Northampton station car park back on track

Plans to improve facilities at Northampton railway station by building a new 1,198-space multi-storey car park have moved forward.

West Northamptonshire

Council approved proposals at the cabinet meeting on 13 June. The council is working with Network Rail and its development partner BlocWork to bring forward the new car park, which will increase capacity at the station from 800 to 1,200 bays.

Following cabinet’s approval in December 2021, plans have altered while the council has responded to lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and cost inflation.

The terms of a lease on the car park were not agreed so the council stepped in to deliver proposals which will allow West Northamptonshire manage the facility. The council said this will offer best value for money for residents.

Cllr Dan Lister, cabinet member for economic development, town centre regeneration and growth, said:

“There is a real need for a new multi-storey car park to replace the current arrangements which currently exist at Northampton railway station. By creating a multi-storey car park we can make space available for future development which will further enhance this area.

“Over the last 18 months we have been closely monitoring the vast increase in inflation and responded to the effects of the pandemic and are now in a strong position to bring forward this development and manage the facility in-house.” close the car park at the end of October – in line with expert advice. The simple issue is that the car park was built more than 50 years ago when vehicles weren’t as heavy. The weight load of heavy, modern vehicles has put considerable pressure on the structure.

“It will remain open until 31 October, which will give us time to look in to an alternative dropoff point for Shopmobility users and let everyone who uses it know that they will need to find an alternative car park from 1 November.”

Jersey MSCP to be refreshed

Essential maintenance work is being undertaken at a multi-storey car park in St Helier on the Channel Island of Jersey.

The 750-space Patriotic Street car park will remain open during the works, with no more than three of 12 floors closed at any one time.

The Government of Jersey said the first phase of the maintenance works would run through until 10 November.

The works include adding new pedestrian routes, general repainting, replacement of fencing, minor concrete repairs and repainting of steelwork.

The island’s government said parking for the nearby Jersey General Hospital would not be affected by the project.

Developing green & blue solutions

Thursday 30 November || 15 Hatfields, London

Urgent action is needed to improve climate resilience in urban areas as extreme weather conditions become a more frequent occurrence.

It is beyond dispute that laying down swathes of concrete will exacerbate flooding by causing run-off. Alternatives are needed to blacktop, either through more green infrastructure or permeable surfacing.

These issues will be discussed at the inaugural Climate Resilient Streets.

The conference is designed for planners and engineers working at local authorities, along with urban planners and landscape architects, landowners and developers, water and flood management professionals.

Climate Resilient Streets will cover: l The latest green + blue innovations l The virtuous circle: how green infrastructure will encourage modal shift l Co-designing schemes with communities l How to ensure that schemes are maintained with support from communities l Developing multi-disciplinary partnerships to implement the right schemes l Why green infrastructure is good for local economies l Multi-functional infrastructure: Water as an asset rather than a liability l Identifying new funding sources – making use of asset renewal budgets, S106 etc l How monitoring can prove that rain gardens alleviate the impact of flash floods www.landorlinks.uk/climate-resilient-streets

Fires in multi-storey and underground car parks present a number of serious challenges to designers, operators and firefighters.

Dangers include the spread of flames between vehicles, the build-up of smoke and the difficulties of fighting a fire in an enclosed area. The manner in which petrol and diesel vehicles burn has been studied over decades and is reflected in design guidance, but the fire safety implications of electric vehicles (EVs) and their associated charging infrastructure present new design and operational challenges.

To help car park operators, designers and risk assessors make car parks safer in the electric motoring age, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) has published new fire safety guidance for parking and charging electric vehicles in car parks.

The advice has been drafted by consultant Arup in consultation with fire safety groups, car park operators and the chargepoint sector. It outlines fire safety considerations and measures to take when: retrofitting existing covered car parks for the provision of electric vehicles and electric vehicle chargepoints; or designing new covered car parks for the provision of EVs and chargepoints.

The guidance has ‘interim status’ because it is based on currently available research and evidence surrounding EV fires, which will continue to develop. It is based on a review of the literature and global data in relation to EV fires available as of April 2022, as well as stakeholder consultation and UK government data for vehicle fires up until the third quarter 2022. This means it is subject to change should new evidence emerge that significantly impacts appropriate mitigation measures. It does not replace existing safety regulations or the need to comply with them.

Covered Car Parks: Fire safety guidance for electric vehicles uses the term ‘covered car park’ for consistency with Approved Documents which cover infrastructure for charging electric vehicles under the Building Regulations, and encompasses open-sided and enclosed car parks.

The guidance considers road passenger battery electric vehicles, meaning it focusses on cars and vans only. It does not consider other forms of electric transport such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), electric bicycles or electric scooters, electric buses or other utility vehicles.

How electric vehicles burn

A fire starting in the battery of an electric vehicle has a different fire behaviour compared to an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle fire, as the battery can undergo a phenomenon known as ‘thermal runaway’ and is influenced by factors such as size of battery, battery chemistry and state of charge.

Thermal runaway is a process within