Birmingham-based Gallan Parking Ltd is completing the final ‘shard’ to the retail element of a new £41million urban village within the city.
The company has been appointed jointly by Birmingham City Council, Barratt Homes and developer Stoford Retail to manage a purpose-built 47-space car park for local shoppers at Ownall Road in Shard End.
The amenity, which provides free parking for three hours, serves a new shopping centre that includes a Co-operative store, Ladbrokes shop and a Greggs bakery.
The car park, which fronts the new Co-op with a direct walkway into the store, has been developed to meet the highest standards of the British Parking Association.
As well as maintaining lighting and CCTV cameras, Gallan Parking will be carrying out security patrols, litter collections, green verge maintenance, and gritting duties.
The amenity, which will also serve a new library, is at the heart of a major new development of 191 mixed-tenure homes which is replacing poor quality accommodation and is scheduled for completion in December 2013.
Shard End brings to eight the number of car parks – with a total capacity of 855 spaces – that Gallan Parking now manages in Birmingham. It is also the second project Gallan Group has worked on with Stoford following their joint £33million development of a new regional distribution scheme for the Co-operative Group at Avonmouth.
Coun Ian Ward, (Lab, Shard End), said: “The new urban village complete with town square and car park provides a new and vibrant retail centre for Shard End. The square and car park will also be used for community events and, hopefully, a farmers’ market, bringing pride and a real sense of community into the area. I am delighted that Gallan Parking will be managing this important new public space in the heart of Shard End.”
Andy Browne, Stoford Retail Development Manager, added: “Before we appointed Gallan Parking the shoppers’ car park was chaotic. Now we have an effective and efficient car park management contract in place that benefits both the shopping centre’s customers and its retailers. There is also strong demand for the last remaining shops.”
Phillip Grant, Managing Director of Gallan Parking, commented: “We are delighted to have been appointed by a major city council and two leading developers to manage what will be our first purpose-built car park in a mixed-use city scheme. It shows that we are rapidly becoming the national car park operator of choice for developers.”