From underutilised spaces to a reinvestment engine — one Liverpool social enterprise’s story

For most organisations, a car park is a cost centre, something to manage, not leverage. For Blackburne House, it became something far more meaningful: a consistent revenue stream that directly contributes to the education wellbeing of women across Merseyside. 

Blackburne House is one of the city’s longest-established social enterprises. Based in the heart of Liverpool between the two famous cathedrals, for over four decades, it has delivered education, employment support, counselling, and wellbeing services for women, operating on the principle that every pound of commercial income can be reinvested to remove barriers to education and wellbeing services for local women. 

When the team realised their car park was sitting well below capacity during evenings and weekends, they started asking a simple question: what if we could make this work harder for us?

The Challenge: Capacity Going to Waste 

Blackburne House has around 40 spaces in total. On weekdays, a portion are reserved for staff via a much-needed discount service that saves staff over £2000 per year on city centre parking. But that still left significant availability, particularly from 5pm onwards and through the weekend, that wasn’t being fully utilised.

“We realised the car park had great potential,” says Pam who oversees facilities at Blackburne House. “We needed to work with a trusted partner that would help us formalise our systems and increase the number of bookings.”  

Their location makes that untapped capacity genuinely valuable. Blackburne House is located between Liverpool’s two famous cathedrals and is close to the Philharmonic Hall, a cluster of popular restaurants and a growing number of Airbnb properties. On-street parking in the area is paid and managed, and with changes to free on street parking times, demand for affordable off-street options has risen sharply. 

“We want our car park to be an asset, not just ourselves but for the surrounding community and businesses. It is important that we offer an accessible space that encourages people to visit and spend in the local area.”

The Solution: One System, Multiple Revenue Streams 

Blackburne House has been using JustPark Reservations since 2021. The product does exactly what traditional in-house parking management can’t: it puts their spaces in front of over 13 million drivers on the UK’s biggest parking marketplace, letting people find, book, and pay in advance through JustPark’s award-winning app. 

Blackburne House is a multi purpose building and as such needed a car parking system that is flexible by design. Around 10 spaces are listed during peak weekday hours, up to 25 are made available on evenings, and weekend availability opens up further as fewer staff are on-site. Crucially, because bookings are made in advance, the team has real visibility into demand, something a traditional pay-and-display setup simply can’t offer. Unlike drive-up solutions, JustPark Reservations provides actionable insight into future parking demand, making it far easier to manage space allocation week to week.

Events: Parking as Part of the Guest Journey 

Blackburne House runs a high volume of events, from 120-person conferences and wedding celebrations to business meetings, corporate and private events. Having an onsite car park is such a unique selling point and so every external booking confirmation includes the JustPark link, with a clear message: book your space in advance to secure availability. It removes friction for attendees and drives occupancy in the car park at exactly the moments when demand is highest, without requiring any manual coordination from the team on the day. 

It’s a simple but effective integration, and one that reflects a broader shift in how event venues are starting to think about parking: not as an afterthought, but as part of the pre-arrival experience that shapes first impressions. 

The team is also exploring the addition of JustPark On-Demand — a pay-on-arrival option — for weekends, when space availability is more predictable and the balance between pre-booked and walk-up demand is easier to manage. Combining Reservations with On-Demand would allow them to dynamically allocate spaces based on real-time demand, ensuring no space goes unused across either mechanism.

An Unexpected Use Case: Lights, Camera, Parking 

One of the more distinctive features of Blackburne House is the location. The magnificent Grade II listed building is situated in the heart of Liverpool’s Georgian quarter, an area that has become a sought-after location for film and television productions such as the blockbuster film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Harry Potter films, Batman, and a plethora of TV series including the likes of Peaky Blinders, and The City is Ours.

When a production company comes in, they often need more than just a room. They need space for trucks, equipment lorries, and crew vehicles, ideally blocked together and actively managed. Blackburne House, through the Just Park system are able to manage such bespoke requests. 

“We’re excited to play a small part in helping Liverpool become a location of choice for the filming industry. We’re not only providing seamless logistical solutions for production companies, but we’re also helping them achieve their corporate social responsibility.”

The Impact: Reinvesting for Real-World Change 

What does a well-run car park fund? At Blackburne House, it supports the organisation’s wider social mission in concrete ways. 

Staff benefit from subsidised city-centre parking — a genuine workplace perk at a location where a daily space can otherwise cost £10–20. Visitors, event guests, and people accessing the bistro, nursery, and conference facilities all benefit from competitive, accessible pricing that keeps the organisation connected to the local community rather than pricing itself out of it. 

But the bigger picture is Blackburne House’s social return on investment. For every £1 invested in the organisation’s work, they generate an estimated £26 in social value through women’s education and employment outcomes, and approximately £53 through improvements in women’s wellbeing, including access to counselling and mental health support. 

The car park isn’t the only contributor to that figure, but it’s part of the social enterprise model that makes it possible. 

“The income supports the overall social aims and objectives of the business,” says Pam. “It’s about diversifying our income streams, which is crucial for our sector in terms of growth and sustainability.” 

What’s Next 

Beyond exploring on-demand parking for weekends, the team is looking at ways to reach the growing number of Airbnb guests in the surrounding area, visitors who need nearby parking and may not know the space exists. Whether through direct outreach to local hosts or promotional tie-ins with the Hope Street CIC business consortium they’re part of, there’s real appetite to grow utilisation further. 

 For Blackburne House, the JustPark partnership has worked because it’s flexible. 

“We always have a request,” she says. “And the Just Park team are always able to support us and understand our needs. That’s really important for our model.” 

If your organisation has underutilised parking — whether that’s evenings, weekends, or spaces your staff simply don’t fill — JustPark Reservations makes it straightforward to start earning from it. With over 14 million drivers on the UK’s biggest parking marketplace, your spaces get found.