As we reflect on 2024, this year has been a pivotal one for Q-Park – marked by growth but also a lot of change within the business
As we reflect on 2024, this year has been a pivotal one for Q-Park – marked by growth but also a lot of change within the business. New opportunities have been embraced and foundations strengthened in ways that will shape the future of Q-Park. Whether it was through innovative projects, targeted acquisitions or adapting to market shifts, 2024 has been a testament to their commitment, agility, and determination. In looking back, Q-Park celebrates the successes that propelled them forward and acknowledge the lessons that will drive them to even greater heights in the coming years. This blog covers the biggest stories over the course of 2024.
Q-Park got the year off to a strong start in January by securing a place on the Sustainable Transport and Infrastructure Framework which is managed by NHS Shared Business Services. This year this has meant that Q-Park have been in a prime position to bid for and secure contracts for new Healthcare parking schemes that will then benefit the NHS and its internal stakeholders.
February may be the shortest month of the year but that didn’t stop the team at Q-Park from completing deals and delivering projects. In London, Q-Park, Delivery Mates, Cross River Partnership and Westminster Council came to an agreement to extend the Micro-Logistics Hub that had been operating on a trial basis in the Q-Park Pimlico parking facility. As well as providing convenience for the local community, electrifying delivery vehicles lead to significant emissions reductions of 4,186 kg of CO2, 15,141 g of NOx, and 303 g of PM2.5 when comparing the e-cargo bikes to polluting van deliveries on the last mile. On a similar environmental focus but in a different capital city, Q-Park also introduced EV Charging into Edinburgh for the first time at their Q-Park OMNI car park. The initial 8 EV Charging Points proved so popular that another phase had to be quickly installed so the facility now has 20 Charging Points available for customers to plug into.
As the country moved out of Winter in March the year really started to heat up for the team at Q-Park. They added to their Park Lane Mobility Hub facility by agreeing a deal with SIXT UK for them to open a new car rental branch within the car park. The location right in heart of Central London has proven popular for both tourists and residents alike. Moving from the South of England right to the top of Scotland Q-Park continued their EV infrastructure rollout by introducing EV Charging to Aberdeen. These new EV Charging Points in Q-Park Trinity Centre provide convenient facilities for visitor to Aberdeen City Centre.
Moving into late Spring, May was another busy month for Q-Park. They were delighted to be recognised for their excellent work in Essex by being nominated for a Chelmsford BID Business Award. Back onto the EV Rollout and Q-Park topped out at over 100 EV Charging Points across Manchester City Centre. This also included enough additional infrastructure installed at Q-Park Deansgate North to make it the largest Urban EV Charging Hub in Manchester.
In June, Q-Park broke the huge news that they had completed the acquisition of Britannia Parking Group Limited after extensive negotiations. With a strong reputation and 25 years’ experience in the UK parking industry, Britannia were a prime acquisition target for Q-Park and since the deal was completed a lot of work has been undertaken behind the scenes to assimilate Britannia Parking into the Q-Park family.
Skipping ahead into late summer. In August, Q-Park were nominated for Parking Operator of the Year at the British Parking Awards and also three different CiTTi Awards. Then the month after at the British Parking Awards, Q-Park were once again named Parking Operator of the Year which came as a huge honour but also sealed their place as the best in the UK. Winning such awards does not allow any chance for relaxation with work being undertaken in September to strengthen existing partnerships, such as the renewal of their partnership with B:Music, the music charity that operates Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
As the nights got longer as the country moved into Winter the successes did not end for Q-Park. In November they announced the opening of the new healthcare car park at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Birmingham. The parking facility at the brand new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital provides over 1600 parking spaces for staff and patients, there are also 30 EV Charging Points that visitors can use to top up their vehicle whilst they are parked. Q-Park then rounded off the month by winning the Smart Parking Award at the CiTTi Awards 2024 for their innovative PaSS system which has had a transformative affect on how Q-Park operate. The Q-Park nomination shone through above all other nominees with the judging panel remarking that Q-Park had ‘demonstrated a clear understanding of their clients’ needs, wants and how to adapt a business model around this. Streamlining the ease of use facilitates an improved customer experience and increases retention; a great entry all round.’
December is the peak period for when customers visit city centres with a lot of parking facilities having their busiest month of the year. However, there is no Christmas break for the growth in Sustainable Mobility and Q-Park were delighted to announce that Port has opened their second ‘e-hub’ with Q-Park in London. The mobility-as-a-service e-hub located within the Q-Park Queensway parking facility, enables individual couriers or delivery firms to rent electric bikes on a daily or weekly basis through the Port app. Each rental includes the vehicle, parking, charging, maintenance, and software provided by Port. Users simply pick up the fully charged bike from the hub, use it for deliveries throughout the day, and return it to the hub when done.
The Q-Park team in the UK has had an outstanding year in 2024, and with next year already shaping up to be equally busy, it appears they are entering a sustained period of success. They took the chance to follow in the footsteps of Spotify and announced a ‘Q-Park Wrapped’ on their social media that covered which locations were the most popular for both pre-booking parking online and also the Mobile app. We would like to wish all customers and staff members a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
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.
