NEWS
The Matrix Parking Team are celebrating after securing a prestigious contract to repair and refurbish the two multi-storey car parks at Brent Cross Shopping Centre. The centre, which is owned by Hammerson and Standard Life was the first large enclosed shopping centre to be built in the UK and has over 8000 No. parking spaces. When it first opened in 1976, everyone was sure it wouldn’t last!
Works to the multi-storey car parks include concrete repairs, crack injection, protective deck treatments and the re-installation of designated pedestrian walkways. ‘The Brent Cross scheme had been on our radar for a few years, so we are delighted to have been appointed by the managing surveyors to carry out the works this summer’ – Neil Wright, Managing Director of Matrix. parking@matrix.uk.com
Having originally completed minor works within Churchill Square car park almost 14 years ago, we have recently been instructed to carry out wide-scale improvements to the same structure.
Beginning with a detailed survey and concrete investigation, our brief includes polymer modified concrete repairs, localised application of corrosion inhibitors, protective deck coatings, the application of specialist paint coatings and other associated enhancement operations.
Working in conjunction with Mansells and Jones Lang LaSalle, Matrix will be on site for approximately 5 months, delivering a specialist refurbishment package worth almost £500,000.00. parking@matrix.uk.com
Matrix and Woking Borough Council have seen off tough competition to win the 2010 Best Refurbishment category at the annual British Parking Awards in London.
“Residents and visitors to Woking deserve a clean, bright and safe environment in which to park their vehicles. We are delighted that Woking's efforts to improve our car parks through a multi-million pound refurbishment programme have been recognised nationally by this prestigious award.” Jon Dalley of Woking Borough Council.
The event, held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Mayfair was hosted by comedian and famous impressionist Jon Culshaw and brought together over 500 of the parking industry’s movers and shakers. Organised by Parking Review magazine and sponsored by Equita, the award presented to the refurbishment team including Jon Dalley of Woking Borough Council and Tim Whittaker of Matrix recognises the significant transformation of Woking Borough Council's car parks. The formerly tired-looking and unwelcoming car parks have been comprehensively refurbished and upgraded during the 3-year partnership with Matrix.
Woking’s major overhaul compliments the town centre and shopping complexes. Works included structural alterations to make the car parks more user friendly, new lighting and CCTV throughout, conversion to Pay on Foot, redecorations, specialist deck coatings, the creation of a new CCTV control room and stairwell/DDA improvements.
Tim was delighted at the judge’s decision: “the awards judging panel was full of well respected individuals from within the parking industry, so to win this tough category makes us very proud. Woking Borough Council were a fantastic client to work with, and have demonstrated what can be achieved with collaborative thinking and a partnering approach.” parking@matrix.uk.com
Matrix have been awarded the contract to refurbish the upper levels of the Network Rail multi-storey car park in Milton Keynes with works beginning in February. Located immediately adjacent to the main Milton Keynes Train Station the 960 space car park will remain open during the project minimizing disruption to the general public.
Matrix worked closely with Structural Engineers Hyder, providing advice regarding the suitability for overlaying the existing mastic asphalt wearing surface, improving falls, detailing to expansion joints and enhancing edge protection. All existing perimeter crash barriers and hand rails are being replaced to comply with BS requirements with new reinforced concrete plinths added for additional stability.
The Triflex DFS External system will be installed to the upper parking decks enabling the contract to be completed within the constraints of the fast-track Network Rail programme. parking@matrix.uk.com
Following a winter break, Matrix have recently returned to site to begin Phase 2 of the £700,000.00 Swan Walk Car Park refurbishment in Horsham. Under the guidance of Forensic Engineers and Car Park Specialists Pyle Consulting, Matrix will be carrying out concrete repairs and applying specialist deck coatings throughout the car park, including an embedded hybrid corrosion control and monitoring system to the heavily chloride contaminated ramps.
Given the challenging brief put to Pyle Consulting, to effectively maintain the car park in a serviceable condition for a further 50 years, the refurbishment is being delivered within the clients original budget and combines works in normal hours with selective operations out of hours to minimize disruption.
To showcase the unique and innovative project, Pyle Consulting and Matrix are holding a February open day, to enable other public sector bodies to see the options available when considering similar schemes. parking@matrix.uk.com
The Parking team from Matrix have decided to donate £100 to cancer charity Macmillan this year, rather than clog-up the already backlogged Royal Mail distribution depots with Christmas Cards.
Matrix has supported the Macmillan Charity for several years now, taking part in several fundraising events such as the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning 2009’ with Macmillan raising £6,687,823.41 to date almost achieving their 8m target.
Macmillan Cancer Support improves the lives of people affected by cancer. They provide practical, medical and financial support and push for better cancer care. parking@matrix.uk.com
The first phase of Southgate, Bath’s £360m mixed-use scheme opened this month including the new car park with recently installed deck coatings.
Having been called in to advise on potentially slippery and unprotected concrete surfaces, Matrix were ultimately instructed by the client to install the Triflex DFS system to areas of the car park. Due to the fast track nature of the project, the rapid curing Triflex system was specified including the addition of high friction traction strips for added vehicular grip, with all works taking place over weekends. parking@matrix.uk.com
Having performed extremely well at Brent Cross in May earlier this year, Matrix have once again exceeded expectations by completing potentially disruptive and challenging resurfacing works at Tesco stores in Newton Abbot and Barnstaple on budget and ahead of schedule.
Both store car parks had deteriorated significantly due to continual use and wear and tear. Interestingly, the parking bays at Barnstaple were badly deteriorated, whilst the driving aisles at Newton Abbot were in a poor state. Nearly 10,000sqm of wearing surface was planed and re-laid, including reinstallation of line markings and specialist bays where required, with much of the works undertaken at night to minimize the impact on store trading.
“Just a quick note to say thank you for all of your help and support (and patience) in repairing and improving our car park…it’s transformed. I’d also like to recognize the sterling work delivered by Matrix, their team was brilliant in how they planned and executed the work, minimal impact to customers or the store, always helpful and courteous, they were a pleasure to have on site” – Store Manager, Barnstaple parking@matrix.uk.com
Matrix have recently completed the resurfacing of the Tesco store car park in Brent Cross (Hendon Road), North London following a fast-track 4 day programme. With works commencing on a Sunday evening to minimise disruption to the busy store, over 6100sqm of car park was resurfaced using a durable and hard wearing SMA wearing course.
Matrix initially carried out a detailed inspection of the car park to determine the extent of deterioration, providing Tesco with a comprehensive proposal document including phasing plans and sequences of working. Having previously been advised by others that the phased works could take up to 7 weeks to complete, Tesco were delighted that Matrix were able to devise a 4-day programme working in harmony with the stores trading hours.
"I was EXCEPTIONALLY happy with how the project went, communication was 1st class, customer disruption was minimal and professional and the finished product is top notch. Thanks to you all" comments Store Manager Dene Burton. parking@matrix.uk.com
Matrix have been busy working with Torbay Council over the last year and new contracts will see Matrix Parking Specialists spending more time in Devon. Matrix are keen to leave a lasting impression on the people of Devon as well as their car parks. So with this in mind, Matrix is pleased to be sponsoring the Buckland Athletic Football Club’s under 13 team. The team is looking forward to playing an end of season tournament in Merseyside and we wish them every success!
We’ll keep you up to date with Buckland Athletic Under 13s as well as our team’s work in Torbay! parking@matrix.uk.com
Having successfully completed the refurbishment of Union Square car park in 2008, Matrix are delighted to have been awarded further contracts totaling approximately £450,000.00 to repair and refurbish 3 No. additional structures within the Torbay Council portfolio. New crash barriers are to be installed at Beacon Quay, whilst the upper decks of Lower Union Lane are to be waterproofed in conjunction with new barriers.
A further £175,000.00 contract to repair and refurbish the upper decks of Victoria car park in Paignton has also been secured, taking Torbay Council’s total car park spend with Matrix to approximately £630,000.00.
Ben Wellings of Matrix comments
“Our relationship with Torbay is excellent, and we are delighted to have secured more work. We are also working extremely hard to exceed our customer’s expectations, and we believe that this further success proves we are achieving our goal”. parking@matrix.uk.com
Phase 2 of the £8m Woking Town Centre Car Park Refurbishment project has recently been completed, culminating in the handover of Wolsey Place (Yellow) Car Park and the upper levels of The Peacocks (Blue) Car Park. Since the beginning of Phase 2 over 20,000sqm of deck waterproofing has been installed, 30,000sqm of anti-carbonation paint applied and numerous new light fittings introduced.
Whilst Matrix will essentially clear site for 3 months at the beginning of November, various ‘behind the scenes’ works will take place in preparation for Phase 3 next year.
In addition to the concrete repair, waterproofing and new light fittings installed to date, Matrix have also managed the demolition and construction of a new vehicular ramp, built a high-spec, fully secure CCTV control room and management centre, as well as the refurbishment, re-lighting and reconfiguration of a large surface car park.
Tim Whittaker of Matrix comments ‘Our relationship with the client team at the end of Phase 2 remains exceptionally strong. Day to day disruption to shoppers has been kept to an absolute minimum and we look forward to continued successes next year and beyond’. parking@matrix.uk.com
After 32 weeks, 250 tonnes of new concrete and over 30,000 sqm of new protective deck membranes, the works at Concert Square Car Park in Glasgow have been completed.
The most popular of Glasgow City Centre’s City Park LLP owned car parks has been completely transformed providing a dramatically enhanced parking experience for the general public and commuters.
Over £1.3m has been spent protecting the structure with anti-carbonation paints, flexible crack bridging deck membranes and polymer modified structural repairs, whilst aesthetically new lighting fittings have been installed to all intermediate parking levels to achieve the requirements of BS 5489-1:2003. parking@matrix.uk.com
Having completed 4 No. previous car park projects for Southampton City Council, Matrix has recently completed a £650,000.00 refurbishment of the 1960’s lift slab construction Eastgate Street multi-storey car park in the city centre (which was featured in the ‘Car Parks from Heaven (or Hell)’ book by Kevin Beresford).
The project involved the removal of the existing polyurethane deck coating, followed by the installation of over 16000sqm of Triflex DFS. However the most interesting and innovative element of the project was the use of strategically buried reference electrodes, placed within ‘high risk’ areas of the decks.
‘Whilst the structure has effectively been ‘encapsulated’ by the application of high performance deck coatings and anti-carbonation treatments to the soffit, we felt that to provide the client with the additional longevity they required, the ability to remotely monitor any future corrosion activity added significant value to our solution’ says Neil Wright of Matrix. ‘Now the refurbishment has been completed, we will provide the client with an annual ‘corrosion’ report allowing them to proactively deal with any issues that may be detected by the embedded electrodes’. parking@matrix.uk.com
The surface maintenance team within our Parking Division has recently completed the repair and resurfacing of the Tesco Harford Bridge store in Norfolk. The car park was identified for repair following a detailed survey by Matrix highlighting key issues including pot holes, worn and defective line markings and general trip hazards.
The scope of works included new SMA surfacing to large areas of the car park, with new line markings installed throughout. ACO drainage channels were also re-set to alleviate any Health and Safety Issues.
As with the majority of projects for Tesco, the works were carried out after the store had closed on a Sunday, with all areas ready for use the following Monday morning.
Since 2006, Matrix has carried out over £1.6m of car park maintenance and repair work for Tesco alone, confirming our reputation as a leading provider of surface car park solutions in the retail sector. parking@matrix.uk.com
Following the £300,000.00 refurbishment of Clarendon Road Car Park in Redhill, Matrix has been awarded a similar size contract to refurbish its ‘sister’ car park in Reigate, as well as a further project in nearby East Grinstead.
Bancroft Road Car Park, which is situated in the centre of Reigate town centre provides parking for 315 No. cars and is owned by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. Following extensive testing and investigation works carried out by Matrix, the client identified the need for protective coatings to all decks to prevent further water and salt ingress.
Phasing of the refurbishment, together with the application of fast cure deck coatings will allow the car park to remain open during the works. A significant proportion of the specialist coatings will also be applied at night to alleviate excessive space loss.
Meanwhile in nearby East Grinstead, Matrix has been awarded a £300,000.00 contract to refurbish a ‘private’ car park with 14 No. parking levels. In conjunction with the clients Structural Engineers, Matrix will be carrying out extensive internal and external repairs to the car park, together with the application of the innovative Pavix CCC100 to lower parking decks to prevent water and salt ingress. Health and Safety improvements are also high on the agenda including the installation of new crash barriers to all levels. parking@matrix.uk.com
