At a recent conference for parking authorities and operators, our innovative Car Park Options Game helped to illustrate the range of potential solutions for problematic car parks.
The game, devised by Parking Perspectives for the Car Parks 2026 industry event, showcased options to repair, refurbish, replace, redevelop or re-purpose ageing multi-storey car parks – and the factors involved in deciding which option to pick.
Attendees were given a range of scenarios – imaginary but based on real-world examples – with car parks that needed major decisions about their future. Attendees had to decide what to do about them.
Possible options were to do minimum repairs, carry out a more intensive refurbishment that could improve the user experience, demolish and build a replacement, demolish and use the site for an alternative use, or re-purpose the existing structural shell for an alternative use.
Our Technical Director Graham James was in the chair, guiding everyone through the scenarios. A hand-picked expert panel offered advice from the point of view of an engineer, operator, planner or developer, covering both financial and non-financial considerations. But it was down to the audience to vote on which solution they would choose in each case.
Attendee feedback was excellent, with comments such as “the highlight of the day.”
Parking Perspectives’ Andrew Potter commented: “The game was a fun way to make a serious point. If you have an ageing car park that’s near the end of its life, you might have more options than you initially think. You can run the numbers to decide what’s most cost-effective. Refurbishing or rebuilding provide opportunities to improve the offer and increase usage and revenue. But those aren’t the only options. You might also have wider, non-financial considerations, such as development ambitions and housing targets, or a policy goal to relocate parking to more suitable locations. It also depends on whether your parking estate today is in balance with demand, or too large or small. These all factor into the decisions you make.”