Bid to build dozens of new homes on site of soon-to-close Sunderland Eye Infirmary
Dozens of new homes are planned on the site of the soon-to-close Sunderland Eye Infirmary as a potential timetable for the buildings’ demolition is also revealed.
The Queen Alexandra Road infirmary – which was officially opened by the future Queen Elizabeth II in 1946 – will be replaced in phases later this month by the city centre’s £50million-plus Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital.
Now it has emerged that real estate consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton has applied to Sunderland City Council for a “screening opinion” on plans for around 62 homes on the current site.
Screening opinions are sought from local planning authorities to establish whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required prior to detailed plans being submitted.
The current application also outlines how full details of the eye infirmary’s proposed demolition would be lodged once a decision is reached about an EIA.
The proposed timescale to remove the buildings is nine months with work “likely to commence in October 2026”.
Lambert Smith Hampton is making the case to Sunderland City Council that an EIA is “not required” for future development and adds that the proposed demolition and new homes would not have a “significant” impact on ecology.
It said the hospital is a “late interwar functionalist building with early modernist influences” which does not “positively contribute” to the setting of the nearby Cedars Conservation Area.
The proposed new homes would also be “designed to sympathise” with the conservation area’s character.
A spokesperson for landowner South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are aware of a planning application submitted to explore future uses for the Sunderland Eye Infirmary site once it closes.
“No formal decisions have been made on the sale of the land.
“Our focus remains on preparing Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital to welcome its first patients.
“Services will move in phases and patients will be advised through their appointment information where to attend.
“Our emergency eye department will open first from 2pm on July 11.”
Other services are expected to move in by Thursday, July 23, and patients needing to check on the location of their appointments are urged to ring in advance on 0191 569 9952.