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Car park will help deliver a new hospital

King’s Lynn NHS trust says multi-storey is key to its future

Plans for the construction of a £42m NHS car park have taken a step closer to reality. The planning application for a multi-storey car park (MSCP) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust (QEH) has been approved by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.

The car park will be built on the hospital site and is seen as a key ‘enabler’ for a much-needed new hospital which would be built on the site of the existing main car park. The multi-storey is part of a wider, long-term estate strategy for a new hospital that the trust is aiming to secure new funding for, to be completed by 2030, as the existing hospital has already been operational for ten years past its intended lifespan.

QEH says it is “investment ready” and can deliver a new hospital as soon as government funding is secured.

The scheme will deliver a total of 1,383 parking spaces, replacing the existing car park at the hospital. It will include 18 electric vehicle (EV) charging points, 98 Blue Badge spaces and involve the relocation of the current bus stop.

Construction work would take place in two phases starting in late 2023, with completion expected in late 2025.

Hospital chief executive Alice Webster told King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council: “The application before you is for a multi-storey car park and it is the first step of our estate plan and is a critical part of us being investment ready. A crumbling, out-of-date estate is a significant issue for our patients, those who use our services and our staff. We continue to develop a case for our community to receive the news it so rightfully deserves, a new hospital.”

A phased construction

The new MSCP will be built in two phases. The first phase will provide 500 parking spaces and the second, to be built alongside the new hospital, will provide a further 879 spaces. Together these will replace the existing car park at the hospital. The multistorey will be built on the site of the Inspire Centre, which is due for demolition.

Speaking about the planning application outcome, Paul Brooks, director of estates and facilities, said: “To put it simply, without a multi-storey car park, we can’t build the much-needed new hospital at QEH before our 2030 hospital end-of-life deadline.

“We have worked hard with our colleagues at the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to ensure this new car park will have a limited visual impact to the surrounding area.

“In the short-term the MSCP will help to ease well-recognised parking pressures at our hospital and in the long-term it will free up the existing car park for a new hospital building. We are now focussed on securing funding for the car park and hope, if this is forthcoming, to start work on the build this year. In the meantime, we continue to push on all fronts for a decision to secure QEH’s place on the government’s list for funding for a new hospital. We very much hope for a decision soon.”

Engagement and amendments

Following extensive engagement on the car park in the Summer of 2022, hundreds of people shared their views on the proposal. In response to the feedback a number of changes were made to the plans, including:

• changes to the road layout around the car park entrance to ease traffic congestion

• confirming that the new car park will be pay-on-exit and payment by app and card will be an option

• increasing the size of individual parking spaces to make it easier to park and get in and out of vehicles

• locating Blue Badge spaces on the ground floor and ensuring enough height clearance for disabled spaces to accommodate mobility vehicles

• enhancing the external planting and soft landscaping to further improve the look and feel of the environment around the car park.

A detailed transport strategy and travel plan has been developed by the team at engineering consultancy Hexa, along with core civil and structural guidance to ensure the scheme’s success at the planning stage.

Matt Price, director of transport planning at Hexa, said: “Having started working on smaller schemes with the hospital trust and becoming involved with this car park scheme in 2021, it’s great to see the planning application has been approved. It is a muchneeded facility for the Queen Elizabeth

Hospital, which will support the ambition for further improvements in future, including the trust’s bid for a completely new hospital.”

Hexa was involved in a cross-discipline approach on the project, providing expertise to support survey work, environmental works, GEO investigation, noise and air quality investigation, as well as habitat and ecology.

Price added: “One of the main challenges of this plan was ensuring the accurate calculation of not only the current car parking demands of the hospital, but also what it may require further down the line. It was key to consider the displacement of parking during construction too, as the existing car park would be out of use for some time. We’re pleased our combined experience in the sector has supported QEH in getting this submission through and to develop a long-term strategy that will enable to provision of new facilities at the site.”

Design and operation

Design and construction consultancy, Exi Group was initially appointed to develop a car park strategy and a pre-outline business case (OBC) feasibility study for the car park and has gone on to provide a full multi-disciplinary service. It has also collaborated closely with the Hexa team and other design team specialists across a range of disciplines.

Ben Flounders, director at Exi Group, said: “This project has shown the benefits of collaboration, and utilising specialised experts in key areas. Not only will this scheme act as an enabling project for the release of a key development zone for a future hospital, this multi-storey car park will allow the hospital’s estates team to better manage and control its on-site parking demand in the short term. It will benefit from the latest technology such as Parking Eye automatic number plate recognition and app-based payment methods.”

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