Yeovil Hospital’s multi-storey car park has opened to the public 30 March 2017

Yeovil Hospital’s brand-new multi-storey car park has opened to the public.

Work began on the £15.2m access and parking scheme last year. Delivered by the Trust’s strategic estates partner Interserve Prime, the car park is an impressive addition to the hospital site, featuring a purple glass frontage and special aluminium ‘fins’ as part of the external design. Built over four floors, it includes 7,000 tonnes of concrete and 500 tonnes of steel, and sits on 409 load-bearing foundation ‘piles’, which together measure a total of 2.4km – more than six times the height of the Empire State Building!

Hospital board members joined with staff members, Trust governors, and colleagues from Interserve Prime, to celebrate the completion of the work ahead of the car park’s official opening on Wednesday 22nd March. The opening is the final part of an ambitious project which has also seen the development of a new one way system and link road to improve traffic flow across the hospital site.

The car park offers 650 spaces, shared between public and the staff, and uses a barrier-controlled, pay-on-exit system, enabling motorists to pay only for the duration of their stay. Other parts of the site, including drop-off areas, will be monitored by automatic number-plate recognition cameras to ensure appropriate use and to maintain access for users.

Paul Mears, Chief Executive of Yeovil Hospital, said: “Improving parking at our hospital has been an ambition of this Trust for many years. It has been fascinating to watch this building grow over the last 14 months, and I’d like to say thank you to our strategic estates partner Interserve Prime and our own parking team for their dedication and hard work to get us to today’s opening.”

Iain Saunders, Director of the Yeovil Estates Partnership with Interserve Prime, said: “The multi-storey car park has been a gateway project for the partnership and the hospital. Facilities such as these are vital to improving the experience of patients and staff visiting the hospital and it’s fantastic to see the new car park open.”