Allhallows car park wins “Best Refurbishment Award 2015”

The Allhallows car park in Bedford has won the 'Best Car Park Refurbishment Award' in the 2015 British Parking Awards after its complete transformation impressed judges. The newly renovated Allhallows car park, which is adjacent to Bedford Bus Station, overcame strong private sector competition which included an £8 million refurbishment of the Merrion centre car park in Leeds, to be named winner of the award.

Makers Construction in partnership with Bedford Borough Council began the £2.7m refurbishment of Allhallows car park as part of Bedford's £8.8m 'Gateway' regeneration project. Using the latest technology, Electrical Magnetic Anomaly Detection (EMAD) was used by Makers to identify the areas of the structure that required repair; reducing the overall cost of restoring the car park by around £450K.

Built in the 1960's, the 5 floor, 600 space multi-storey had long been identified as a building which was letting the town centre down. However, following Bedford Borough Council's drive to modernise the multi-storey, the transformation of the car park has been astounding. A disabled lift, re-designated disabled parking areas, CCTV and solar-power panels are housed within the well-lit, easy to use and visually striking building.

Lib Dem Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said "Allhallows Multi-Storey Car Park had, like the old bus station it sat alongside, let Bedford town centre down for far too long. It looked terrible and did not offer a welcoming environment to motorists at all.

Refurbishment was a major task, but we were committed to getting the job done properly as part of a comprehensive regeneration of the bus station area. This is exactly what has been achieved, with the experience of using the striking-looking car park now completely transformed. This award is a welcome recognition of this, and of the fact that everyone who worked on this project has helped to ensure Allhallows Car Park is fit for Bedford Town Centre today and for many years to come."

Bedford Borough Council in partnership with Makers Construction has now won "Best Car Park Refurbishment" awards for three of the four car park refurbishment projects in Bedford. These projects are Lurke Street, Queen Street and now Allhallows.

Please note that parking for the first 2 hours on Saturdays and all day Sunday is free at Council owned car parks. Lurke Street and River Street multi-storey car parks are also now open 24/7.