looking to make car park charges compulsory at shopping centre car parks, you clearly have to get it right."

Q-Park is certainly a leading name in the parking industry at the moment. The company believes it is a mutually successful partner in helping to attract shoppers in the most difficult economic climates. Working together with the shopping centre to offer a complete experience, Q-Park recognises that the car park is almost always the gateway to a shopping centre retail experience.

Q-Park's chief executive Alan Ashbee firmly believes in the partnership approach to retail car parking. He says: "Q-Park has a philosophy of innovation and quality that has seen retailers buck the trend, grow and succeed. It's this partnership approach, where expertise is shared and mutually understood, that will ensure continued retail growth. It's essential that car park staff are knowledgeable, tactful and have a positive approach to customer service. As a result, Q-Park runs a very extensive proramme for all staff, including on-site training courses for new parking hosts, coaching, mentoring and leadership skills training, company-wide seminars to share best practice, quality management courses, ongoing health and safety courses, communication skills training and a range of information technology courses."

The Light in Leeds is one centre that has taken control of its own car park, and employs its own in-house car park manager. The rewards for doing so have been tremendous. This year alone the 400-space lower level car park became only the second public parking facility in the UK to receive a European Standard Parking Award after it was recommended for assessment by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Director of The Light, Sue Anderson, believes that managing the car park in-house has enabled the centre to offer every visitor a consistent, excellent service that gives them the best experience of the centre from the first moment they drive into it.

"Having ownership of the car park also allows us to use the facility to promote the centre and its offer, so that customers don't view the car park as a separate facility but see The Light as one complete destination - car park included.

"Managing the car park ourselves has without doubt enabled the centre to grow its market share of customers parking in Leeds city centre. Ours is the preferred car park for a remarkable 25,000 visitors each week. Being aware of who our customers are and what they expect from a car park is extremely important, and it allows us to continually raise our standards and implement better and better safety initiatives. This in turn has resulted in The Light car park remaining 100 per cent crime free since its opening in 2001."

The number of vehicles and customers using the car park this year has continued to grow.

"There's no doubt that this success has come directly from being able to manage the car park from the inside. If the team spot any problems or have any issues, then these can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Consequently we are able to offer a consistently high level of service and create a welcoming environment that encourages repeat visits time and time again" she says.

"By managing the car park in-house we are also able to have complete control over things such as tariffs, special deals and promotions. The centre's loyalty scheme extends its special deals and offers to car park discounts as well as offering numerous retail and leisure benefits. The loyalty scheme is also promoted throughout the car park, along with tenant advertising, and this brings the centre and car park neatly together. From the word go, customers are being offered valuable incentives to stay with us; to come into the centre and shop, rather than just use the facility to park their cars and nothing else."

BPA seeks to engage with the industry

The BPA is urging shopping centre managers, owners and developers to put a greater focus on parking and to use the BPA Retail and Shopping Centre Special Interest Group as a means to get more from their car parks.

The Group, which was launched earlier this year and will be holding its fourth meeting in January, is a forum where shopping centre gurus can exchange ideas between themselves, and the BPA can help with its own solutions.

Chaired by Nigel Williams - who was last year's BPA president and who works for Q-Park - the Group is already addressing a number of issues, including improving the awareness of the Park Mark safer parking award among shopping centres and their customers.

Kelvin Reynolds of the BPA says: "The BPA wants to engage the shopping centre world. Car parking is an increasingly important part of retail because without it many shopping centres wouldn't survive. But frequently, and understandably, managers are focusing on other areas of profitability and the car park is rather left in the shade. We, of course, are 100 per cent focused on parking, and our aim now is to find as many ways as possible to help shopping centres and their customers to make the most of their car parks."

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