THIS is the first map showing exactly where health officials want to build the brand new Royal Liverpool hospital.

Land at the south-east corner of the Royal’s city centre site, now used for car parking and blood transfusion and accommodation blocks, has been earmarked for the £400m complex.

The existing 1970s hospital would then be bulldozed freeing up space for future healthcare buildings.

NHS managers today revealed more details of the long-awaited rebuild.

They are now asking thousands of residents and businesses for their views on the project.

The new Royal will:

Be about the same size as the current hospital in terms of floor space, but will be significantly lower, with architects abandoning the outdated “tower” design.

Have two main access points, from West Derby Street and Prescot Street, with ambulances reaching A&E via the planned Hall Lane bypass.

Contain around 1,500 parking spaces, mostly on site, in addition to the current Q Park facility.

Have a landscaped area of open space in the centre of the redeveloped complex.

Hospital officials will now canvass views of about 2,500 residents in neighbouring Kensington Fields before giving a planning application to Liverpool council early next year.

If everything goes to plan the new Royal could open its doors to patients in 2014.

Land at the site’s south-east corner was chosen because it allows the current hospital to still operate while the new complex is built.

Project director Helen Jackson said: “This is the only part of the site where we can develop the new hospital, because we have to keep the existing facility in full use until the new one is built and ready for occupation.

“We have looked in detail at a range of other options and believe this provides us with the best long-term solution.

“Refurbishing the existing site would take at least 12 years and would include significant disruption to services.

“Similarly we considered a move away from the city centre.

“But we cannot find an alternative suitable site and we do not believe it makes clinical sense in moving A&E away from its present location.”

Next year’s outline planning application will focus on how the site will be laid out, with precise details about what the hospital will look like appearing in a full planning application in two or three years’ time.

But health officials are already promising an environmentally-friendly building.

Royal chairwoman Judith Greensmith said: “We want it to be low energy, generating low waste, and supported by a robust green transport policy, so public transport has equal weight to car parking.

“There is already a commitment that we will help local people access jobs, specially during construction.”

A series of public exhibitions is now planned so as many local residents as possible can see the early proposals.