Speculating Future of Car Parks following the Closure of NCP Sites

The recent closures of National Car Parks (NCP) sites across the UK point to a broader shift in how these spaces are used across our cities, railway stations and airports.

Car parks have long depended on steady commuter demand and consistent high street activity, both of which have softened through hybrid working, more localised patterns of movement, and a shift from routine visits to more occasional, experience-led trips.

Inevitably, this has put pressure on a model built around regular, predictable movement, one that now feels increasingly misaligned with how people actually use the city. What’s left is a growing amount of centrally located, expensive and redundant space that is structurally sound but no longer quite fits how our towns and cities operate day to day.

Recently completed, we’ve converted surplus parking in a multi-storey car park into leisure space, which is one clear example of how these buildings could be reused. It has brought activity into areas that were previously underused and shows how these spaces can support new programmes.

However, I do think there’s room to push this a little further.

Health, education, and community uses are already being tested in similar settings and feel like a natural next step, but what about local markets, parks and gathering spaces, arcades and playgrounds, as well as libraries, climbing walls, community cafés, ad hoc co-working and workshops for creatives? More local, everyday uses could emerge too, including live-work, health and wellbeing, running tracks and sports clubs, food growing areas and even allotments.

The constraints are evident in the low ceiling heights, loading capacities, fire strategy and servicing, but they also encourage a more careful design response. It’s a fun exercise to speculate on how these existing spaces might better align with how people actually spend their time, and whether their value might shift away from simply storing cars.

Drawing work by Maria Christodoulou, formerly at HFM Architects.

Text by Dhruv Gulabchande, Associate Director.