Car Parks: is poor maintenance deterring motorists?

04 March 2013

The subject of potholes, sunken and failed manhole covers and road surface degradation is an all too familiar theme that fills our newspapers and online blogs, especially after an extreme winter.

Snows clear, flood waters recede, and suddenly an obstacle course of potholes and cracks become visible on many of our roads. The problem is: our car parks are suffering too. If maintenance issues aren’t given priority, usage could be set to decline…

The number of motorists that are choosing not to use pay car park facilities could be partially down to maintenance concerns, as well as a drop in footfall while we live in Austerity Britain.

There is nothing more off-putting for a budding car-parker than an area covered in potholes, sunken or damaged drainage covers, gullies and manholes, and partially visible markings. A car is a family’s life-support in today’s economic climate, and they will certainly think twice about risking damage to it from driving it around a dishevelled car park.

It is well-known today that our road network is an obstacle course of such defects, yet we fail to realise that our car parks are suffering from the same afflictions. The long and short of this tale is that a well-maintained car park will encourage motorists, increase footfall in shopping areas, and help to alleviate long-term damage that will cost much more to repair in the future. Fix your car park woes now, and avoid heavy re-surfacing, maintenance and closure costs in the long-term.

POTHOLES are the most common problem. The recent cold weather extremes play havoc with our asphalt surfaces, and water that seeps into cracks, and freezes, eventually leads to the formation of every motorist’s nightmare. It doesn’t have to be a problem!

Filling a pothole with an easy-to-use, permanent repair material takes but minutes: your facilities team will not be spending hours putting this maintenance issue to rest. Permanent Pothole Repair from Ultracrete is quick and easy to use, requiring no preparation – just pour straight from the tub or bag. This product has been fully approved by the British Board of Agrément as a pothole repair material, and is used all over the UK and Europe to repair potholes in our roads. It is the material of choice for local authority teams across the country; this product is available for your Maintenance Team.

SUNKEN IRONWORK & GULLIES can be a huge health and safety risk, and yet the reinstatement of these can take little over an hour with a quality reinstatement system. Ultracrete has such a system that is again fully and independently tested by the BBA, and allows you to open the area to traffic again in no time. Such a system fits in with DfT guidelines for a ‘right first time’ repair, ensuring material compatibility and a vast reduction in repeat visits.

When replacing a manhole cover, why not be one of a number recent maintenance innovators to install a coverTEC® composite? These covers improve health & safety measures as they do not polish during wet weather or over time, and most importantly: they are the perfect anti-theft alternative! With no scrap value and a security locking system – these will remain in place. What’s more, their torsion tube technology means they are stable, and that annoying rattling noise will be eliminated.

For future asset management, Ultracrete can also offer their unique surface preservation system called Rhinophalt®. This amazing surface applied product has been used extensively across the country, and is proving to increase the life of roads be several years! Imagine, not having to deal with potholes again?

For those simple fixes Ultracrete can also provide a number of ancillary products such as thermoplastic line marking to replace those worn parking bay lines, Line Marking Paint for you to highlight maintenance areas in need of work and even Instagrip anti-skid patch repair.

For further details, on these or any of our car park maintenance solutions, please do call Ultracrete on +44(0)1827 871871, email ultracrete@instarmac.co.uk or visit www.ultracrete.co.uk