Park and Ride plays a vital role in Leeds’ transport strategy to reduce traffic, congestion and pollution in the city centre and Stourton Park and Ride, which is the third facility to open in Leeds, is the first fully solar-powered park and ride facility in the UK. Sustainability was key to this project with a need to minimise its environmental impact in terms of its construction, operations and overall lifespan.
An efficient hybrid offsite project which features a mix of modular offsite and traditional build elements to meet the exacting brief, while minimising the impact of the build. By taking much of the build offsite it not only speeded up the build schedule, but as there were fewer deliveries to and from site it also reduced disruption and traffic congestion in the local area during construction.
The new environmentally-friendly terminus building at Stourton Park and Ride provides a fully-heated, safe and secure terminus hub building with seating and ticket machines, WCs, changing place room, a staff office, retail area and a secure ticket window. Low maintenance and energy efficient, the building is run entirely using renewable energy and features a ‘green roof’ design.
Following on from the Elland Road and Temple Green Park and Ride terminus buildings, which we previously delivered for Leeds City Council, we worked with BAM Nuttall on the third facility, located to the south of the city centre.
Stourton Park and Ride is the first fully solar-powered park and ride facility in the UK – the whole site is powered by 45 new solar canopies, covering space the size of 18 tennis courts – funded by The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). All the buses running from Stourton Park and Ride are zero-emission all electric and the site features 30 EV charging spaces, including four rapid chargers, and has overall capacity for 1,200 cars.
The terminus hub building comprises eight modules which were manufactured offsite before being installed and finished on site. The modules were designed to complement the other elements of the project, which were built on site using a traditional steel frame construction to securely house the high-tech electrical equipment including the Tesla batteries needed to support the solar panels.
The building was clad with coreten steel, which will naturally oxidise over time to an attractive rust-coloured shade and so will need no future maintenance or painting. As it’s a natural process there’s no need for any harmful paints or chemicals to treat the material, making it a more sustainable solution.
Another key part of the build was the green roof which was designed to increase biodiversity by creating a habitat for wildlife to thrive. We worked with a specialist roofing contractor to determine the design details to make sure the factory-assembled modules could accommodate the green roof.
Sustainability was a key driving force behind this project, so as well as the ultimate goal of improving the air quality in Leeds, we wanted to make sure that the project was undertaken as sustainably as possible. It was a pleasure to deal with the M-AR team who worked collaboratively with our partners to deliver this exciting, innovative project using offsite technology to meet the sustainability criteria. In particular, we were impressed with M-AR’s delivery of the complex nature of the building with the modern passenger facilities, the solar power related infrastructure and battery housing areas.”
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