New Multi-Storey Car Park, Chertsey
Project Overview
Project: New 694 space multi-storey car park
Client: Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Contract value: £13.5m
St Peter’s Hospital is an NHS district general hospital managed by Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It has 400 beds and a wide range of acute care services, including an Accident & Emergency department.
The Trust wanted to expand its on site parking capacity with the construction of a multi-storey car park which was procured using a JCT Design and Build 2016 Form of Contract.
Daniel Connal Partnership was initially appointed as Principal Designer in the pre-construction phase of the project and were subsequently appointed as Quantity Surveyors and Contract Administrators. Vinci UK was the contractor and Tangram Architects provided the pre-construction design lead.
Multi-storey car park, St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey
The new multi-storey car park was built on the footprint of the hospital’s existing parking area. It provides 694 spaces including 8 electric vehicle charging stations and 36 disabled bays. Parking is spread over 7 half floors (0.5 to 3.5) and connects to the hospital’s main entrance at Level 2. Provision of a connection to the existing hospital building was a key requirement of the project deliverables. This was achieved by forming a connecting structure below the existing main undercroft which provides additional staff accommodation at Level 1 and a dedicated access point for staff. The Level 2 access incorporated revised weather proofing of the deck over the new staff areas which allowed for renewal of the pedestrian pavings to ease traffic congestion and prioritised pedestrian access from the Car Park.
The steel framed structure is supported on piled foundations and utilises pre‐cast concrete planks with 5 main, pre‐cast cores (4 stair cores & 1 lift core).
Designed to be as user-friendly as possible, the scheme incorporates CCTV, coloured way-finding signage and an intelligent LED lighting system, all aimed at making the car park a safe and secure environment. The lighting system has also been designed to minimise light pollution to adjacent woodlands and headlight shields help reduce disturbance to buildings nearby. A further aid to the user is the installation of an intelligent ANPR camera which provides real-time information on space availability across the different levels of the car park.
In addition to the new car park, works to the undercroft area have provided the hospital with future operational accommodation – the design of which is flexible to meet the changing needs of the Hospital Trust.
The car park opened 10 days ahead of schedule, despite delays to the programme caused by severe weather and a minor hiatus in the early stages of the Covid 19 pandemic.