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The civil construction consultants for the expansion project, Allot & Lomax (part of the Babtie group) assessed the car park, which consisted of 12 half decks at two split levels. They concluded that a maximum of two storeys could be added, increasing the capacity by 300 spaces. The addition to the structure would have to be as light as possible so that the existing foundations could bear the weight, and Allot and Lomax also assessed the current structure to examine the need for strengthening work on the columns. Two methods for were considered; applying steel plates or wrapping with Kevlar aramid fibre sheets.

There were several pre-requisites on the project that affected the final choice. There was to be minimum disruption to the current parking facilities and the column width could not be increased significantly as this would reduce the size of adjacent parking spaces. With this in mind Allot and Lomax recommended Kevlar as their preferred strengthening technique. Supplied by Feb MBT and applied by specialist contractors Brookes (Northern) Ltd, the preparation work was carried out at night, and the actual application was carried out with only small areas cordoned off at a time, so minimising any disruption. Also Kevlar is so light, in it's sheet form it would not add to the column width significantly.

Harbour City Car Park is the first contract in the UK where Kevlar has been used as a strengthening technique in order to allow for expansion. The job was finished successfully and on schedule.