A £6 million car-park with 600 spaces opens today at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital. Howard Holdings won the contract in October, 1998, and has taken the project from conception to completion in just seven months. The cost of each of the car-parking spaces works out at £10,000 each. No government funding is involved and the scheme will be self-financing. Car parking charges of £1 per hour to a maximum of £5 per visit, up to 24 hours, are in line with costs at other hospital multi-storey car-parks. There will be free parking for the first 20 minutes to facilitate pick-ups and drop-offs.