The end of city centre Multistorey Carparks

[Alderpoint]

Here an old 1950s council-owned multistorey is suffering from concrete death and the upper levels have been closed for some years. The lower levels have now also been closed and it will be demolished when the council have the funds to do so. They were planning to use the site to build new council offices complete with a new multistorey carpark but widespread local objections have seen this withdrawn and it will just become a surface-level carpark.

Meanwhile in the adjacent town, the local NHS trust a few years ago built a new off-site multi-storey staff car-park. They are now planning on building another multi-storey and expanding their treatments facilities onto more of the old car park.

The same NHS trust has also built another multistorey carpark at one of their other town-centre sites.

[Jim606]

There is a more detailed film of the Gateshead's MSCP final days on YouTube

[KeithW]

The large Castlegate shopping centre in Stockton-on-Tees has been closed and they are transforming it into a new urban park.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... n-27878722

The Captain Cook Square shopping centre in Middlesbrough has largely failed, most of the retail outlets are empty and the current plan is to turn it into combination of residential units , leisure cafes, pubs and small shops. This of course what it was before they demolished the swimming baths, terraced housing and small shops that were there.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... hs-8399475

The rents and rates on both these centres were very high so most of the big retailers moved to the out of town centres on Portrack Lane and Cleveland Retail Park where parking is free.

Portrack Lane Retail Park
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5734206 ... &entry=ttu

Cleveland Park
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5702553 ... &entry=ttu

Teesside Park
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5589458 ... &entry=ttu

[B1040]

Cambridge has lost a multi storey car park (Park Street), but retains several others. In Cambridge it feels as if sky high parking charges are the alternative to congestion charges.
If a congestion charge is levied, I suspect there will be even less need for m/s car parks.
Huntingdon still has what feels like a small fairly new m/s car park that is much less oppressive than the older ones I've used in Peterborough and Cambridge.

[M4Simon]

Stevenage Borough Council have recently opened a new multi-storey by the railway station. I think this is to increase capacity as the existing car parks tended to be full by 8 or 9 on a weekday.

The same town's Lister Hospital also gained a multi-storey about 5 years ago.

I think it us true that a lot of them have reached a critical age. There may also be some places where there is no longer a need for that much capacity.

The Lister car park was there in 2015 when I became an outpatient, and for a week or so, an inpatient there. For a brand new car park, the geometry is ridiculously tight. I only took the big car there once. Every other time, I took the Fabia, and even that was a challenge to get around the corners.

[jabbaboy]

Quite a few new ones popped up in the North East in recent years. 2x in Newcastle, 1 in Sunderland, 1 in Darlington and another in Gateshead off the top of my head. Probably another somewhere I've forgot about.

Rather ironic at the same time Newcastle and Gateshead want to reduce the number of cars going into the centre

[rhyds]

I thought multi-storeys were on the way out too but a new one is being built near me as part of the redevelopment of the small (non A&E etc.) local hospital.

https://www.cambsnews.co.uk/news/health ... ital/9097/

This is spacious rural low-rise Cambridgeshire, so it does seem to be an odd place for a multi-storey.

About 10 years ago Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth had a new building added on what was the (pretty small) hospital car park. Part of the new building work was to provide a replacement MSCP, but due to various planning/budget constraints they only provided the exact number of car parking spaces they'd built over.

[trickstat]

Stevenage Borough Council have recently opened a new multi-storey by the railway station. I think this is to increase capacity as the existing car parks tended to be full by 8 or 9 on a weekday.

The same town's Lister Hospital also gained a multi-storey about 5 years ago.

I think it us true that a lot of them have reached a critical age. There may also be some places where there is no longer a need for that much capacity.

The Lister car park was there in 2015 when I became an outpatient, and for a week or so, an inpatient there. For a brand new car park, the geometry is ridiculously tight. I only took the big car there once. Every other time, I took the Fabia, and even that was a challenge to get around the corners.

I have only used it as a passenger but I have heard that this is a problem and minor scrapes are quite common.

[Vierwielen]

In the late 1990's I went to SLough for an interview for a contract and parked in the station/shopping centre multiustory carpark. I was surprised to see how empty it was and then I noticed a maximum parkling time of 4 hours which I though rather short for a station car park. This suggested to me that in earlier years the car park was filled with commuters who never gave shoppers the chance of a look in. I neve got the contract and a few minutes ago I visited the site in my Googlecar. No sign of the multi-story at all. Was it hit by some "friendly bombs" or was it just demolished?

[Hdeng16]

Both have gone in Bath. The one at Ham Gardens went many years ago and the one at Avon St car park went recently.

Doesn't seem that long ago that the Avon St multistorey was important enough to be temporarily extended while Southgate/bus station was built. Turns out it was around 15 years ago

Barnsley has a new multistorey, owned by the council but connected to the new shopping centre (also council-owned). It's modern though and like the rest of the development has actually brought like to the town centre - and it seems to be thriving too in comparison to it's neighbours.

[KeithW]

Doesn't seem that long ago that the Avon St multistorey was important enough to be temporarily extended while Southgate/bus station was built. Turns out it was around 15 years ago

Barnsley has a new multistorey, owned by the council but connected to the new shopping centre (also council-owned). It's modern though and like the rest of the development has actually brought like to the town centre - and it seems to be thriving too in comparison to it's neighbours.

The Zetland car park in Middlesbrough is pretty modern and reasonably priced (£2.30 for 10 hours) but is only open from 7 AM to 7.30 PM although they will open longer for late night football matches at Riverside Stadium. There is an underpass from it to the town centre.
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5790011 ... &entry=ttu

Its mainly targeted at all day commuters and they also issue season tickets for £40 per month but the fact that its just a short stroll to the Railway Station doesnt hurt.

[AndyB]

It staggers me how many MSCPs in the Midlands don't even have lifts. Talk about an accessibility nightmare.

Manchester might have lifts but it also has some very stupid parking policies like having on street spaces undercutting the adjacent car parks

In my experience, it appears to be the job of multi-storey car parks to charge significantly more than the local surface car parks.

Belfast on-street and local council car parks are both around £1.40 an hour, I think, with on-street being time limited: one or two hours in the city centre, four hours where required in the inner suburbs. NCP and QPark charge over £3 per hour.

I went to Victoria Square Car Park (QPark) on Saturday against my better judgement. It gets gummed up because it has two large floors underground, and although it was offering 22 spaces on the upper level on Saturday, I saw one car across two spaces and about half a dozen disabled and parent and child parking spaces. I got a space after 15 minutes, but I got to the cafe where my wife (who had got out of the car early on) and I were meeting our nephews and said never again. There was on-street parking within 5 minutes walk without the hassle.

[Owain]

The main problem with the otherwise impressive Woodhouse Lane Multistorey in Leeds is that the spaces are smaller than many of the cars that use it! My cars fit width-wise, but the noses stick out. Put a modern SUV in there, and you probably wouldn't be able to open the doors.

The other problem is that, one by one, the card readers on the payment machines are all failing. A few weeks ago I tried every machine across the top three levels before giving up and going to park elsewhere.

[Nicola_Jayne]

The main problem with the otherwise impressive Woodhouse Lane Multistorey in Leeds is that the spaces are smaller than many of the cars that use it! My cars fit width-wise, but the noses stick out. Put a modern SUV in there, and you probably wouldn't be able to open the doors.

The other problem is that, one by one, the card readers on the payment machines are all failing. A few weeks ago I tried every machine across the top three levels before giving up and going to park elsewhere.

what what i can see it was built /opened in 1968, another 50 + year old concrete structure

[Jim606]

As far as I am aware, there isn't a listed MSCP in the UK? The Architects Journal however, ran a recent article about Rupert Street in Bristol https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/new ... t-be-saved It doesn't look too much like an architectural gem to me though! However, the 20th Century Society seem to have other ideas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-64725188
Bid to protect 'iconic' 1950's multi-storey car park in Bristol. Published 22 February 2023 Rupert Street car park in Bristol was described as "an iconic brutalist car park" by the 20th Century Society. By Jonathan Holmes BBC News

A group which campaigns to preserve modern buildings has applied to have a multi-storey car park in Bristol listed with Historic England. Rupert Street car park could be at risk of being demolished if plans for flats are submitted by developers Greystar.

But the 20th Century Society said the 1950s structure could be turned into a charging hub for electric cars. "We feel that this is an iconic brutalist car park," said 20th Century Society's Coco Whittaker. "It is an important example as it was the first in existence to have a continuous ramped floor - it's a classic," she added. The car park was built between December 1959 and October 1960. When it opened, the car park was hailed as revolutionary. It was the first of its kind to feature a continuous spiral parking ramp in the UK, which is half-a-mile long. Ms Whittaker said the building could be repurposed to add many more electric car charging points if it is saved."A clear opportunity now presents itself to adapt this innovative 20th century structure to provide a green and exciting solution to a very 21st century problem," she added.

[M19]

The main problem with the otherwise impressive Woodhouse Lane Multistorey in Leeds is that the spaces are smaller than many of the cars that use it! My cars fit width-wise, but the noses stick out. Put a modern SUV in there, and you probably wouldn't be able to open the doors.

The other problem is that, one by one, the card readers on the payment machines are all failing. A few weeks ago I tried every machine across the top three levels before giving up and going to park elsewhere.

what what i can see it was built /opened in 1968, another 50 + year old concrete structure

I used to use that as a student in the early 90s. It was quite grim before it was given a spruce up with different coloured beams between floor and lots of white paint. It was quite cheap back in the day. One feature I remember was the express ramp from one of the upper levels out of the car park - great if you could manage the radii-less 90 degree turn.

[ForestChav]

Well, in Nottm they knocked down the Broadmarsh a while back and then the shopping centre itself not long after. They rebuilt the car park a while back on basically the same site but it's now in an area which doesn't get through traffic because some of the roads around it are buses only now, which makes it a bit harder to get to from most directions (whereas before it was in the middle of a one way system) - I've not been in it yet, so can't really comment on the facilities or the price much.

There are a few NCPs, which have a reputation for being a bit expensive, a few years back (think it was just before covid) the parapet on one of them actually fell off, and I think the car park had to be closed whilst they repaired it, and presumably made sure no more of it would do the same.

Classing the BM as a rebuild, I don't really think it's likely anything new will be coming up any time soon - in fact it's probably more likely that the precast concrete type multi storeys will end up closing as their condition is likely to deteriorate and either need costly repair works or simply to flatten and start again, most of the NCP ones appear to be a bit similar on this, so it will be interesting to see what happens with them when that happens.

[roadtester]

Haven’t been there in years but one I always remember is the one at the (I think) Eastgate shopping centre in Gloucester.

I’m a but hazy on the detail but if I remember correctly this had a bridge at the top level across to further rooftop parking on the other side of the road, a feature that always fascinated me as a kid but I think the bridge has been blocked for several years.

Does anyone else (perhaps Owain) remember this?

Staying in roughly the same area, I always found the multi-storey at Cheltenham’s Regent Arcade one of the most pleasant to use - very open and light, and not at all the usual dank, damp and smelly experience. The lifts/stairs were also very pleasant at least by the standards of the time when it was built (mid-eighties).

[SteveM]

Havant is demolishing a 1990s-vintage MSCP for replacement town centre housing https://www.havant.gov.uk/news/2022/cou ... on-funding. Network Rail opened an MSCP at the station a few years back which has never had more than a smattering of vehicles on the upper level, especially post-covid, and that will have redirected some of the town centre parking as well.

[Hdeng16]

Well, in Nottm they knocked down the Broadmarsh a while back and then the shopping centre itself not long after. They rebuilt the car park a while back on basically the same site but it's now in an area which doesn't get through traffic because some of the roads around it are buses only now, which makes it a bit harder to get to from most directions (whereas before it was in the middle of a one way system) - I've not been in it yet, so can't really comment on the facilities or the price much.

There are a few NCPs, which have a reputation for being a bit expensive, a few years back (think it was just before covid) the parapet on one of them actually fell off, and I think the car park had to be closed whilst they repaired it, and presumably made sure no more of it would do the same.

Classing the BM as a rebuild, I don't really think it's likely anything new will be coming up any time soon - in fact it's probably more likely that the precast concrete type multi storeys will end up closing as their condition is likely to deteriorate and either need costly repair works or simply to flatten and start again, most of the NCP ones appear to be a bit similar on this, so it will be interesting to see what happens with them when that happens.

At the time the Broadmarsh sale/redevelopment/closure was a disaster, but given the new normal it was probably ahead of it's time. They should really sort out a temporary square or something down there though - last time I looked it was still pretty much a half-demolished shopping centre and boards everywhere.