The new £10m multi-storey car park at the city hospital has been closed for maintenance work only months after it first opened.
The Lady Helen Parking Centre at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary will be shut this weekend while repairs are carried out.
The facility was officially opened in February by the Wood Foundation, which donated £10.7million to the project – one of the largest single charitable donations to the NHS in Scotland.
It was built exclusively for the use of NHS Grampian patients and their visitors and is free of charge to use.
The building is being closed so that car parking spaces can be repainted.
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “Visitors may park in any appropriate space – parking restrictions do not apply at weekends – provided they do not park in disabled bays – unless they have a blue badge – on double yellow lines or blocking hatched areas.
“The repairs are due to heavy usage and this is a standard repair.”
Hospital visitors were still using the Lady Helen Parking Centre yesterday morning but told to make sure the facility was completely cleared by 3pm that day.
The building will be closed this weekend and reopen at 6am on Monday July 30.
NHS Grampian apologised for any inconvenience which may be caused by the temporary closure.
A health board spokeswoman stressed that the building needed to be empty of cars to allow for the work to be carried out to the “highest of standards”.
Local councillor Bill Cormie hoped that the closure wouldn’t affect the number of visitors.
Lady Helen Parking Centre closed for ‘uncertain periods of time’
He said: “Saturdays and Sundays are very busy days at the hospital, but repairs like these are necessary.
“The car parking situation before the Lady Helen Parking Centre was chaos.
“The car park has made a huge difference since it was built, and we need to keep it that way.”
And councillor Martin Greig said it was “puzzling” that the building had to be closed for repairs so soon.
He added: “There will be real problems for those who arrive to find the sudden loss of parking opportunities. It seems regrettable that this excellent new car park could be shut down for uncertain periods of time. It offers a great benefit so losing the service for even a few days will be unpopular.”
