Car park to close as new eye hospital advances

A city car park is set to make way for building work to begin on the region's new eye hospital at Riverside Sunderland. 

Livingstone Road car park which has around 150 spaces, will close in the New Year [January 3] as work advances on the state-of-the-art new health facility in the city centre.

It will be replaced by a new 650 space multi-storey car park (MSCP) at Farringdon Row which set to open in April.  An additional 67 parking spaces and four designated disabled bays are to be made available from January 3, at Easington Street in the Sheepfolds area of the city.  The new car park has easy access into the city centre and will assist in encouraging turnover and usage of parking spaces in the city to ensure there is sufficient car parking capacity available for everyone.   

Livingstone Road car park will be transformed into a stunning new eye hospital, replacing the existing Sunderland Eye Infirmary building on Queen Alexander Road which is now over 75 years old.

The new eye hospital is part of the council-led Riverside Sunderland masterplan that will establish Sunderland city centre as a world-class place to live, work and play, with a raft of new developments transforming the skyline.

Enabling work for the new eye hospital will begin in January, before construction gets underway later in 2023.  All clinical services currently provided from Sunderland Eye Infirmary will transfer to the new facility, cementing the City's reputation across the NHS, both regionally and nationally, as a centre of excellence for eye care.

Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: "Anyone visiting our city centre will see that the transformation is happening at pace, with old buildings making way for new, and a raft of new infrastructure including parking provision rising from the ground.

"As we push ahead with plans to deliver a reinvigorated city centre, there will be a number of changes to existing infrastructure and provision. The benefits to the heart of the city will be great, and as part of our wider infrastructure investment there will be a net increase in the number of car parking spaces across the city centre as many of our developments open their doors."

The new Eye Hospital will stand alongside Sunderland City Council's innovative new Vaux housing development, which recently won a Homes England Masterplanning Award at the 2022 Housing Design Awards and is being delivered by Tolent. Vaux is part of a wider city commitment to become a low-carbon economy, be carbon neutral by 2030, digitally connected, enable people to live healthier lives, provide access to natural assets and deliver clean, green, and safe neighbourhoods. The development is due to be completed in time for Expo Sunderland, a public event that will showcase a new way of city living and the transformation of Riverside Sunderland into one of the UK's most sustainable and liveable cities for the 21st Century.

To stay up to date with Riverside Sunderland developments, visit www.riversidesunderland.com or follow @RiversideSund on social media.