Background
Vangarde Shopping Park is a premium retail destination located in York, home to well‑known brands such as M&S, Costa Coffee, Specsavers, TUI, and more.
The shopping park has been actively working towards becoming one of the most sustainable retail developments in the UK by incorporating innovative green engineering solutions.
The site offers over 1,300 parking spaces across the park and operates during daytime hours only.
Challenges
Vangarde Shopping Park required an intuitive reporting system to gain detailed insights into visitor behaviour and car park usage. Given the size of the car park, robust reporting was essential to support informed operational decision‑making.
The shopping park also required technology to monitor the car park 24 hours a day to prevent misuse and ensure the space was used only by authorised customers, in line with the site’s parking regulations.
With multiple businesses operating within one venue, a dedicated staff parking solution was also required. The shopping park’s management wanted full access to manage their own staff allow list independently.
In addition, a system was needed to register vehicle details for contractors and specific businesses operating on site. With local football and rugby events taking place near the shopping park, the site owners also wanted to maximise the use of parking spaces during match days.
As a result, specific parking criteria and regulations were required on match days, without disrupting parking availability for shopping park customers.
Solutions
Parking Hour Regulations
We introduced clear parking criteria for both normal days and match days. On non‑match days, customers were permitted to park between 09:00 and 18:00, with a maximum stay of four hours.
On match days, vehicles parking between 12:00 and 16:00 were limited to a maximum stay of two hours. Vehicles entering before 12:00 or after 16:00 were subject to the usual parking conditions.
Parking was not permitted between 00:00 and 06:00, except for staff vehicles and users on the approved allow list.
Pay & Stay Parking
While parking remained free for customers on normal days, a pay‑and‑stay system was introduced on match days to allow an additional two hours of parking. Card‑payment kiosks were installed to facilitate payments and generate additional revenue for the shopping park.
New Signage
New signage was designed and installed throughout the car park to clearly communicate all parking regulations and ensure full compliance with British Parking Association (BPA) guidelines.
Monthly Data Reports
To meet the shopping park’s requirement for detailed insights, we provided monthly reports with data dashboards, covering dwell times, peak hours, user groups, and more.
Monthly visitor data and live occupancy insights now play a key role in supporting operational decision‑making and improving overall efficiency.
Staff Parking
A dedicated staff parking area was introduced, alongside an online portal to manage the allow list. Shopping park management was given full flexibility to add, remove, and update staff vehicles independently.
Misuse Prevention
To prevent misuse by non‑customers and incorrect use of designated bays (such as parent and child spaces), ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras were installed to monitor vehicle entry and exit.
In addition, we partnered with an enforcement company to manage high‑priority areas, including Blue Badge and Parent and Child bays.
Outcome
The solutions implemented by Bransby Wilson at Vangarde Shopping Park resulted in a smooth parking experience for customers and efficient day‑to‑day operations for the shopping park.
With Bransby Wilson supporting both maintenance and customer service, any customer queries were handled promptly and effectively.
Car park spaces were used appropriately by genuine customers, with any anti‑social or unauthorised parking monitored through car park technologies such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR).
Staff and customer parking operated smoothly within their designated areas, while match‑day parking generated additional revenue without disrupting the shopping park’s normal operations.
