The refurbishment of an existing car park is no easy task. The revamp of Q-Park Cornmarket Square was an extensive project undertaken over many months.
The refurbishment of an existing car park is no easy task. The revamp of Q-Park Cornmarket Square was an extensive project undertaken over many months.
Q-Park acquired in Cornmarket Square car park in 2023 and at that time it had been closed for 18 months so had fallen over time into a state of disrepair. Quality is at the heart of the Q-Park business and the decision was made to undertake a full refurbishment to bring it up to their exacting standards before reopening to the public.
Click here to watch the video of the refurbishment of Q-Park Cornmarket Square.
The first step was to recoat the entirety of the decks of a car park that was originally constructed in 1998. Coating the levels in a polyurethane resin has several benefits, firstly it looks more aesthetically pleasing than a standard concrete floor so gives customers a better impression. Secondly this resin coating protects the flooring from the damage that can be caused by cars driving over thousands of times a week and also from any water ingress that causes erosion. This type of coating is also more sustainable and eco-friendlier than other materials available on the market. Once this was completed the next step would be to repaint all the internal areas of the facility to give it a much more modern and brighter feel.
Once the more disruptive works were finished the next phase of the refurbishment was a raft of electrical installations designed to really push the parking facility into the modern era. The lighting system was completely upgraded using LED Sensor Lights to markedly improve the lux levels on the parking decks and pedestrian stairwells leaving no dark corners. A new state-of-the-art CCTV system was installed to provide much more visibility of all areas for the onsite Parking Hosts. This and the new vehicle shutters and secure pedestrian door provided customers with much more peace of mind as only customers can then access the facility. To bring the car park inline with current health and safety regulations a new fire system was fitted. The futuristic PaSS Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) was also installed to provide seamless access for both long term and short-term parkers as well as opening up the facility for mobility partners to grant access to their target audiences. Finally, Q-Park recognises the shift in vehicle ownership towards electric vehicles, hence why they have been on a large scale rollout across their facilities in Ireland. Due to this an initial seven EV Charging Points were commissioned prior to opening day to provide the facilities for customers to both park and charge whilst visiting Limerick. The infrastructure works were also put in place so that it would be easy to scale up should it reach a point where all the EV Charging Points were in use.
Finally, the dedicated Parking Hosts need a practical space to base their operation from with the correct infrastructure in place to allow for CCTV monitoring and remote operation of parking equipment. With this in mind, the existing Hosts Lodge was fully refurbished to provide what was required as well as convenient facilities for a busy working day.
With the refurbishment completed, the facility opened with a promotional event from the local radio station, Live95, to help raise awareness of this facility’s reopening and improvements. Q-Park Cornmarket Square now provides nearly 500 secure parking spaces in one of Limerick’s most busy areas, close to the famous Milk Market.
To find out more about Q-Park Cornmarket Square click here.
About Q-Park
Q-Park is a leading off-street parking infrastructure owner and operator with well-managed commercial parking facilities across seven western European countries. We operate off-street parking spaces we own, have under concession or with long-term lease contracts from public and private landlords. We focus on off-street purpose-built parking facilities at strategic locations. We operate more than 3,600 parking facilities comprising over 706,000 parking spaces in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Based on publicly available industry data for our competitors, we estimate that we are a top three player, based on the estimated off-street revenues, in all the countries in which we operate. Q-Park also has numerous mobility hubs which provide access to a variety of mobility solutions. We house and support a range of activities from last mile logistics, electric vehicle charging, micromobility and car sharing services which help support urban accessibility, sustainability and liveability.
