Frimley Park Hospital commissioned iTransport to help address growing transport and access challenges across the hospital estate. Located next to a busy highway network, the site generates significant daily and peak-hour vehicle movements from both staff and visitors. Its internal layout, including one-way road systems and constrained visitor parking access, often leads to delays within the site, with queueing sometimes spilling back onto the surrounding highway network.
The hospital also experiences high car dependency among both staff and visitors, together with pressure on existing parking provision. Surplus demand for staff spaces and instances of informal or indiscriminate parking highlighted the operational strain on the site. While a new hospital is planned in the longer term, the Trust needed practical, cost-effective interventions that could improve day-to-day operation in the short to medium term without requiring major capital works.
Alongside these immediate operational pressures, the commission also aligned with the Trust’s wider sustainability goals, including its ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. The challenge was therefore to develop a balanced strategy that improved access, parking and site permeability while also identifying realistic opportunities to reduce car dependency and encourage more sustainable staff travel.
iTransport combined site-based analysis, technical assessment and strategic transport planning to build a clear picture of how the hospital currently operates and where practical improvements could be made.
We worked closely with the Trust through structured meetings and site visits, allowing us to understand the physical layout of the estate, observe congestion during peak periods and identify operational pinch points across the internal road network and car parks. This included reviewing the way vehicles moved through the hospital frontage, visitor parking and staff parking areas, and understanding where delays and inefficiencies were affecting both user experience and overall network performance.
Comprehensive traffic surveys were carried out both on the surrounding network and within the site itself. We then used junction modelling to test the performance of the main hospital roundabout access, confirming that it was operating at capacity. We also reviewed the operation of the existing ticket barrier system, where queuing and delays were frequently worsened by staff or visitors requiring assistance.
From there, we explored a range of practical improvement measures. These included replacing the existing barriers with an ANPR-based system, or potentially removing them entirely, to improve throughput while maintaining the required level of site security. We also assessed options to improve site permeability, including using the existing staff-only entrance more flexibly for both staff and visitors.
To address staff parking pressure, we prepared a car park layout within the footprint of a demolished building, supported by swept path analysis to ensure the design worked safely in practice. In parallel, we analysed staff postcode data and wider commuting patterns using GIS and Census Journey to Work data to identify realistic opportunities for sustainable travel measures that could support modal shift both now and at the future hospital site.
The project resulted in a concise technical report setting out a package of practical and proportionate recommendations for the Trust, focused on both operational improvement and long-term sustainability.
Key proposals included replacing the existing ticket barriers with ANPR to reduce delays and internal queueing, opening the existing staff-only entrance to improve site permeability, and introducing a virtual messaging board to improve wayfinding and reduce unnecessary circulation. Recommendations were also made to improve pedestrian routes and provide additional formal staff parking within the footprint of a demolished building.
Alongside these operational measures, the report reinforced a package of sustainable travel initiatives to support the Trust’s 2040 net zero ambition, including refreshing the Staff Travel Plan, expanding EV charging, encouraging lift sharing and introducing digital tools to monitor commuting emissions.
The recommendations were sufficiently developed that iTransport went on to support the Trust in tendering for ANPR barrier installation across Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust sites, including preparation of the necessary documentation.
We provide the full range of specialist transport planning services needed to take schemes from early concept through to consent and delivery
Talk to us about your project
