In a world where people can shop any time, anywhere, from their mobile devices, the cost and quality of parking has become an important factor in attracting consumers to physical retail destinations such as shopping centres. For landlords, creating a more sustainable car park can generate significant savings in running costs, ultimately enabling them to offer customer parking at a lower price and reducing the environmental impact too.
At The Rock shopping centre in Bury, owner Kennedy Wilson invested approximately £515,000 in replacing all fluorescent lighting throughout the car park, stairwells, loading bay and corridors with more energy efficient LED luminaires. These utilise a smart control (wireless) system that self-tests, monitors energy usage and reports faults on each individual light. The anticipated results per year are huge: a 83 per cent reduction in energy usage and subsequent costs, a 78 per cent reduction in maintenance costs and carbon savings of around 550 tonnes. The expected return on investment is less than three years, based on typical standards, compared with existing lighting.
Lighting of all forms should be a key consideration in creating sustainable car parks. Many landlords leave lights on throughout at all times to enable security cameras to capture footage clearly. The installation of sensors, meaning lights are only activated by movement and remain off the rest of the time, is a simple but effective way to save on energy usage and costs.
Looking ahead, the predicted increase in the number of electric vehicles on our roads will create demand for charging stations in car parks and therefore competition to attract shoppers by offering the cheapest rate to charge. Most charging currently takes place during peak hours, when the energy also costs landlords more to buy, meaning they need to pass on a higher cost to customers. However, new batteries are being developed by companies such Tesla, which landlords can charge at night when energy is cheaper and therefore pass that energy on to customers the next day at a lower rate.
It is not only retail landlords who are recognising the considerable savings to be made with energy-efficient car parks, but owners of office buildings too. The possible introduction of city centre emissions taxes and proposed Government funding to boost use of electric vehicles will change the type of car parking space employees are seeking. Whatever the property type, switching on to the power of sustainability is a key tool in creating well-used, cost-effective car parks.
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