Smithfield MSCP – Opening notes/FAQ
Security
What security and safety features are in place?
- Over 100 CCTV cameras (106nr) linked into the City’s wider CCTV Monitoring Hub
- Roller Shutter Entry and Exit system
- Automatic Number Plate Recognition
- Number Plate Entry Security Access System
- Secure cycle storage area for 120 bikes
How do you pay for parking?
All machines accept payment by card. Two machines also accept coins and notes.
Pre-paid access is also available via virtual permits, and in the near future parking can be pre-booked or managed on account through a mobile app.
What are the opening times?
24 hours a day
What are the parking charges?
- Short Stay 1 Hour £1.90
- Short Stay 2 Hours £3.20
- Short Stay 3 Hours £5.00
- Short Stay 4 Hours £6.30
- 24 Hour Daily Rate £12.00
- Commuter Daily Rate £7.50 (valid until midnight each day)
- Weekly Commuter Rate £30.00
- Annual Commuter Rate £1,440.00
- Office Permit Annual Rate £1,320.00
- Smithfield PRS Annual Rate £792.00
Bulk discounts are available on enquiry.
Coming soon: Pre-booking and account parking with the Glide app
How many spaces?
730nr Parking Spaces (Total)
How many disabled bays?
32nr Disabled Bays on ground level
Are there EV charging points?
12 Electrical Vehicle Charging Points (EVCP). MSCP is futureproofed to provide an additional 174 EVCP’s
What other services are on site?
Air and Vacuum - Car Service Machine
Is there cycle storage? And how many spaces?
120 Cycle Spaces and 10 secure bike lockers
What do I do if I get locked in?
You cannot get locked in as a pedestrian. In the unlikely event, you are having trouble exiting the car park in your vehicle, you can get advice from one of the help points and speak to our contact team to validate and verify your vehicle and payment and open the roller shutter for you.
The opening weeks
The Parking Services team will be on hand to support visitors to the car park with how the payment system works, parking layout and any other queries they may have to make their visit as seamless as possible.
Design concept
Researching the local history of Stoke-on-Trent for an elevation concept that can relate to a building to accommodate vehicles, the engineering connections with Reginald J Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, who was born and educated in North Staffordshire, provided valuable references to the designers of the Multi-Storey Car Park. The exterior design is based on the V/ diamond formation the aircrafts took whilst in flight.
History/Info
The new seven-storey Smithfield MSCP has a state-of-the-art cycle storage hub and a number of electric vehicles charging ports, which will be increased as demand increases and disabled vehicle bays. Rapid shutters are also in place, to not only add to the security of the car park but also to help visitors move with ease and efficiency. The facility also offers 120 cycle spaces and 10 cycle lockers.
Sustainable light systems are also installed, external lighting powered by sensors will turn off during the day and interior lights on all decks and stairwells are motion censored, after five minutes they reduce to 50% lighting and then turn off after a further five minutes unless a vehicle or person enters.
The overall cost of the project was £15m. A generous investment into the new landscape of our city centre, and the location will ensure visitors have a safe, secure and well-maintained facility close to their destinations in the city centre, whether that be the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, the local theatres or city centre shops and market.
Sustainability
If you have an electric vehicle, the chargers will be in place soon after opening, during the period prior to this, we will be vigorously testing all features to ensure they are running up to standard from installation.
What our businesses say and need
A secure facility is needed in the City Centre, reports of ASB at certain times of the year, mainly over the winter, as with any City increases. A well-lit facility with a secure design and installation is asked for by tenants of Smithfield, guests at HGI and also from Clayworks Tenants. This new car park achieves all those features.
The facility will also support Smithfield works, the business enterprise spaces launched and available in 2022 as the city expands and takes advantage of its digital connectivity through gigabit-fibre-connectivity.
Will it help the City Centre Expand?
The facilities have been designed with expansion and flexibility in mind. For example, the Home Office will locate in Smithfield from early 2023, with a new facility expected in the future. Without this sunk infrastructure business growth and expansion would be difficult as the loss of parking for development needs to be placed in a facility that offsets the loss. The car park future proofs economic expansion and growth.
New developments coming forward over the next few years will also include the redevelopment of the Police Station site and current City Centre Library. The new Multi-Storey Car Park will act as an enabler in consideration of those developments.
Will it help the night-time economy?
Good well-lit secure parking facilities are essential to support a night-time economy. Piccadilly boasts some of the city’s best cafes and bars and the cultural quarter is annexed from Smithfield.
Parkers will enjoy a short walk from the MSCP into Smithfield HGI, PMAG with its recently opened Spitfire Exhibit, access through to Piccadilly and also onto the cultural quarter and furthermore supporting the Sugarmill, Regent Theatre, Mitchell Arts Centre and Victoria Hall.