Willmott Dixon has landed its latest car park scheme, this time a 730-space multi-storey facility in Stoke-on-Trent city centre that will allow the city to plan for the future by meeting the growing demand for parking spaces as the pandemic recovery continues.

It will be built next to Potteries Way and forms part of the wider Smithfield development, a £300 million joint venture between developer Genr8 and Stoke-on-Trent City Council to create a new mixed-use district in the city.

The work will be completed in summer 2022 and is being funded by the city council, which will be responsible for operating it when completed.

This latest project in Stoke follows the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and the neighbouring Clayworks apartments, also built by Willmott Dixon, which opened on the Smithfield site in 2020.

The car park will feature 48 motorcycle parking bays, 112 bicycle spaces, 42 lockers and an initial 12 electric vehicle charging points. It will be across seven levels, with two single-lane entrances and exits off Cannon Place for cars. Motorbikes and bicycles will use an entrance and exit off Cambridge Street.

Cllr James Smith, cabinet support member for regeneration at Stoke-on-Trent City Council:

“This is a significant milestone in the ongoing regeneration of the city centre. As Smithfield and the wider city centre area continue to grow and expand, it’s vital we have first class infrastructure like this multi-storey car park, with the ability to fit-out new electrical charging and emerging technologies, that will ultimately support what is on offer not just now but for generations to come.”

Willmott Dixon is working with Gateshead Council to deliver a 1,000 space multi-storey car park in the Baltic Quarter

Alan Hall, projects director partner at Genr8 Developments:

“This multi-storey car park marks another major step forward in the Smithfield scheme. It is another example of how Genr8 continue to drive exemplar design standards at Smithfield. It will form an important piece of the masterplan to service not only current and future phases at Smithfield but the wider Hanley community.”

Anthony Dillon, managing director for Willmott Dixon in the North:

“We are delighted to once again be working with Genr8 and the city council, to deliver a much-needed parking facility at the heart of the exciting and transformational Smithfield quarter of Stoke-on-Trent.”

Kings Dock car park in Liverpool, completed in 2020

Willmott Dixon has extensive pedigree in delivering car park superstructures. In the summer of 2020, the company handed over the 1,450 space Kings Dock Car Park to Liverpool City Council, creating the largest car parking structure in the city. The business has also been contracted by Gateshead Council to deliver a £22.9m 1,000 space multi-storey car park in the Baltic Quarter of Gateshead, as part of an extensive regeneration of the area.