Another concrete car park bites dust; Architecture of the 1960s a dying breed.

Byline: Tony Henderson

FOR many, they were the concrete symbols of the Sixties. But now the North East's multi-storey car parks are a dying breed.

Today Sunderland Council's cabinet will be asked to back the demolition of most of Sunderland's Central Car Park, above Jacky Whites Market, keeping only the bottom two levels so the market hall can be retained.

Gateshead's concrete multi-storey car park, better known as the Get Carter Car Park, is awaiting demolition as part of the redevelopment of the town centre.

The demolition of Newcastle's Newgate Street car park, which had 728 spaces, began in July 2007.

In the same year the 1960s Mile End Road multi-storey car park in South Shields was knocked down after closing in 1997 when it was declared unsafe.

The Sunderland car park, which opened in 1969, closed last December amid concerns that its condition had deteriorated.

Temporary propping has been used to reduce the risk of potential structural failure.

Sunderland councillors will be told that even in a structurally sound condition, the shortcomings of the car park design and layout are such that they do not provide a secure and attractive environment.

The car park has restricted manoeuvring space, low headroom and poor pedestrian access.

Planners say: "The car park, which opened in 1969 was designed and constructed to standards current at that time. In common with many concrete structures of this age the building has suffered from various environmental factors that have caused it to deteriorate significantly. "This deterioration has materialised as spalling and delaminating concrete, and corroding reinforcement."

The council faced similar structural issues with the Tavistock multi-storey car park before it was demolished in 2005.

Jacky Whites Market hall is located immediately below the city centre car park and is part of the same structure.

Demolishing most of the car park and keeping the market will cost almost pounds 3m.

Alternative options are the repair and refurbishment of the structure at a cost of pounds 5.5m; complete demolition of the car park and market hall with replacement costs of pounds 6m or leave in its current form. The car park structure could be left in its current closed form covered with scaffolding and cladding at an initial cost of pounds 2.2m.