Use of low Co2 cars, car clubs, solar powered parking machines and energy-efficient lighting systems are some of the issues that are being explored within shopping centre car parks.

Gareth Hughes, Apcoa's head of business development North, says: "There is obviously always a conflict there between parking and green issues because it's our core business. But as a company we are addressing it more and more and the industry is addressing it more and more. While it is commonly acknowledged that driving is the preferred means of transport - and it will continue to be in our view in the foreseeable future - it is a question of how best to address that issue. How can we manage that increase?"

Hughes says use of signs directing drivers to car parks that have free spaces is important in reducing carbon emissions. "The interesting part there is that it is not just the highways department doing this. With new shopping centre builds it's become an integral part of the overall scheme," he says.

"It's increasingly common to have the bay guidance system. Through clear lighting you can highlight the bays which are free and those that aren't and that reduces congestion, wasted mileage and pollution in the car park itself."

According to car park management specialist CP Plus, greener parking should be high on the agenda of any shopping centre. When reviewing transport policies, CP Plus says shopping centres should ensure environmental concerns are taken into account, in line with national and local government policy to promote more environmentally-friendly transport initiatives and reduce reliance on cars.

"We advise our clients on introducing a variety of greener initiatives," says the company's business development director, Grahame Rose.

"These range from improving facilities for cyclists and motorcyclists and running shuttle buses to and from key public transport hubs, to promoting the use of public transport and low or zero carbon vehicles.

"One of the ways in which we are encouraging people to use more fuel-efficient cars is to set an example by using them ourselves. We are just beginning a programme of phasing in low carbon emission Smart cars for use by our security staff at sites where this is appropriate.

"We also operate a 'Smart Car' scheme for South West Trains - environmentally-friendly vehicles like Smart Cars are rewarded with special parking bays close to the station entrance and discounts. This is something that some of our shopping centre and retail park clients are considering introducing."

Like CP Plus, Vinci too is setting an example to its customers by changing to a lower-emission fleet. Chief executive of Vinci Park UK Mark Evans says: "We are in the process of changing our van and car fleet over to more environmentally-friendly vehicles. We have to do this in stages due to the size of the fleet. We are trying to encourage our clients that this is a good long-term solution even if there is an unfront cost."

Evans says green issues form part of the overall vision for the business. "We have to have a strong agenda to protect the environment," he says. "But some of the things we try to do is have some different initiatives."

He explains there are entry-level initiatives, such as using recycled paper for parking tickets on pay-and-display and pay-on-foot machines, and long-term strategic developments, such as car clubs. "We use a full volume of tickets that have to be on recycled paper. It's a little bit more complex in this industry because there are limitations on quality of paper but we will achieve that in the next two to three months," he says.

Apcoa is also saving paper by introducing payment systems that use a chip coin instead of paper tickets. "You can probably go through hundreds of thousands paper tickets that after one use are wasted and disgarded," says Hughes. "These coins last for many, many years, they are extremely durable and it makes a difference on the environment.

"You can also take things further. When we are taking on contractors and suppliers we make sure they have sustainable purchasing policies. We will know our suppliers have their own environmental policy.

"We also operate solar-powered pay-and-display machines."

Vinci Park's Evans adds: "We have also been running our pay-and-display machines using solar power for some time. We want to install a kit that has solar power attached to it."

In the long term, Evans explains the UK business is keeping a close eye on various initiatives that Vinci is involved with on the continent with a view of introducing certain developments in the UK. The first is plans for a car club.

"We have a trial, called Okigo, going on at the moment in Paris between Vinci Park and Avis, which is due to be rolled out fully in 2008," he explains. "Members subscribe to a car when they need it. It's like a pay-as-you-go concept that's been developed between Avis and our French business and we are watching that closely.

"We will attempt to do this in the UK. This is different to a car share as there are car share schemes already running in the UK, but this business is the idea of using a car only for the hours you need it.

"The other more strategic long-term interesting development is with bikes. A couple of months ago we put in place in Barcelona with the council a bike rental scheme that has been hugely successful. This is a really interesting scheme and Transport for London and even the Mayor have been looking at this for London.

"For in-town shopping we have a scheme at our Mayfair car park where you let people borrow bikes with shopping baskets, which is interesting because people can park for the day and have the mobility to cover a large area."

Apcoa is currently at an advanced stage of creating a cycle pod like this and it is also keeping a close eye on the idea of creating spaces in car parks for electric cars. At Highcross Leicester the concept is already being put into place in the new multi-storey car park (see p6), while Hughes says Apcoa will also continue to look at the idea of building power points into the car park design so drivers can charge their electric cars up. "We haven't put it into practice but it is being negotiated and looked into as we speak," he says.

Extensive research by car park designers, builders and operators Q-Park has shown that improving customer service is the most successful method of helping the environment. As a result, at the heart of the Q-Park philosophy to reduce carbon emissions, is an understanding that if customers are confident their vehicles will be safe and secure and the charges are fair and reasonable they will leave their cars and shop on foot.

Q-Park also uses carbon-friendly materials wherever practicable. At Glasgow's Waterloo Street city centre car park and in Sale, Manchester, exterior wood panels were sourced from sustainable forests. At Taunton - the 2006 'New Car Park of the Year' - the cedar panels were obtained from sustainable forests and internal walls were created using gabions of natural, locally sourced rocks, which can be re-used. Q-Park also uses Walla Tiles (manufactured from recycled automotive tyres) at its car parks in London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Leeds.

Energy efficient lighting is used at all car parks - T5 luminosity instead of T8, which uses less energy. Q-Park also operates a lighting management system which uses a light sensor to check how much natural light there is and control the number of fittings required.

Apcoa's Hughes says shopping centres can save 20 to 30 per cent of the energy bill by introducing such a system.

There is much shopping centres can do in their car parks to help the environment and there is no doubt there is much to watch out for in the future.

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