Draft:Hopwood Park services
| Hopwood Park Services | |
|---|---|
 The modern buildings | |
| Information | |
| County | Worcestershire |
| Road | M42, A441 |
| Coordinates: | 52°22′20″N 1°56′52″W / 52.3721°N 1.9477°W |
| Operator | Welcome Break |
| Date opened | 1999 |
| Website | welcomebreak |
Hopwood Park services is a motorway service station in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England situated off Junction 2 of the M42 on the A441 to Redditch south of Birmingham. It opened in August 1999. Services include a Shell Petrol Station, Waitrose, Starbucks Coffee, WHSmith, and KFC. Electric Vehicle charging is provided by Gridserve (2 chargers) and Tesla (16 chargers).
This motorway service area is operated by Welcome Break.
History
Planning permission for the site was granted by Bromsgrove District Council in October 1998,[1] work started two months later in December 1998, costing £40 million.[2] When it was opened, it became the first service area in the country to include its own wildlife reserve.[1]
Reviews and criticisms
The independent Motorway Services Online has Hopwood Park down as the most popular service station, with visitors giving it an average rating of five stars (as of 2007).
The Holiday Which? magazine praised Hopwood Park for having a good variety of food, a smart cafe and staff who are helpful.[3]
Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS)
Hopwood Park was the site of one of the first fully integrated Sustainable Drainage Schemes (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems) in the United Kingdom. Designed by Robert Bray Associates in conjunction with Baxter Glayster Consulting Ltd., the SuDS system comprises a chain of basins, swales, filter strips, and ponds. The system collects surface water from roofs and parking areas and is released at a controlled rate into the local watercourse where it is naturally treated and filtered via the vegetation through the various catchment ponds.[4]
References
- ^ a b "Wildlife welcome at M-way stop". Birmingham Evening Mail. 22 October 1998. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ^ "Work on service station starts". Birmingham Evening Mail. 29 December 1998. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ^ Motorway service stations rated, BBC News, 7 March 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ SuDS case studies, Hopwood Motorway Service Area, CIRIA, Retrieved 20 July 2012.
External links
