British Parking Awards 2020 winners revealed

The UK's best car parks and kerbside management schemes recognised

The deployment of parking bay sensors across Harrogate, a giant multi-storey coach park at Wembley and a scheme that deters dangerous parking outside schools were among the winners of the British Parking Awards 2020.

The annual awards, launched by Parking Review magazine in 2002, encompass both kerbside parking and off-street car parks. The awards ceremony has become the highlight of the parking sector’s social calendar. This year over 730 people from across the public and private sectors gathered at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London for a lunchtime ceremony that celebrated the best in parking management, design and technology. The awards were hosted by broadcaster Dr Xand van Tulleken, co-star of the BBC’s Bafta award-winning Operation Ouch and The Twinstitute, as well as documentary investigations into various health issues.

Managing the kerbside
This was, in many ways, the year of the traffic regulation order, with several winners being won by people and projects involving the generation of TROs. The Department for Transport’s TRO Discovery Project, carried out by the British Parking Association, GeoPlace and Ordnance Survey received a Special Jury Award. This project is defining the digitisation of the orders that underpin the way the kerbside is organised.

Hazel Game, Project Centre’s veteran TRO specialist, and Vicki Neville, principal parking and TRO officer at Northamptonshire County Council, were the joint recipients of Back Office Awards.

The Parking Partnership Award was presented to an Innovate UK supported public-private partnership that is developing digital TROs. The scheme sees technology company AppyWay’s digital mapping system being trialled by Cambridgeshire County Council, Coventry City Council and Milton Keynes Council.

AppyWay was also part of a public-private partnership that developed real-time parking management in Harrogate. Smart City Parking, a scheme that links over 2,000 bay sensors to a payment app, is being piloted by Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.

Working together
There were prizes for teams that have gone above and beyond the normal. The B4 car park team in Birmingham won the Front Line Award for their customer-focussed approach to running a city centre site. The long-standing partnership between London’s Brent Council and Serco was named Parking Team of the Year.

The North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) is a group of local authorities who have pooled their parking expertise. NEPP won The Communication Award for its exemplary use of digital and social media channels to engage with motorists, residents and stakeholders.

Partnerships between local authorities and the private sector were the joint winners in the Parking Technology Award category. Cornwall County Council, phone parking company JustPark and pay-on-foot system developer WPS were recognised for their work creating a system that allows drivers to use phone parking to activate car park barriers. The ROADflow attended camera enforcement at school gates won Derby City Council and CCTV technology company SEA the other Parking Technology Award.

A pair of schemes that saw local authorities and enforcement contractors harness data to target anti-social drivers were category winners. A Walsall Council scheme that sees bailiff Penham Excel use real-time DVLA data to spot and immobilise non-taxed cars in the West Midlands town won the Parking in the Community Awards. The London Borough of Waltham’s work with NSL targeting persistent evaders received an Intelligent Parking Award.

Buildings for cars and people
The teams who designed and delivered major new car parks were honoured. The Watts House multi-storey at the University of Brighton was named Best New Car Park.

The massive Pink Parking car and coach park at Wembley Park in London won a pair of Special Project Awards: one for the challenge of engineering a multi-storey coach park; the other for the striking internal and giant external graphics designed to orientate the sports fans and concert audiences who will use the site.

The Car Park Renewal Award was presented to the team that transformed the 1960s Rotherham Interchange car park into a striking structure with a contemporary feel inside and out.

Providing a top notch service
The Parking as a Service Award was presented to the OCS and CBRE team at the centre:mk shopping centre in Milton Keynes, where the new car park is notable for its mixture of good design, driver-assistance technology and customer-friendly service. High quality services won ParkVia, a UK-based international airport parking portal, the Parking Provider of the Year Award.

Praise for parking people
Besides the systems, services and structures, the awards recognise the achievements of individuals. The Parking Person of the Year was Anthony Eskinazi, chief executive of JustPark, a leading online parking provider. The MiPermit Inspiration Award was presented to Jade Neville, head of parking services, OCS. Neville has been a champion of skills development across the parking sector and also pioneered projects that support parking staff who have been subjected to verbal and physical abuse.

The Young Parking Professional of the Year was Rebecca Harper, membership engagement manager at the British Parking Association. A pair of Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Jim Daniels and Mike James, senior local authority officers who led the debate that spawned the Positive Parking Agenda, an initiative that has been adopted by councils across the country.

www.britishparkingawards.co.uk

British Parking Awards 2020: The Winners

Communication Award
Positive parking messaging – North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP)

The Front Line Award
Car park team, B4 Parking, Birmingham

Parking in the Community
Cross-boundary working between local authorities - Penham Excel and Walsall Council

Special Projects Award
Pink Parking, Wembley, London: Engineering a multi-storey coach park – HUBER Car Park Systems
Pink Parking, Wembley, London: Public art and wayfinding graphics – Potter Church & Holmes Architects, Hemingway Design, Quintain and HUBER Car Park Systems

Parking Provider of the Year
ParkVia

Parking Technology Award
Multi-partner platform integration – Cornwall County Council, JustPark and WPS
ROADflow attended camera enforcement at school gates – Derby City Council and SEA

Parking as a Service Award
centre:mk, Milton Keynes – OCS and CBRE

Best Car Park Renewal
Rotherham Interchange – Interserve in partnership with South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), Arup and Jefferson Sheard Architects

The Back Office
Hazel Game, senior traffic order specialist, Project Centre
Vicki Neville, principal parking and TRO officer, Northamptonshire Highways

Intelligent Parking Award
Smart City Parking, Harrogate – AppyWay and Harrogate Borough Council
Persistent evader scheme – Waltham Forest Council

Best New Car Park
Watts House car park, University of Brighton – Stripe Consulting and Kier Construction for University of Brighton

Parking Partnerships Award
Future ready traffic orders - AppyWay, Innovate UK, Cambridgeshire County Council, Coventry City Council and Milton Keynes Council

Lifetime Achievement Award
Mike James
Jim Daniels

Young Parking Professional of the Year
Rebecca Harper, membership engagement manager, British Parking Association

Parking Team of the Year
Brent parking team, London Borough of Brent and Serco

Special Jury Prize
TRO Discovery Project – Department for Transport, British Parking Association, GeoPlace and Ordnance Survey

Parking Person of the Year
Anthony Eskinazi, founder and chief executive, JustPark

MiPermit Inspiration Award
Jade Neville, head of parking services, OCS