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Enforcement and charging issues preoccupy parking industry
By Grahame Rose, Business Development Director, CP Plus
Whether it’s controversies over the abuse of disabled bays, hospital charges or the introduction of new hi-tech charging systems, parking issues are scarcely ever out of the news.
Cracking down
The misuse of priority parking is a constant thorn in the side of the car park management industry. Car park management companies have been struggling for years to prevent motorists from parking in spaces set aside for disabled customers and for parents with children. The abuse is particularly bad in the retail sector.
So it was no surprise when supermarket giant ASDA announced it was imposing a charge of £60 on parking cheats. It’s still too early to tell how this bold move will work but, from our long experience of car park management in the retail sector, we would urge caution in going along this route.
The success of any parking enforcement scheme depends on how well it is run and how fairly it is enforced, and seen to be enforced. If they feel the ADSDA scheme doesn’t shape up on any of these counts, consumers could become alienated and the move could end up losing goodwill and causing more harm than good.
That’s why, at CP Plus we have found that a firm but fair enforcement regime put into effect by regular on-site foot patrols is usually more successful than punitive penalties in deterring the majority of parking abuse. The presence of trained personnel also has the added benefit of reassuring legitimate users.
However, with congestion and the pressure on parking spaces increasing, it may be time for the kid gloves to come off, especially as ASDA’s crackdown coincides with a Government plan to look into toughening up the way the Blue Badge disabled parking scheme is run.
It may seem drastic to come down so heavily on priority parking cheats but unless the industry acts decisively, it seems that a small minority of motorists will continue to behave with no thought for others.
Hospital parking
Hospital parking charges are another hot topic. Amid criticism that hospital parking charges are a ‘stealth tax’ on the sick, the Scottish Government has set a limit of three pounds a day on NHS Boards in Scotland and the Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed that parking will be free at NHS hospitals in Wales by the end of 2011. However, there are no plans, at the moment, to abolish the charges in England.
Let’s remind ourselves why charges were introduced. They were brought in to combat unacceptable levels of congestion at hospitals. A couple of years ago, stories abounded of hospital car parks so full of vehicles owned by staff and commuters taking advantage of free or very cheap parking, that patients and visitors were left driving round and round searching for places.
Sometimes this meant that patients were late for appointments or were unable to park in an emergency. The introduction of realistic charging regimes was seen as the way to cure these ills and improve the service.
Are the levels of charges fair? In our experience, most NHS trusts go out of their way to ensure that charging policies are both reasonable and flexible. Don’t be misled by some of the charges you may have seen quoted in the national press. Often the maximum daily rate is set high to deter commuters and staff from misusing NHS facilities.
In most cases, patients and visitors pay a lower rate, generally less than the market rate compared with city parking. In addition, most NHS sites operate concession schemes which give free or reduced rates to patients who have to visit the hospital regularly or for extended periods, for example those undergoing treatments such as physiotherapy, chemotherapy or dialysis.
Nor are the profits made from NHS contracts excessive. The NHS parking sector is a mature and competitive market. Parking management companies like CP Plus have to go through rigorous tendering processes to win contracts, demonstrating that we can run their NHS parking facilities more efficiently, and offer better value for money.
For us, as car park management specialists, the bottom line is that hospital parking has to be run economically. A parking service cannot operate at a loss and expect to be subsidised from healthcare funds. It doesn’t make any sense to divert money currently being spent on patient care into funding parking spaces.
Technological advances
Like many other industry sectors, car parking is being transformed by technological advances. The latest innovation, payment by mobile phone, is finding widespread acceptance among the parking public, who prefer it to searching for loose change.
We have installed cashless payment systems at more than 50 of the sites we manage, including Moto and Roadchef facilities, and we find them to be efficient and convenient. The system we use works by enabling drivers to charge their parking to a credit or debit account by making a mobile phone call. Motorists don’t have to worry about sticky tickets and pockets or handbags weighed down with coins.
Cashless systems tend to be used on sites where charges are relatively high, though their usage is spreading rapidly elsewhere. We have, for instance, just installed a payment by mobile phone system at the University of Derby and we are in talks with a major train operating company about using the technology at its facilities.
Technology can assist with enforcement too. Several promising smart technologies are either on the market or under development. There is analytic software that can sense vehicle movements and charge accordingly, for instance, and there are pay and display machines linked to CCTV systems that can automatically signal overstays or unauthorised parking in premium bays. Such advances seem set to move the ‘science’ of car park management forward at quite a pace over coming years.
Green issues
All organisations should ensure they take environmental issues into consideration when drawing up their future transport plans. The car park management industry is increasingly active in promoting greener transport.
Public sector organisations like educational establishments, local authorities and NHS trusts, in particular, should be taking a lead when it comes lessening the environmental impact of travel, improving accessibility for staff and customers, reducing transport journeys, encouraging use of public transport, easing congestion and relieving car park shortages.
However, in this as in many other areas of life, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The emphasis on greener travel has led to an increase in demand for parking spaces at railway stations. In the past seven years, we’ve noted mounting pressure on the facilities we manage for train operating companies – and this pressure is likely to continue rise.
Finding new ways
All of this brings us right back to enforcement issues: greater demand for parking spaces – at hospitals, trains stations, colleges and universities and many other venues – means car park management companies will need to introducer even higher levels of management coupled with technology and stricter parking enforcement regimes.
As parking customers demand a better quality service, it seems that car park management companies will have continue to find new ways, whether backed up by technological advances or taking a more traditional hands-on approach, to manage parking facilities efficiently and ensure that the selfish behaviour of a minority of motorists doesn’t impact on the rest of us.

A Modern Classical re-surfacing
A modern re-surfacing solution was found for the classical grounds of the British Museum which have been surfaced with Addastone, a modern resin bound material with a very classical and fitting appearance for the projects requirements.
The project had to be completed to a very strict timescale in order for the area to be in a working condition for the start of the museum’s world-famous Terracotta Army exhibition.
The British Museum wanted to replace the existing loose gravel surface with a product that would be in keeping with the museum’s classical architecture. Working under the British Museum’s term contractors Haymills, True Grip were contracted to replace the surfacing. Commenting on the project, Peter Nicholls, director of True Grip said, “We were asked to survey the site and recommend a product. Aside from the look and feel of the replacement surfacing, it had to be strong enough to withstand trafficking from pedestrians and service vehicles. Addastone was an obvious choice.”
Addastone uses naturally sourced or recycled aggregates bound with a specially formulated resin to create a robust surfacing with the appealing look of loose gravel, but without many of the maintenance issues. Addastone can be made up of a variety of different aggregates for a bespoke effect.

The museum had 3,000m2 of Addastone installed to replace the original loose gravel surface in a 50% mix of 2-4mm Sienna and 2-5mm Buff Chinese Bauxite. This created a finish and colour to perfectly compliment the museum’s surroundings. The installation was successfully completed in time despite last summer’s wet weather.
The contractor is very pleased with the finished project, with Peter Nicholls adding, “The end result looks great and we have had excellent feedback from the British Museum. Addastone is a hardwearing yet natural looking surface that will require very little maintenance for many years.”

Shattered lives
How health and safety professionals can go the extra mile to stop slips, trips and falls shattering lives
By Eddie Bailey, Programme manager, Slips, Trips and Falls, Health and Safety Executive
February 2008 saw the launch of the Health and Safety Executive’s ‘Shattered Lives’ campaign, aimed at creating a step-change in the attitudes of both businesses and their workers. It will encourage them to take responsibility for preventing needless accidents to themselves and their colleagues. Health and safety professionals can play a key role in making this happen. The message is that everyone is responsible for health and safety and it’s dangerous to assume that ‘somebody will sort it out’.
The figures are alarming: every week one person dies due to a slip, trip or fall in the workplace and slips and trips account for more than a third (38%) of all major workplace injuries. During 2006/2007, they cost society around £811 million.
Slips and trips can be often be seen as funny but the reality is that the consequences of these and from falls from height are serious and the injuries can be horrific. The lives of workers and their families can be shattered by the serious consequences of these accidents. Many workers have been forced to find new means of employment and others have lost their ability to earn, never able to return work.
The ‘Shattered Lives’ campaign will specifically target five priority sectors: construction, food and drink manufacture and food retail, hotel and catering and building and plant maintenance. Of the almost 11,000 injuries reported to the HSE last year from slips, trips and falls from these sectors, nearly half (46%) were from the construction, building and plant maintenance industries.
HSE advises health and safety professionals to ask themselves not only whether health and safety systems, policies and procedures are in place but to make sure that they are actually working on the ground.
Start your own campaign
The HSE sees health and safety professionals as crucial to the implementation of this change in attitudes and asks that they take the role of campaigners within their respective organisations. Key to implementing these behavioural and cultural changes is getting the message through to the entire workforce that health and safety is everyone’s responsibility. This could mean working closely with human resources departments to introduce strategies to ensure that individuals become accountable for the health and safety of themselves and their colleagues.
Preventing slips, trips and falls in construction, building and plant maintenance:
> Trips and falls are a special problem in construction. They are the major cause of death in the industry. Financially, the consequences of fatal and serious injuries can be devastating for; individual workers, their families and friends.
Health and safety professionals need to ensure that:
> Everyone on site looks out for the hazards they could encounter and take a moment to help manage the risks sensibly. A fall could be fatal or change lives forever
> Traffic routes are segregated from pedestrian routes
> The logistics of material supplies and movements are considered (what is to be delivered, when, and where it is to be stored), alongside waste control
> Walkways and stairs should be kept free of tripping hazards such as trailing wires and loose materials. This is especially important for emergency routes
> Work areas should be kept as clear as possible of unnecessary materials, equipment, debris and other hazards
Ensure principal contractors:
> Have a system for the procurement and control of contractors that includes arrangements to check the competence of workers
> Actively monitor the work of your subcontractors
> Ensure their safety standards are the same as yours
> Ensure all duty-holders:
> Identify jobs that involve work at height and ensure that appropriate safety precautions are in place
> Have procedures for the selection of correct equipment and ensure that the selected equipment is actually used
> Communicate risk control measures to the workforce
> Ensure workers are competent to use the equipment that has been correctly installed/assembled
> Arrange inspection and maintenance of equipment as appropriate
> Have a risk assessment in place that applies the Work at Height Regulations hierarchy available on the HSE website
> Plan how the site will be kept tidy
Slips, trips and falls in the food retail, food manufacturing and catering and hospitality industries:
> Last year over a third of injuries from slips, trips and falls reported to the HSE, originated in the food manufacturing and food retail industries and in catering and hospitality, over 10 major injuries a week are reported to us.
> Slips and trips are a big issue especially where food products are concerned but the HSE’s years of experience shows that slip prevention can be managed effectively and can cut injuries by 50% or more.
By law, employers have to control the risks of slips, trips and falls in the workplace, but anyone at work can help to reduce slip and trip hazards. With an effective management system in place and the co-operation of colleagues, health and safety professionals can:
> Work with colleagues to identify potential problem areas and set goals for improvement
> Give colleagues the knowledge to identify and take action over potential risks ensuring they are aware that it is everyone’s responsibility
> Make colleagues, including cleaning and contract staff, responsible for specific areas
> Make sure working practices and processes are being carried out properly and keep a record of all cleaning and maintenance work
> Talk to your colleagues so they can feedback on how measures are working

Stopping slips, trips and falls is everyone's responsibility, but employees are unlikely to change their behaviour without good support, the right equipment, training and supervision, roles for which health and safety professionals are ideally placed.
Resources have been produced to support health and safety professionals in kick-starting ‘Shattered Lives’ campaigns within their organisations and these include:
Leaflets, DVD’s, Information packs
These resources will be made available through the ‘Shattered Lives’ dedicated website www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives and by calling infoline on 0845 345 0055.

South60
Where: Chineham Business Park, Basingstoke, Hampshire
Budget: £2.175m
Area: Gross Internal areas approx: 1100sq m = 12000sq ft
Completion Date: March 2008
South60, the new building at the entrance of Chineham Business Park, Basingstoke designed by Spratley Architects, delivers a sophisticated, landmark development within the confines of an unforgiving, constrained plot and a restricted £2.1m budget. Spratley Architects fastidious and pedantic design approach has produced an efficient, high-density commercial building within a striking architectural skin. By creatively challenging the conventional boundaries of standard products, the 10,000sq ft low-budget building combines remarkable visual impact with commercial feasibility.
The striking, capsule building at the entrance to the Business Park unlocks the commercial potential of an island verge of primary land housing a redundant 1980’s estates office, stranded between two roads at the edge of the business park, and previously deemed unprofitable.
Positioned on the brow of the entrance slope, the building acts as a beacon on the entrance to the site. Perspective changes from a distance, with the volume and mass of the three storey high structure slowly revealing itself upon approach. The full impact of the deceptive two storey building is made clear upon arrival, when it can be seen that it touches the earth lightly, with the extra floor height achieved through placing the volume of the building lightly onto an elegantly created under croft. The sense of presence is emphasised with a cantilever of the two storey office space projecting dramatically over the end bay.
Design Approach
The design responds inventively to the challenges presented by the site - a narrow grass verge defined by two roads. Driven by the limitation of the plot, Spratley Architects succeeded in achieving commercial feasibility within a challenging set of constraints, achieving a creative design for a limited site and budget.
The building’s two floors of office space are enclosed within a seemingly delicate glazed sculptural cassette, itself pushed into a solid wall that encases the volume. The wall wraps seamlessly around the space to form the roof, soffit and end wall. The two side elevations of the cassette are enclosed by a rhythmic glazed façade.
The commercial potential of the site has been unlocked by placing the building on elegant concrete stilts, which in raising the building create an under-croft to provide essential parking space.
Façade
The glazed cassette concept dictates the architectural language of the building. The East and west elevations are composed of powder-coated aluminium curtain-walling on three sides, with the 1.8m module of the glazing system randomly interjected with a 0.9m module. In addition to this, the glazing is interchangeably mixed with solid ceramic insulated panels that give the building energy across the façade.
The architectural capability of the German-sourced SAPA curtain-walling system has been pushed to design boundaries, with the spandrel manipulated to provide a distinctive rhythm across a façade made up of glazed and white ceramic panels.
Puncturing the central spandrel panel assists in creating the unsymmetrical appearance. The largest panels available drove the design solution. Jointing technology was explored and a clear silicone solution arrived at to allow the panels to be lengthened to puncture the central spandrel line. Internally, the effect is to create unusually deep 3m high floor to ceiling glazing beneath an exposed concrete soffit to both floors, providing a contemporary, light filled working environment with uninterrupted views out. The tinted solar control glass panels reduce solar gain.
The facades are complimented and contained within an aluminium cladding wrap ‘Aluco bowed’, enfolds and contains the form in a seemingly seamless wrap that rises from the ground at the south end to fold around and enclose the volume of the offices, rising to enclose the north façade and returning to the top of south elevation as roof. The roof extends as a 2.5m louvered brise-soleil that over-sails the south façade to create extended shade.
Structure
The cast in-situ concrete frame was developed to a 1.8m grid, allowing for maximum flexibility in subdividing the internal office-space without the need for moving light fittings and other services. The grid is offset at ground floor level to optimise the under-croft parking facility.
The superstructure was formed from reinforced concrete rising from a suspended reinforced concrete ground floor slab. Horizontal stability was provided through the load bearing sheer wall rising from the ground to the first floor of the building at the southern end, and from the core walls to the lift.
Internal Design
The internal space needed to be flexible, to accommodate changing tenant needs. The 1.8m grid of the open-plan offices allows them to be partitioned with minimal disruption to services.
The heating and cooling system feeds air around the floors via an access floor, allowing the exposed concrete soffit to perform as part of the thermal mass of the building.
The imposing full-height glazing maximises the daylight entering the space and visually accentuates the open plan environment.
Car-park places in relation to the buildings dimensions drove the floor-plate size. To optimise every last inch of lettable floor-space the slab projects out on the southern end of the structure.
Performance
The design team were tasked with achieving one of the first phases of MEPC’s BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rated buildings on Chineham Business Park. The model developed, incorporating innovative design, high quality materials and service specifications is to be used as a benchmark for successive builds.
Part of the brief from MEPC was to achieve a ‘Pascal’ rating of 50% less than the requested BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating of 10. The design achieved an exceptional 3.12. Careful consideration of detailing through building interfaces and junctions in addition to close scrutinising of on-site practice all contributed to this significant achievement.
Considered orientation of the building exploits natural sunlight with heat gains and losses controlled via the heating and cooling system. The highly insulated building uses the thermal mass of an exposed concrete roof slab and core to provide constant and comfortable conditions throughout the day.
The building is fully air conditioned via the raised access floor with return air circulating at high level through a service spine. The exposed thermal mass builds in a thermal lag to the building, which absorbs heat and radiates "cool" during the day. At night, when the external ambient temperature is lower, fresh air is blown across the slab to pre-cool it with minimal energy expenditure.
The South60 Building provides a blueprint for MEPC, establishing a standardised and sustainable building package that can be used as a template for other new builds on MEPC’s Business Parks.

Qube Global Software
Case Study: Ian Williams
Ian Williams is a leading property services company providing both planned and reactive property asset management to local authority, housing association, education, MOD and commercial clients.
During 2006 Ian Williams took the decision to invest in Planet FM Enterprise to enable the adoption of mobile working technology via PDA devices.
Via the Planet FM Enterprise helpdesk function, work orders can now be sent directly to operative’s PDAs. Operatives then report back to clients in real time, which enables contractor and client to be completely up to date with the progress of work orders, and in particular completions. Operating to strict KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), Ian Williams needed to ensure the KPIs were not only being met, but ideally exceeded.
The company’s move towards automating its property management and maintenance was driven by the opportunity for efficiency improvements in the management of its mobile workforce through embracing new technology.
“We don’t have operatives coming into the office each morning to deal with their paperwork. They can go straight to the first job at 8am and are reporting back constantly. We can get operatives to more jobs per day, which means more completions per day,” stated Rob Lomas, Operations Support Manager at Ian Williams.
Ian Williams was also impressed with Planet’s full asset management capability, its ability to interface with clients’ systems and deal with specific requirements of clients and its own systems. “We can add services and programmes into the same system, which enables Ian Williams to offer full asset management,” Lomas added.
The Planet system also helps Ian Williams more accurately report on KPIs, essential for maintaining service level agreements.
Lomas is also impressed by the service provided to his team by Planet FM personnel: “We’ve had one of Planet’s customer services team seconded to us initially to provide training, but he is also available as and when we need him, providing ongoing support, training and consulting.”
The handheld technology was implemented initially in London but is being rolled out to all Ian Williams responsive maintenance teams.
Planet is an advanced facilities management software and CAFM solution encompassing asset management, space planning, planned maintenance, helpdesk, resource booking, contract management and condition surveys.
The integrated product suite provides an end-to-end view of FM processes in real time, with the flexibility to adapt to operational changes of the future.

For more information on Planet, please email planet@qubeglobal.com or visit www.qubeglobal.com.
We are also exhibiting at The Facilities Show on stand F10 on the 13th-15th May 2008.

M J Quinn maintains London Underground’s fire safety
Under a comprehensive five-year contract with Tube Lines Limited, M J Quinn Integrated Services Ltd is shouldering the entire fire safety maintenance burden for a major part of the London Underground network.
The contract covers the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines that account for a staggering 500 million passenger journeys every year – 40 percent of the network’s passengers.
The contract involves 147 separate sites and in excess of 18,500 individual pieces of fire detection, fire alarm and firefighting equipment. It encompasses a considerable number of unrelated systems and components from a variety of manufacturers, with any number of different operating procedures and protocols. These challenges are compounded by the network being in operation around the clock, and by fines that can be imposed on M J Quinn if “lost customer hours” are down to its failure to rectify a fault in the agreed timescale.
M J Quinn’s response time is set at being within one-and-a-half hours for any non-station-closure incident, while component or system faults that may result in the need to close the station are dealt with immediately. This has resulted in the cost of station closures falling from previous levels that were in excess of £100,000 a year to less than £2,000 a year, with an obvious reduction in the inconvenience caused to London Underground’s passengers. Having initially expected a 13-week mobilisation period before accepting responsibility for call-out maintenance, this was slashed to a mere three weeks, and the responsibility for planned preventative maintenance was shouldered by M J Quinn in just four weeks.
To manage the maintenance challenges, M J Quinn is utilising its specially-enhanced, computer-based Qu-Trak planning software programme to support the 24/7 service call desk that the company set up for the Tube Lines Limited contract. This is used to generate the daily reports required by Tube Lines Limited, providing the company with an accurate overview of the maintenance work undertaken on its behalf. Qu-Trak also forms the basis of asset verification and condition checking procedures; and produces the KPI – Key Performance Indicator – data that is part of the M J Quinn / Tube Lines Limited quarterly reviews. Qu-Trak also provides a complete and reliable audit trail of all maintenance activity.
These Key Performance Indicators cover several critical aspects of the contract, including: performance considerations; health & safety matters; technical issues; fault rectification; execution; and planned preventative maintenance. The KPI on performance considerations, for example, keeps a watchful eye on the maintenance spending for each line, which must remain within three percent of the target for the performance to be assessed as “green”. The health & safety KPI looks at lost time due to accidents and the overall safety record that, to date, stands at zero. The response time KPI measures the all-important call-out track record.
So far, with the exception of a couple of “amber” assessments on relatively minor issues, M J Quinn has consistently achieved Tube Lines Limited’s top-achieving “green” performance in all areas. This is having a major positive impact on cost and passenger satisfaction. Faults are immediately flagged-up by M J Quinn, and appropriate action is taken quickly. Where previously the onus for reporting repeat faults fell to Tube Lines Limited, this burden is now shouldered by M J Quinn. Frequently, this proactive attitude has resulted in the company resolving maintenance issues at stations outside of those included in its contract.
M J Quinn has, at one time or another, worked on the majority of the stations on the Underground network, having undertaken the rewiring of complete stations, the installation of complete fire detection and alarm systems, fire compartmentation and passive fire protection projects, and the installation of communication, fibre optic and CCTV systems.
The company is based in north London and can be contacted by telephone on 020 845 30450 or via email at: info@mjquinn.co.uk. The company’s website is at www.mjquinn.co.uk