Makers Visit Parkex

Makers for many years has exhibited at Parkex which now sees itself combined with Traffex and ColdComfort. Held over the 20th & 21st May at the CBS Arena home of this years Championship Champions Coventry City who return to the Premiership after a 25-year absence.

The arena looks like the new home for Parkex and hall number one had around 100 leading exhibitions across all 3 exhibitions, together with 3 live theatres The British Parking Association covering the latest hot topics in the parking arena, the EV Connect theatre for all topics electric and the resilience theatre.

Over the two days invited speakers from across the relevant sectors and industries take to the stage in 40-minute segments to update and case study the latest innovations or showcase the lates changes within the industry and legislation, between these two theatres alone they will have presented over 24 sessions over both days.

Parkex and Traffex continue to evolve with large exhibitions focusing mainly on the digital area, data capture, planning and parking applications all designed to make the parking experience more efficient from direct live feeds to vehicles providing driver information to parking destinations and beyond.

Most recently, the battleground for space has been for parking platforms vying against the other income stream of bailiff or Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) implementation and collection and this year was no exceptions with some very impressive stands, long gone are the smaller companies peddling their services for maintenance and upkeep with the flavour very much on high tech, income and surveillance.

But parking is essential, the UK has recorded its biggest car fleet of 36.6M vehicles registered on UK roads and ironically, we struggle to find a single parking operator within the exhibition, particularly when one of the biggest operators recently went into administration.

The EV Connect theatre was well attended and not surprising as the increase is none ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) units has increased to just over 12% of the UK car fleet, but with the increase creates its own problems within the industry falling behind the Governments Zero Emission target of 33%. There have been some benefit in the reduction of CO2 of 3% since 2024, but with UK drivers driving their older vehicles longer, the power of persuasion is falling on stoney ground with infrastructure, cost and economic uncertainty all playing their part.

Over 45% of the UK car fleet is over 10 years old an increase of 2% on the previous year with many citing economic uncertainties and moreover second-hand values.

As the technology advances so does the change in manufacturers, although its mark is no longer available the Ford Fiesta is still the most popular vehicle on the road with over a million units and with the influence of South Korea and China flooding the UK market with affordable EV’s the UK German dominance is falling where German made cars representing almost 1 in 3 at around 11M vehicles.

Put in context, petrol and diesel cars still represent 87% if the British car fleet using UK roads, but the increasing popularity of electric SUV with their increase in weight, size and volume bring additional problems to the aging parking stock in terms of impact and ease of parking. We have seen new directives and design interior for new build car parks moving forward but it is estimated that 2/3rds of the current parking stock were constructed in the 1960’s & 1970’s and as such internal floor plans and ageing structures mean the newer heavier vehicles are pushing older structures to the limit.

The bigger issue is one of the containment particularly in relation to EV charging whereby older structures can’t easily lend themselves to the most ideal location with desires from interested parties having to manage original structural limitations with the demands from fire officials, planning and heavier electric vehicles.

In a time of financial pressures, operators are already operating on weaker margins but any reluctance to maintain or upgrade their aging assets may result in costly bills for the future, kicking the can down the road won’t help. This topic was covered in the BPA Live Theatre emphasing the need for risk assessments, life care planning and essential maintenance, all the services that Makers offer and can assist with.

We appreciate that unfortunately some configurations just can’t be changed due to their original construction but ensuring your car park is sound and available for the next 20-30 years is possible. Like all assets, as technology changes sites can’t move forward ultimately sites may change and be redeveloped but with over 16 million vehicles of 10 years or more on our roads, there is still a great potential for parking improvements for these car parks constructed in the 60’s & 70’s.

Please feel free to call and make contact and see how Makers can help you move your structure forward for the demands of the future.

Contact: enquiries@makers.biz or telephone 01543 480 959 and speak to Simon Lamb, Managing Director.