Parking with a continental flavour
Published: 17 June, 2010
Vinci Park is looking to bring a fresh approach, based on its international experience, to the UK parking scene
The UK parking subsidiary of the French construction and transport conglomerate Vinci feels it has something different to offer, according to its commercial director
Philip Herring.
The company first entered the parking arena in France, because most car parking there is provided through DBFO (Design, Build, Finance and Operate) contracts but the UK is very different, Herring notes. “Local authority parking enforcement is unique to the UK, and we only see the concession model in the hospital sector,” he says.
That means 60 per cent of Vinci’s UK business is secured on management contracts with the remainder on longer term concessions. But he insists: “We aim to bring the same partnership model to a two- or three-year relationship as we do to a 30-year contract.”
This is especially true in the retail arena. “Over the past few years every new development had a requirement to securitise its parking revenue – and it was often the centre’s biggest tenant. But that flow of business turned off overnight. There’s been a move away from long-term agreements to short-term business.”
Herring explains the company positions itself at the premium end of the market, and it has won awards for training, management and its back-office processes. “Running a lot of services like FM, health & safety and training centrally allows us to be more cost-effective,” he says. “FM’s a case in point: we use a single contractor for all maintenance. We support the local operations with all that central resource.”
In the current market Herring says Vinci’s partnership approach is proving attractive. “For instance we’ve just picked up a contract for Jones Lang LaSalle in South London. We’ll invest to bring the facility up to standard and clear the health & safety issues as part of a two-to-three-year plan to turn the car park around.”
But such an approach is difficult in a market dominated by cost-cutting and short term business. “Cutting out capex and leaving maintenance is an easy thing to do. But after three or four years of that you’ll have health & safety liabilities.”
And Herring sees an increasing move towards incentivising operators to drive revenue. “In the past the car parking industry has sat back and waited for the customer to come,” he says. “Now we’re being more proactive and are going looking for business. We’re empowering our on-site managers to go out and look for opportunities like season tickets for local colleges, hotels or businesses. And we’re looking to recruit on-site sales managers.”
Vinci’s car park at Canary Wharf is a good example. The collapse of Lehman Brothers 18 months ago led to a significant loss of revenue, but Herring says: “We’ve been very proactive on sales and we’ve got back to where we were previously.” Offers like buy eight tickets for the price of 10 and offering season ticket-holders a £50 voucher if they introduce a friend have proved effective.
Another differentiator for Vinci is customer service, according to Herring. “There’s been a trend to cut costs, and customer service has suffered,” he says. “But we’ve tried to maintain a visual presence in all our car parks. And new technology is allowing us to add value to the customer experience. For example at Canary Wharf we’ve installed chip coins which are easier to use. And we’re looking to integrate ANPR to cater for regular users, season ticket-holders and pre-bookings.”
