Surgeries get new parking facilities

At the practice are, from left, Dr Renuka Mannika, partner of Trinity Medical , Claire Slater, Keepmoat, Ian Prescott, Keepmoat, and Rosemary Long, practice manager at St Georges Medical Centre.

Patients at St George’s Medical Practice – IntraHealth and Trinity Medical Centre in New George Street will now benefit from streamlined parking which Keepmoat has relocated to the front and adjacent to the premises as part of a major £30m regeneration project in the area.

The new facilities will complement the regeneration being undertaken in South Shields through a partnership with South Tyneside Council, Keepmoat and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The project is aiming to transform the rundown retail area on Frederick Street and provide 223 new homes.

Keepmoat’s acquisition of the land where the former GP car parks were located, has allowed the firm to showcase its new Trinity home scheme with main road frontage and create a focal point and a gateway to the development through a new park.

Rosemary Long, practice manager said the two surgeries are fully supportive of the regeneration in South Shields.

“I am extremely pleased with the beautiful regeneration of the area and the re-situation of our car park, which has ensured our patients benefit in more ways than one,” she said.

Dr Renuka Mannikar a partner in Trinity Medical Centre – formerly from Riverside – said: “The regeneration has given Laygate a new community with the new housing supported by easier access to our surgery with parking at the front.

“The transformation is remarkable and Keepmoat has been excellent during this transformation period.”

Ian Prescott, land and partnerships director for Keepmoat in the North East, said: “Several years ago when we came to plan the new housing, we recognised that the patients attending the two health centres on Frederick Street rarely used the car parks owned by the Practice’s as they were positioned some distance from the main entrances to the two medical centres.

“By closing Frederick Street South to traffic as part of our regeneration scheme, we were able to create an opportunity to reposition the Practice owned car parks to outside the mains entrances of the two health centres and make them much more suitable for use by patients.

“The relocation of the car parks also created an opportunity to build a land mark apartment building on the frontage of our new development along with a visible entrance into a new linear park.

“The end result is a scheme where everyone has been a winner and I would like thank the Practice’s involved as well as the team from NHS Property who played a very active role in enabling our proposal to be delivered.”

Work on the Trinity home scheme is expected to complete in late 2018.