Stevenage Borough Council owns approximately 6,093 garages. These garages are available for rent to residents and Council tenants, providing valuable storage and parking solutions across the town.
However, poorly maintained buildings or structures can be vulnerable to climate change. Extreme weather, such as prolonged heatwaves, intense rainfall, or storm, can accelerate the deterioration of these unmaintained structures and increase the risk of severe damages.
The refurbishment of garages also contributes to the Council's climate mitigation efforts. By upgrading these structures, the Council can incorporate energy-efficient materials and technologies, reducing their overall carbon footprint, lowering energy consumption, and promoting sustainable practices.
Since 2018, the council has refurbished/rebuilt garage blocks across the town to improve standards and build climate resilience under the Garages Refurbishment Programme (stevenage.gov.uk), and this phase of works is now complete.
The Council continuously monitors its garage stock and is now implementing a new garage asset management plant focused on repairs to maintain the functionality of the garage blocks.
A new Council's garages asset management plan is being developed. This plan will be focused on repairs to maintain the functionality of the garages stock. Sustainable solutions and materials are explored whenever practical and cost-efficient. It is expected that this plan will be rolled out within the next 18 months and the primary focus will be to bring back into stock approx. 200 garages that are out of management due to sprayed asbestos and start the replacement of 746 asbestos roofs.
From November 2018 to August 2024, the Council delivered a £10 million programme to refurbish council owned garage blocks across the town. The work carried out varied from block to block, and depended on a detailed survey done at each site. However, the main elements included in the works included:
The Council regularly review garage blocks and these works focused on those that were more than 30% vacant. The specific garages refurbished through this programme are located at: