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Farringdon Row’s new multi-storey car park, which will support the businesses and residents that move into Riverside Sunderland, has been rising from the ground since April with a concrete framework beginning to take shape and steel support set to arrive on-site.

Work began in November last year and now construction partner Sir Robert McAlpine and car park specialist Goldbeck will start work on the main structure of the MSCP, which will deliver 650 parking spaces on the edge of the city centre.

Once finished, the car park which was designed by artist Tonkin Lui, will provide an ‘attractive’ arrival point to people coming into the city centre from the A1231.

Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “A key part of our work at Riverside Sunderland is in creating the infrastructure that can support the city’s ongoing regeneration, and we know that – while many people are moving to more sustainable modes of public transport - cities still need readily available parking for businesspeople, visitors and residents.

“Ensuring the carpark we build looks the part is important to us, particularly given the site’s prominence, and that’s why it features some distinctive artwork, to ensure it provides an attractive welcome to the city centre.”

The £14m MSCP will stand on the edge of the city’s Riverside Sunderland development and is expected to provide spaces for the increased number of people living and working in Sunderland, as well as more visitors who will attend leisure venues including the new Auditorium and the city’s planned Culture House.

It is hoped the new car park capacity will reduce pressure on other city centre parking such as St Mary’s MSCP, when a surge in people head into the city on a daily basis as more commercial office spaces open.

The car park will also include an initial 15 percent electric vehicle spaces and is expected to operate outside of normal working hours, to support the evening economy in the city centre.