Parking technology The proof is in the parking Louise Parfitts curiosity was piqued when she received an invitation to visit a parking laboratory, attached to an award-winning car park in Birmingham, earlier this year he B4 car park in Birmingham always seems to be up for an award. In fact, the trophy cabinet of ANPRIoTs head of operations, Darryll Veness, is in need of an additional shelf: B4 was a winner at the British Parking Awards in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022. It was also one of the first car parks in the UK to be awarded the Safer Parking Schemes Park Mark Plus. We want to redefine the parking experience, Veness tells me, as we tour the six-storey, 762-space car park with Alan Chatham, property developer and ANPRIoT director, and Luke Davies, head of software development. It should be clean, safe and, most of all, enjoyable. The building, which used to be the headquarters of newspaper company Trinity T Mirror Group, was bought by Chatham and his business partner, Mark Billingham, in 2008. At the heart of the development is the B4 car park: a hub from where people can access everything else in Birmingham, says Veness, proudly. Behind the scenes B4 is the reason Chatham set up the parking solutions business ANPRIoT because, he says, he could not find a parking system that was up to the job of providing a reliable automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) payment solution and great customer experience. There just wasnt a system that could do what we wanted, he explains. We bought an ANPR system and then built the backoffice function ourselves. It worked, but it wasnt scalable. So we built the hardware and software systems from scratch using the most modern technologies. Originally, it was just for B4, but we realised it was better than anything else wed seen on the market and we have the experience of running a car park, so we know what is needed. We have 100 per cent trust in it, such that we no longer have a customer service team on site at B4. Breath of fresh air The first thing that strikes me about B4 is how bright, clean and airy it is. All services and facilities, bar the sprinkler system, are hidden inside white trunking, so it looks neat and there are no doors between the car park and the lobby areas. Instead of fire doors, there are fire curtains that will descend in event of a fire. The clear lines of sight from the car park to the lift lobby areas make people feel safer, says Chatham. The fire curtain is more expensive, but it was really important for us to make the car park feel as safe and welcoming as possible. Music is playing, bay sensor lights guide drivers to free bays, and there are 10 private garage facilities. There are also 40 bicycle lockers for hire, and showers. Nineteen media screens are dotted throughout. These are used to promote B4 membership which is free and offers preferential parking rates plus venues and events that can be easily reached from B4. The pride that Veness has in B4 is evident. He was originally employed as one of the car parks attendants, so he knows it inside out, 22 PN Dec 2023 pp22-23 Anpriot.indd 22 30/11/2023 11:39