British Parking Awards 2023: The winners revealed

Public service and innovation honoured at 21st anniversary edition of Parking Review competition

Hackney Council emerged as the big winner at the British Parking Awards 2023, picking up three trophies in recognition of its commitment to providing a public service and improving the streets of east London.

Read the British Parking Awards 2023 special edition of Parking Review by clicking here

Hackney Council was named Parking Team of the Year and picked up the School Streets Award and the Communication Award for its Parking & Enforcement Plan.

Launched by Parking Review magazine in 2002, the annual awards recognise the work of both the public and private sector, with categories rewarding technology, structures teams and the work of individuals. The winners are selected by a panel of over 20 judges drawn from across the parking, transport, architectural and communications sectors.

The winners of the 21st anniversary British Parking Awards were revealed by the renowned comedian Mark Steel and compere Roger Tilling at the Royal Lancaster London on Friday 15 September.

The event was organised by Landor LINKS.

A complete list of the winners can be found by clicking here 

Honouring those who serve

Among the parking professionals honoured was Karen Day, parking manager at Nottingham City Council, who was named Parking Person of the Year for her inspiring work delivering parking services and major projects.

In the emotional highlight of the day, Resmije Zeka, senior civil enforcement officer at APCOA UK, was presented with The Front Line Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Gary Osner, chief executive officer of debt recovery specialist ZZPS.

The next generation of parking was represented by Vass Constantinides, a senior consultant at consultant Smart Transport Hub, who was named Rising Star for his expert work on a wide range of parking schemes.

Innovation and inspiration

Smart Transport Hub also shared the prestigious Inspiration Award with Islington Council for their work developing the innovative EV Hierarchy Scheme, a parking permit project that imposes a charge on larger electric vehicles.

Consultant WSP’s Liveable Places Parking Team was named Back Office Team of the Year un recognition of its provision of advice and expertise to local authorities on a wide range of traffic and parking management schemes.

Working for the public good

Cashless parking specialist PayByPhone was presented with the Parking in the Community Award as a thank you for the way in which its teams across the UK work with and support a wide range of good causes, including hospices and theatre groups.

The London Borough of Waltham Forest was presented with the Safer Spaces Award for its work to remove nuisance vehicles from the streets. This activity is carried out in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and parking contractor NSL.

Initiatives tackling abuse of the Blue Badge scheme for disabled drivers were recognised. The Parking Partnerships Award went to the National Blue Badge Day of Action, organised by Lambeth Council, saw over 80 local authorities coordinate enforcement against misuse of the permits.

A Technology Award was presented to the London Borough of Haringey for its use of digital technologies to deter the fraudulent use of Blue Badges.

Smarter parking

Barbour Logic won a Technology Award for Voice Master, an AI-powered automated system that enables drivers to engage with local authorities verbally understand their options and prospects when considering challenging a penalty notice.

The Connected Parking Award was presented to Kent County Council for the ParkMap Project, an initiative that saw all the county’s districts cooperate to create digital TROs using the Buchanan Computing mapping platform.

The off-street scene

The British Parking Awards feature a series of trophies focussed on the provision of off-street parking.

Durham County Council and its contractor NSL, part of Marston Holdings, were named Parking Operator of the Year for the innovative and customer-focussed management of the cathedral city’s park & ride and new Sands multi-storey.

This year saw a particularly strong field of new landmark car parks, with entries divided into two groups. The best Hospital Car Park was named as the Dorset County Hospital MSCP, Dorchester.

When it came to the Town & City Car Parks the jury found it divide the three short listed sites as each was considered an excellent new gateway to their respective contexts: a historic city, a new town and the regeneration of a post-industrial city. There were thus accolades for New Market Parking in Chester, the Stevenage MSCP and Riverside Sunderland.

The Best Car Park Renovation category looks at how car parks can be transformed into inspiring buildings with a genuine social value and can host a variety of uses. This year’s recipient was Bath Podium Parking, a project that saw a once failing underground facility transformed into a modern shoppers’ car park.
 
Car Park Design, a new publication providing best practice advice on designing car parks for now and the future was authored by a panel of architects, engineers and property experts. This landmark book from the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) presented with a Special Jury Award. 

The evolution of parking

The worlds of parking and EV charging are connecting. This convergence is covered by EVolution a website and magazine developed by Parking Review to look at zero-emission travel.

This year there were three EVolution Awards. The EV Charging Technology trophy as presented to the 3ti for the innovative Papilio3 Solar Car Park.

Operator Q-Park was named EV Chargepoint Provider of the Year for its commitment to rolling out charging provision at its car parks and its support for a growing range of green urban logistics companies and businesses providing electric car rentals.

The EV Champion of the Year was presented to another established parking operator that has embraced e-mobillity. APCOA UK received the accolade in recognition of both its work building a nationwide public charging network and its creation of a pioneering Urban Mobility Hub concept, the first example of which can now be seen in Carmarthen.

The British Parking Awards will return in 2024.

www.britishparkingawards.co.uk