St Ann Estate Revolutionising Multi-Storey Car Park Management with Hozah

St Ann’s / Sandgate Multi-Storey Car Park (MSCP), a high-demand car park in Newcastle owned by Lambert Smith Hampton, was facing increasing pressure from a diverse range of users, including office workers, residents, hotel guests, and city visitors. With limited capacity, no on-street parking, and conflicting usage patterns, the site needed a smart, scalable solution to simplify access and improve management. By partnering with Hozah, St Ann’s / Sandgate MSCP implemented a fully digital, integrated parking system, bringing clarity to complexity while enhancing revenue, compliance, and user experience.

Overview 

• One Car Park for All Users: St Ann Estate hosts offices, flats, hotels, restaurants, and pubs, all relying on a single Multi-Storey Car Park (MSCP). On-street parking bans added further pressure.
• Conflicting Parking Needs: With tenants, guests, staff, and the public sharing one car park, managing varied access and demand was a daily challenge.
• No Room for Error: Limited space and high turnover meant parking needed to be tightly controlled and clearly communicated.
• Tough to Monitor: The estate’s layout and mixed-use nature made it difficult to oversee and enforce fair, efficient parking.

The Challenge

• The biggest challenge was catering to all the varying parking needs: Offices, residents, and restaurants, which all had different parking requirements and peak times, complicating space allocation.
• Abuse of Whitelists: Unauthorised vehicles parked in restricted areas due to misuse of whitelisted privileges.
• Validated Parking: Some businesses offered discounted or validated parking to their customers or employees, while others did not.
• Designated Space Abuse: Unauthorised vehicles frequently use designated parking spaces, leading to conflicts.
• Peak Hour Congestion: Demand for parking often exceeded supply during peak hours, whereas at other times, the space was underutilised.
• Visitor Management: Managing visitor parking for residents and office staff was challenging.

Objectives

• User-Based Access: Assign spaces by user type, residents, offices, hospitality, or public, for fair, efficient use.
• Dynamic Space Use: Balance peak congestion and off-peak gaps with flexible allocation rules.
• Whitelist Protection: Secure restricted areas with real-time validation and ANPR.
• Reserved Bay Control: Stop unauthorised use of designated spaces through stricter access checks.
• Quick Validation: Let businesses validate parking digitally, no manual work needed.

Solution Implementation

Hozah implemented a comprehensive solution to address these challenges, focusing on ANPR technology, Autopay, and tailored parking management strategies. ANPR Technology: Hozah installed ANPR cameras at the entrance of the estate and the MSCP. Only authorised vehicles were allowed to park, based on company or residential whitelists, exemptions by establishments, or payment for parking in the MSCP. On-street parking remained prohibited.

Hozah Autopay

By connecting state-of-the-art ANPR systems with innovative payment processing software, Hozah’s Autopay system offered an automatic service. Drivers signed up once with their registration plate and payment details. The system automatically detects vehicles entering and exiting the car park, charging drivers accurately for their length of stay based on their category, whether tenant, resident, or hotel guest. This system eliminated errors associated with manual payments and ensured all drivers were paid correctly for their parking

Hozah’s product and account management team mapped out the parking needs of the various driver types to identify the correct product needs. The most complex entities, such as offices, were subjected to detailed “Office and Tenant Management”:

1. 1. Each office had different parking agreements. Hozah communicated directly with each office to inform them of their allocated spaces and gathered the relevant vehicle registration marks (VRMs) in a format compatible with Hozah’s system.
      1. Subsequent changes to VRMs were managed by tenants using Hozah’s back-office system, ensuring the number of spaces was not exceeded. Signage indicated which spaces belonged to which company.
   2. User-specific logins were created for entities needing access to validated parking, whilst tablets were provided to entities where the responsibility lay with the driver, as opposed to the business
      1. In addition, Hozah Autopay solved many validation problems, as once a driver is on Autopay, the correct (or free) tariff is automatically applied, meaning the driver does not need to take any further action.
   3. To combat abuse of designated space, Hozah deployed a combination of ANPR and MNPR (Manual Number Plate Recognition), where a handheld mobile phone could scan a number to see if the vehicle was authorised to park in the designated space
   4. Where space was underutilised, each company could sell the use of the space to the general public via Hozah’s system, and each company would directly receive the funds for this
   5. When visitors would have to pay for parking, whereas any contractors would be whitelisted in the Hozah validation system, either via the back portal or the tablets

The Results

• Proven Financial Uplift: St Ann Estate experienced a 69% increase in parking revenue within the first year of using Hozah, driven by digital payments and smarter space utilisation.
• Better Space Efficiency: Automated allocation reduced misuse and boosted occupancy during off-peak times, turning unused bays into revenue.
• Lower Admin Burden: Fewer disputes and manual tasks freed staff to focus on strategic duties instead of daily parking issues.
• Real-Time Reporting: Live dashboards offered full visibility on occupancy, compliance, and revenue, helping management stay in control.
• Fewer On-Site Disruptions: With clearer rules, automated validation, and reduced confusion, daily parking-related conflicts and complaints noticeably declined.
• A live dashboard provided full visibility into occupancy, compliance, and revenue, helping management stay in control.

With Hozah’s fully digital system, St Ann Estate has successfully modernised parking across its single MSCP, streamlining access, enhancing control, and removing the need for pay machines or cash handling. The shift to Autopay, real-time validation, and digital permits has significantly reduced admin workload, minimised misuse, and delivered a smoother, more reliable parking experience for all users.

Want to Simplify Your Parking Experience?

Want to learn how Hozah can support your site? Contact our team now for a complimentary consultation.