Work begins on Leicester’s new carbon-neutral St Margaret’s Bus Station

Work has started on the ambitious £13.5million regeneration of Leicester’s St Margaret’s bus station and its surrounding streets.

The £13.5milllion bus station redevelopment is part of the St Margaret’s Gateway regeneration project and is supported by a £10.5million allocation from the Getting Building Fund, a pot of government funding awarded to the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) for shovel-ready infrastructure projects to create jobs and support economic recovery across the country.

Leicester City Council will build a striking new building to replace the old St Margaret’s bus station and create more attractive routes for pedestrians and cyclists as part of a major scheme to revamp this part of the city centre.

The city council has appointed leading construction and regeneration specialists Morgan Sindall Group PLC as the main contractor for the project, following a competitive tender process.

Morgan Sindall has previously worked with the city council on the delivery of the award-winning King Richard III Visitor Centre and the initial stages of construction work on the new St Margaret’s Bus Station are now underway.

The new bus station building will have glazed walls and feature a curved aluminum roof that appears to float above the main concourse hall.

Bus passengers will benefit from a completely redesigned and improved internal layout with a new café, better seating, modern toilets complete with a new Changing Places accessible toilet, and real-time digital passenger information.

There will also be increased capacity for national and regional bus services, with the number of bays increased from 18 to 24.

Electric bus charging points will be installed, and the new building will feature secure storage for up to 150 bikes.

A series of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures will help make the new bus station a net carbon zero building.

The roof will be fitted with around 750sqm of photovoltaic panels which will generate enough energy to power the new bus station and feed surplus green energy back into the grid.

Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby said:

The new St Margaret’s bus station is an important project for Leicester and the start of its construction marks the beginning of a revival of this part of the city.

This new investment in the St Margaret’s area will provide a huge boost for public transport, help regenerate a run down but important gateway into the Leicester and help attract even more investment into the city.

The award of over £10million of government funding is a huge endorsement of the importance of this scheme and we’re very pleased to have Morgan Sindall onboard as lead contractors on this exciting development.

Kevin Harris, Chair of the LLEP Board of Directors, said:

St Margaret’s Gateway is a significant investment in the future of Leicester, and I’m very pleased that the LLEP has been able to support it via our Getting Building Fund allocation.

A major regeneration project at one of the key gateways to the city, the new bus station and improvements to the surrounding roads will be a great benefit to the local economy, creating jobs and connecting Leicester to the wider county and the rest of the UK.

The building’s carbon neutrality is a major boost to our goal of a net-zero Leicester and Leicestershire, and it’s great to see new investment in the green infrastructure of the future.

Demolition of the old building was completed on time and on budget. All that now remains is the partial steelwork frame which will be reused in the new construction, in line with the high eco-standards of the project.

Encouraging more people to use sustainable transport and cutting the carbon footprint of the city’s buildings are key actions resulting from the first Leicester Climate Emergency Strategy.

The strategy sets out an ambitious vision for how the city needs to change to move towards becoming carbon-neutral and adapting to the effects of global heating by 2030, or sooner.

Construction of the new bus station building is expected to be complete by summer 2022.

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