City centre car park to close for building revamp

A city centre car park is set to close to enable construction work on a landmark building.

Plymouth's Civic Centre's 108-space car park will close from Wednesday, 30 September, and become a temporary site compound, in order to make room for the building work on the Civic Centre to get under way.

The car park closure is part of the first phase to transform the 14-storey building into 144 rental homes, City College Plymouth's skills hub and a rooftop cafe.

During the closure, Plymouth City Council said there were alternative parking options including about 300 on-street spaces close to Theatre Royal, a 413-space multi-storey car park nearby, and the Guildhall car park.

It said, other alternatives included Derry's Cross, more than 1,000 spaces at Western Approach and parking on Courtney Street.

The authority said: "From the end of the September, the building will start to look pretty different.

"Scaffolding and protective netting will go up around the tower, clearing the way for structural investigations, removal of the external cladding and remaining asbestos, and the strip-out of parts of the building, including the 1970s extension."

Councillor Matt Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing, City Centre, Regeneration and Events, said: "It's great news for the city that work will begin on the first phase of the Civic Centre and while we know the loss of this popular car park is inconvenient for some, we are keen to remind people that there are plenty of other places to park very, very close by."

Once the work is complete, the Civic Centre car park will reopen with about 25 fewer spaces, making way for new planting and landscaping between the car park and the rear of the skills hub.

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