BPD Design First Carbon Neutral Bus Station

St Margaret’s bus station in Leicester is set to become the UK’s first carbon neutral bus station thanks to architecture and urban design practice BPD submitting plans to Leicester City Council.

The current bus station located on Gravel Street, originally built in 1940, is to be replaced by a modern, sustainable building. The new design will include LED lighting, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, air source heat pumps and 750 square metres of solar panels which will generate enough energy to power the station and feed excess energy back into the grid. The building will also incorporate electric bus charging points and a new, fully glazed envelope in the concourse. This will maximise lighting levels and significantly reduce energy usage.

If plans are approved the designs will make the bus station will be one of the most energy efficient transport hubs in the whole of the UK, it will also be the first bus station to achieve net zero carbon status.

Tom Hewitt, architect director at BDP, said: “St Margaret’s Bus Station complements the neighbouring Haymarket station and is also the main terminal for inter-urban, regional bus and national coach services in Leicester – but the building is in serious need of modernising. Leicester City Council’s team asked us to significantly increase the quality and capacity of the building as well as the surrounding environment, so the designs we have submitted will totally transform the station and bring the area back to life. Not only have we designed an inner-city transport hub that is practical and beautiful, but it also meets the council’s goal of becoming the most energy efficient station in the country.”

Deputy City Mayor for Environment and Transport Councillor Adam Clarke added: “These exciting plans to replace St Margaret’s Bus Station with a striking, new and carbon-neutral building will signal the beginning of a revival of this part of the city. It will provide a huge boost for sustainable transport, help regenerate a run-down but important gateway into Leicester and attract further private investment into the city.”

The development project, named St Margaret’s Gateway, is a regeneration project supported by a £10.5 million from the Getting Building Fund, a pot of Government funding awarded to Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Ltd (LLEP), for shovel ready infrastructure projects to create jobs and support economic recovery across the country.

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