Materiality analysis

Material aspects

In 2014 and in 2016 we conducted a materiality analysis, entirely in accordance with the G4 guidelines, to determine whether the issues we present are relevant and valuable to our stakeholders, and to ascertain whether they are still sufficiently in line with our strategic plans.

The issues with the most impact for Q-Park and of most concern for our stakeholders are, in order of impact:

  1. Economic performance

  2. Partnerships

  3. Corporate reputation and ethics

  4. Employee satisfaction and employment practices

  5. Parking integrated with other modes of transport

  6. Customer satisfaction

  7. Facilitating cars with enhanced environmental performance

  8. Accessibility of parking facilities

  9. Compliance with law and regulations

  10. Training and education

  11. Parking information

  12. Energy consumption

  13. Innovation and digital capabilities

  14. Transparent and integrated reporting

  15. Local community: health and safety

In 2018 we commissioned our partner Sustainalize to analyse parking policies in a number of our target cities. Surveys were conducted in 14 cities in 6 countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK, France and Denmark.

The results revealed that all cities studied want to invest in and promote public transport. Of the cities in our scope, 64% say they want to reduce city centre car traffic because there is considerable congestion. Another commonly mentioned priority is to facilitate car sharing, with 78% mentioning this. However, none actually indicate how this is to be implemented.

Rotterdam stands out for its ambition to be a smart city and frontrunner regarding mobility innovations such as autonomous vehicles and dual utilisation of parking spaces, for example facilitating parking spaces for use by visitors to the city during weekdays and residents at weekends and in the evenings.

Only two cities, Antwerp and Amsterdam, mention using ANPR. However, as Rotterdam is keen to adopt smart technologies, we can expect ANPR to be tested and/or introduced there too.

Saarbrücken expressed the ambition to increase the visual attractiveness of parking facilities and even mentioned specific actions, in cooperation with Q-Park as the biggest parking operator in the city.

UK cities emphasise safety for all traffic participants whereas cities in other countries focus more on liveability and accessibility.

The table shows which cities have plans to adopt which measures. The table is sorted according to the most frequently mentioned measure with ‘improve public transport’ being mentioned by 13 of the 14 cities surveyed and introducing ANPR being mentioned by only 2.

Armed with the results of this desk research, we revisited our materiality analysis, redefined our CSR strategy and rationalised the number of targets we measure. These changes have enabled us to simplify the data collection and reporting process on our material goals and targets. In addition, we have now visualised our strategy, focus and results by means of the Q-Park Liveability Model.

Figure 9 Parking policies of target cities