Green light for better parking
Published: 28 July, 2011
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.
Although car parks are fairly uniform in structure and operation there are techniques that could make yours stand out from the crowd, and green options and clever lighting solutions are leading the way.
Green Parking UK is brand new to the British market, having launched at Parkex in March. Its sister company Green Parking is based in Dubai and has been operating in UAE since 1996.
Offering parking management, maintenance, operations, equipment and consulting services, its focus is to offer a different way of doing things, providing environmentally friendly parking products and a real focus on customer care.
“We felt that the UK market needed new blood and a new way of doing things,” says general manager Jack Creeber. “We wanted to bring fresh air and a new alternative.”
Managing director Nick Jolmers thinks that a new era of car parking is underway with owners starting to think about the environment and not just out-and-out profit.
“People are aware of the need to go down the green road but they don’t know how to get there,” he says.
“We want to be as sustainable as possible but we’re not going to force our clients to be absolutely environmentally friendly if it’s not commercially viable, instead we can steer them in the right direction with simple ideas.”
“We’re not saying we can deliver absolutely everything sustainability-wise but we’ll look at what we can do within the client’s means,” adds Creeber.
“Going green might give the owner peace of mind but if it isn’t financially viable then it’s not going to be a major selling point. In time the technology will get better and cheaper.”
Promoting chip coins rather than mag-stripe tickets is one of the core ideals of the business.
As Green Parking’s brochure highlights, developers and landlords ask their partners not to print emails unless they have to but they often won’t think twice about installing parking systems based on toxic-waste paper-tickets.
“With paper tickets, they’re used once and thrown away, whereas chips can be reused again and again. In a shopping centre you might have 10,000 people using the car park every day – producing that amount of tickets is very expensive,” says Jolmers.
Whereas chips are dispensed in half a second, paper tickets rely on moving parts in the machinery – cutters, transporters, ribbons – that have a lot of wear and tear and need to be replaced regularly.
Paper jams, barcodes that can’t be read if the network is down and people’s tendency to insert tickets upside down also slow the process and frustrate busy shoppers.
As well as coin chips Green Parking utilises vehicle guidance systems, electric vehicle charging points and installs glass and paper recycling bins.
The company is also keen to consider renewable energy sources like solar panels, but as Creeber explains it’s important to think about cost and effectiveness.
“We have solar panels in UAE and it’s something we’d like to consider in the UK but it’s important to really understand the cost element. Being able to cover all lighting and electricity with solar panels is utopia but it isn’t cost-effective yet. If we can derive part of a car park’s energy usage from solar panels then we’ll do it.
“In UAE it’s sunny all the time whereas in the UK solar panels don’t work as consistently. But it is windy so we can start looking at wind turbines – they might be another solution.”
Vinci Park is making use of solar panels. It currently has a car park under construction, due to open in September, belonging to East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. Solar panels and wind turbines are going in to generate 10 per cent of the car park’s energy. And, there’s going to be a new-concept ‘living wall’ with one elevation covered in climbing plants to blend in with the natural surroundings.
Green Parking UK business development manager Olivia Sandy highlights that being green isn’t all about the equipment you choose, but also about how a car park is run.
“For us being sustainable is as much about how we manage our teams as anything else. We’ve got processes in place whereby we analyse what we’re doing and determine improvements.
“And we also procure in a green way by making sure our partners and suppliers are sustainable.”
Creeber gives vehical guidence systems as an example.
“A lot of the emissions in car parks are because people drive slowly, either because they have to queue to get in or if they can’t find a parking space.
“In a multi-storey car park we can put in red or green lights in each bay to signify which ones are empty. This means people can drive straight to a free bay rather than going round and round.”
LIGHTING
“Lights in car parks are traditionally on 24/7 but that’s not necessary, turn them down or off when not in use,” advises Vinci Park commercial director, Phillip Herring.
He says thousands of pounds each year can be saved with the use of ‘sleep-mode’ lighting with savings of a further £600-£700 by switching to low energy products.
Pyle Car Park Consultants, which has clients including Savills, PropInvest and BTW Shiells, is working on a car park adjoining The Mall, Camberley.
Commissioned by the council that owned it, Pyle looked into ways to reduce C02 while improving quality. Lighting was deemed an area where the most savings could be made.
“We did an appraisal and put in lux meters, improving lighting levels by 40 per cent,” explains commercial director, Russell Simmons.
Modern T5 florescent tubes were installed with bespoke fittings and zones were created so particular levels can be turned off at the flick of a switch.
“In January when it’s busy and the whole car park’s open, lights can be left on on all levels as normal,” explains Simmons. “But on a standard weekday, it might be logical to turn off the top level – if you have a five-storey car park then you’re already saving a fifth of your energy usage for that day or week.”
Daylight sensors have been put in which switch themselves on or off depending on the surrounding brightness. This allows a premium lighting level to be reached and means it isn’t necessary to operate a full bank of bulbs.
“Each light assesses its own conditions rather than 10 or 20 at a time,” explains Simmons. “So it might be that during the day some areas in the centre of the car park are lit and some areas near openings or windows are not.”
As well as the obvious saving benefits, this also makes the car park safer. Different lux levels on deck can be dangerous because people tend to misjudge their speed if lighting isn’t consistent.
The changes have resulted in a 47 per cent energy bill reduction in the first year, with C02 down 40 per cent.
CUSTOMER CARE
As well as a greener way of doing things, customer care and ambiance go a long way towards creating a streamlined experience from the car park through to the mall.
“In shopping centres, car parks are the first thing you see and they need to have a ‘wow’ factor. If a car park is a dismal black hole, people are likely to drive straight back out again,” says Jolmer.
And for Sandy, it’s personal. “I spend a lot of time and money in shopping centres and I know what I’m looking for in a car park,” she says. “I want the environment to be as friendly as possible – customer care is key.”
Accordingly, Green Parking refers to its parking attendants as ‘guardians’ because “they really care about the people who turn up”.
“Once parked, people want information so we erect plans on the walls and our parking guardians will hand out leaflets with key landmarks of the area, helpful phone numbers and even buggy and umbrella hire. It’s about the experience,” says Creeber.
“Car parks can sometimes be cold and frightening so it might be that there’s a woman only floor,” he adds. “That way if whoever’s monitoring the CCTV sees a man on that floor they can go and investigate why they’re there.”
For Vinci Park, there’s a focus on creating ambiance. And one way to do that is to tickle the senses.
“We have a desire to make our car parks a pleasant place to be,” says Herring. “We want our customers to think what they see is nice visually. And in terms of audio, where the environment allows we can play background music.”
This has been trialled with classical music at an underground car park in Mayfair.
“We also use air fresheners to ensure the car parks don’t smell,” he says. “The concept is to create ambiance and make it a place where people want to be rather than somewhere they have to go because it’s in the right location for their needs.
“There’s been a move in recent years towards taking officers out of car parks and replacing them with technology but it’s important for us to maintain the human interface. We want our parking officers to be visible and welcoming and for the environment to be open and bright. Parking attendants are also useful in checking that the car park is clean.
“We do embrace technology but it’s easy to lose sight of the fundamentals.”
Herrings points out that it’s easy to revitalise a bland space and inject colour, something also important to reflect the level or floor so people can find their cars easily.
Colour co-ordinating columns, doors and landings is a good way to do this and it adds ambience “rather than having a sterile white environment”.
Going back to the issue of sustainability, Simmons warns: “With the government’s target to reduce 80 per cent of C02 produced by commercial buildings by 2050, people have to sit up a listen, and not just because it’s fashionable.”
Jolmers agrees: “It won’t change overnight but people are heading in a greener direction.”
