Berry go Merry with £1m car park win

The Wolverhampton-based firm has beaten off significant competition to be awarded the £1m refurbishment of Merrywalks multi-storey car park by Dransfield Properties, an ambitious project that will be completed in November.

Using its proven expertise in delivering world class car park environments, the company will refurbish existing lighting, concrete repairs and structural supports, whilst also incorporating a new vehicle exit, landscaping and a state-of-the-art waterproof flooring system.

Work is being carried out in phases to ensure that public parking is still available to local people visiting the Merrywalks shopping centre.

“This is a major win for us and underlines our ability to work on complex projects that require careful planning and meet strict deadlines,” explained Michael Newland, commercial manager at Berry Systems.

“It will take just 16 weeks from work starting for everything to be completed and, at any one time, we could have up to 25 members of our team on site. When we have finished, the improvements will make Merrywalks MSCP a lighter, welcoming and customer friendly car park.”

He continued: “This is especially challenging considering we are working in a very confined site within close proximity of the public, ensuring that parking is still accessible and allowing the Merrywalks shopping centre to continue to operate.”

Berry Systems, which is part of major infrastructure products group HS Holdings, is using the latest structural supports to ensure a ‘belt and braces’ approach, with new landscaping work set to deliver a new exit and steel walkway.

It has been working closely with waterproof surfacing specialist Triflex UK on the project.

Dave Hale, construction director at Dransfield Properties, said: “We are delighted that work on the first phase of planned improvements at Merrywalks and look forward to seeing the changes to the car park being completed later in the autumn.

“We will be working with Berry Systems to minimise disruption throughout the work and will be releasing regular updates about the timescale for future phases.”

The Merrywalks MSCP is one of a number of recent contract wins for Berry Systems and follows high-profile projects at Eastside in Birmingham and the impressive £70m Lincoln Transport Hub.

It has also worked with Laing O’Rourke on the new Area Seven multi-storey car park at Manchester Airport, where it supplied 3,000 meters of its spring steel buffer system perimeter edge protection across nine levels.

These latest projects mark an ongoing period of growth that has seen the firm increase sales significantly and expand its workforce by 25 per cent as it looks to develop activities in adjacent markets.