Blackpool Central is a multi-storey car park built as part of a £300m regeneration project site in the Northern coastal resort. The vision for the former Blackpool Central Station site is for an interconnected collection of all-weather leisure attractions, hotels and public spaces, liberally interspersed with a multitude of places to eat and drink throughout the daytime and evening.
The wider brief was to develop a major leisure destination at the heart of Blackpool that is of national significance and which will provide a compelling new reason to visit the town throughout the year. The development is aiming to be a world class facility designed to minimise the impact of poor weather and offering a new, all year round reason to visit the town.
The development land will be released and supported by the construction of the new Blackpool Central MSCP.
Ballast Nedam Construction was selected to deliver this project alongside the design services of Stripe Consulting. The project brief was to redevelop an existing surface car park located over the original railway lines, sidings and site of Blackpool Central Raiwayl Station, to provide a 1,300-space multi-storey car park.
Following the main build, Blackpool City Council instructed Stripe Consulting to design, and Ballast Nedam Construction to deliver, client fit out items such as the onsite office spaces and installation of CCTV, variable message signs, and additional security measures.
Stripe and Ballast Nedam Construction worked collaboratively with Blackpool Council to understand its needs and develop a solution for the site to deliver an exceptional facility that transforms the site.
The project had additional complexities due to the site’s previous use as the Blackpool Central Railway Station. The scope of works was wide and varied throughout the build consisting of:
The construction budget for the car park project was circa £26m with final build costs circa £28m following additional ground works requirements. This was funded by Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and developed by Nikal developments. This budget included the professional fees for Ballast Nedam Construction, Stripe and the other design team members from tender stage to completion.
As a tourist parking destination, the car park is run on a barriered ANPR system that has number plate recognition, this creates a free flow into the car park and allows users to quickly search for a space. Users will be able to pay for parking on return to their vehicle using one of the pay on foot machines, or by using a phone app. The MSCP is operated by Blackpool Council as part of their larger estate.
All parking spaces exceed the then industry standards (2.4m x 4.8m as 2021 when MSCP was designed):
The MSCP has been designed as an external D-ramp car park. This is where the parking decks of the car park are in essence flat (slight slope for natural drainage) and storey change is done externally. Each D-ramp is one way, full storey height which assists with fast turnover and rapid entry and exit The preferred circulation route in the UK is clockwise, with the ramps turning anti-clockwise to make the turn easier.
Due to the large flat deck, the MSCP will be fed by four precast concrete cores, with one forming the main core that will feed into the new leisure complex.
The MSCP is accessed from two different levels, at ground floor from the West, via the elevated Seasiders Way and at lower ground from the South, via Chapel Street. Therefore there is an additional set of ramps to link the ground and lower ground floors.
The MSCP consists of double-T precast planks spanning between steel primary beams positioned at the perimeter of the footprint, thus leaving large uninterrupted and unobstructed areas for internal circulation. Bracing stiffens the structure and is located in locations that reduce impact on vehicle and pedestrian routes.
The stair cores were off-site fabricated precast panels that are installed as a free standing structure. This allowed them to be used early on for construction access, removing the additional space requirement for temporary access.
Edge protection is installed alongside the planks and also acts as a safety barrier during construction. The Integra barriers are a rigorously tried and tested ‘bolt-on’ product that can be secured to the steel frame.
The precast plank surface is designed to be exposed, removing the need for costly finishes and removing the maintenance burden. The concrete rough surface of the deck also reduces any noise issues that can be associated with vehicles turning on polished floors. The gaps between planks are then grouted and flexible jointed, with drainage installed, cast alongside gullies in the deck surface.
The new MSCP has dual access, with the primary entrance on the West from an existing elevated access road (original railway) along Seasiders Way, entering at the new complex ground level. A secondary entry/exit will be at lower ground, accessed from Chapel Street which runs along the southern boundary of the development site.
As this is primarily for tourist/visitor parking, it is unlikely there will be peak entrance times, with arrivals spread throughout the day/evening. Seasiders Way will form the primary entry and exit point for the development and forms a long reservoir for potentially busy periods. Therefore the entrance turn into the car park is likely to be free flowing, with little queuing and uninterrupted by oncoming traffic. Due to the large volume of spaces, the car park has been designed with three entry and exit lanes with an additional tidal lane to ease flows where required.
The new access point onto Chapel Street is planned for a twofold reason, as an alternative evacuation, should Seasiders Way gets blocked for any reason and as a quieter exit, designed for local access only. It is accessed only from the lower ground so can be used to empty the level during busy periods, or as a standalone parking area during quieter seasons.
The MSCP has been designed to follow a clockwise, one-way circulation flow. This offers drivers an opportunity to look for an available parking bay in a structured and organised manner, whilst reducing the risk of collision or crossover between entrance and exits. The D-ramps have been designed so upper floors can be closed down without affecting the internal circulation routes.
Vehicle signage is designed to assist the smooth, safe flow of traffic around the MSCP. Clear, recognisable symbols are used with clear wording where necessary. The goal is to use minimal, simple signage to reduce clutter that requires a motorist to divert concentration from driving. Where possible, directional signage is given via floor markings, with other signage in the forms of hung/mounted aluminium signs as indicated adjacent.
On levels -01-04 signage is mounted under beams or on concrete columns, to provide clear view for users. As level 05 is open air, signs are fence or column-mounted due to a lack of soffit above.
Pedestrian walkways on the deck are indicated with line marking, and the stair cores are highlighted in painted sections as shown below. The colour scheme of the levels ties in with the colour scheme of the main building, to ease wayfinding generally and reduce possible confusion for visitors.
The MSCP is designed to segregate pedestrians from circulating traffic, using walkways to the perimeter of the car park, with safe routes to all stair cores. The accessible spaces have all been located on the ground floor to reduce overall travel distance, within close proximity of lifts and exit points.
EV bays are also located on ground and first floors for priority parking to promote sustainable travel.
The lower ground floor has a pair of rapid EV bays to make provision for if/when the upper floors are closed during quieter periods. During the quiet periods, it is likely that there will be more demand from local users for short-stay rapid charging rather than a long stay slower charge that all day tourists would require.
Family spaces are distributed across the upper floors to provide user-friendly spaces on every level, placed strategically close to lifts and exit points and away from main circulation routes in and out of the MSCP.
The Approved Document K provides guidance on the minimum guarding required to protect individuals from falling, which is 1,100mm in this type of building.
There is no specific government or industry guidance in relation to anti-jump measures and no proprietary products in the market. The appropriate system used in MSCP projects needs to be defined by a site specific risk assessment commissioned by the client team.
The risk of determined individuals using the MSCP to jump cannot be completely eliminated, unless the project brief changes to include a full enclosure at every level (with the limitations of maintaining natural ventilation for the car park) and a roof. A 2.5m high guarding at top floor can be used to deter climbing / failing, but cannot prevent a determined individual from gaining access, especially in a public MSCP.
The façade treatment has been detailed to hinder climbing and prevent access to the edge of the building. In areas where the statement cladding gap was wide and accessible from the decks, additional mesh was installed behind to prevent unauthorised access.
The CCTV system was supplied, installed, tested and commissioned directly by Blackpool City Council in conjunction with their other installations.
The CCTV camera system is anticipated to cover the following areas:
Each luminaire or group of luminaires are fitted with control sensors and equipment, minimising energy consumption whilst maintaining appropriate lighting/illuminance levels.
The lighting concept is to prevent the luminaires being on during daylight hours and when no movement is detected within the MSCP, external walkways and ancillary areas. To maintain adequate safe and secure lighting levels, lighting has the ability to dim down, rather than turn off.
When movement sensors are activated, either by vehicles or pedestrians, and the ambient lighting level is low, the luminaires will turn on in the designated area. After a given period, luminaires dim down to 50% output.
If the ambient light is sufficient the luminaires will not turn on even if movement is detected.
On staircase areas the luminaires will dim down to 10% rather than turning off completely.
All accessible parking is located on the ground floor with unhindered escape, although in a bid for full inclusivity where non blue badge holders may required additional help, there are refuges and help pints at every level in all stair cores.
The MSCP is designed to have 25 active EV space, available from the day the MSCP opens. To support the above sustainability principles, the MSCP is designed with a passive provision of a further 25 spaces.
For future chargepoint installation to be simplified the design includes:
The EV chargepoints location was determined with the assistance of several parties. The architects in terms or usability, space-proofing and mix between standard bays and accessible bays and the fire engineer and M&E consultant for efficiency in close proximity to the substation. Input from the fire brigade to fight the fire from the outside on church road and input from the end users insurers also assisted with locating the EV bays.
EV units are column-mounted to ensure that they don’t compromise the parking space and leave room to move around the vehicle.
The rapid charger is floor mounted within an additional zone for the same reasons.
As the MSCP is a enabling phase of a much larger project, the hard and soft landscaping design is still very much at the planning stage. The indication is that the public realm between the eastern side of the MSCP and the heritage buildings will become a hard landscaped urban area with tree planters and seating. The works to the West will be softened with planting where possible but will very much be determined on the final schemes of the surrounding complex.
The site has a long and rich history, which easily lends itself to architectural influences. As part of a bid to regenerate the area, the key was to modernise these aesthetics and create a clear modern ‘architecture of place’ that becomes recognisable as its own feature in the landscape, while integrating with nearby architectural influences, without forming a ‘poor imitation’.
The main architectural link in the local area is the Blackpool Tower, with its clear structural geometric features. This theme has been mapped into an abstract pattern for potential cladding, with differing cladding materials and gladding gaps used to express the geometry.
Due to the desired security of the car park, the cladding design will need to be a ‘full wrap’ option.
For additional articulation and visual interest, in line with the general concept the design explored angular patterns to add 3 dimensional relief, resulting in large elevation areas to be detached from the external envelope. This relief offers the opportunity to introduce light into the elevations, following the expressed design lines (bottom right).
Additional external light can be introduced at the head of the plinth, providing a subtle luminance to the pedestrian routes around the MSCP providing an improved user experience and creating a ‘human scale’ facade. The cladding has been designed to support additional lights, following more of the strong design lines. The lighting scheme will be linked to the wider complex and will be fully resolved as the masterplan continues to evolve in the years to come.
Ballast Nedam Construction have designed the car park scheme to be low maintenance. As part of its service, the company has developed a schedule comparison to predict the costs involved with maintaining a car park to a serviceable condition for its required life. Overall, the design allows for significant savings on maintenance over other car park systems, while adhering to the BPA, IStructE and ICE guidelines.
Reportal is a service offered by Stripe and is a fully online version of the old fashioned paper based life-care plan, which provides planning and management through an online portal. It includes all the elements of a lifecare plan you need and allows the operator to input information and observations into the system and is overseen by a designated consultant who will assist with procurement for necessary work, and provide professional services whilst work is being completed.
The site has a long and rich history, which easily lends itself to architectural influences. As part of a bid to regenerate the area, the key was to modernise these aesthetics and create a clear modern ‘architecture of place’ that becomes recognisable as its own feature in the landscape, while integrating with nearby architectural influences, without forming a ‘poor imitation’.
The main architectural link in the local area is the Blackpool Tower, with its clear structural geometric features. This theme has been mapped into an abstract pattern for potential cladding, with differing cladding materials and gladding gaps used to express the geometry. Due to the desired security of the car park, the cladding design needed to be a ‘full wrap’ option.
For additional articulation and visual interest, in line with the general concept the design explored angular patterns to add 3-dimensional relief, resulting in large elevation areas to be detached from the external envelope. This relief offers the opportunity to introduce light into the elevations, following the expressed design lines.
Additional external light can be introduced at the head of the plinth, providing a subtle luminance to the pedestrian routes around the MSCP providing an improved user experience and creating a ‘human scale’ facade. The cladding has been designed to support additional lights, following more of the strong design lines. The lighting scheme will be linked to the wider complex and will be fully resolved as the masterplan continues to evolve in the years to come.
Russell Simmons (Stripe Consulting): “My team and colleagues were able to deliver what is ultimately a fantastic building project for Blackpool City Council that is part of a massive regeneration scheme. It’s been a complete joy to work on as a project for about three or four years.”
Created and presented by Parking Review magazine, the British Parking Awards are an independent competition. The awards recognise the leading examples of car park management, enforcement, design and team work.
The British Parking Awards 2024 ceremony took place at the Royal Lancaster London on 13 September.
Read and download the 2025 WINNERS EDITION of PARKING REVIEW by clicking HERE
To find out more about the competition and next year’s event check out the official website.
www.britishparkingawards.uk
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