Leicester's St Margaret’s bus station in Leicester will close at 7pm on 31 December to allow work to being on its £13.5m redevelopment.
A press release from Leicester City Council says the "striking" new bus station building will be glazed from floor to ceiling and feature a curved aluminium roof that appears to float above the main concourse:
Bus passengers will benefit from a completely redesigned and improved internal layout with a new café, better seating 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.
A series of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures will help make the new bus station a carbon neutral building. It is believed that this would be the first bus station to be built to net zero carbon standards in the UK.
Electric bus charging points will be installed, and the new building will feature secure storage for up to 150 bikes.
The new bus station is part of a regeneration project for this quarter of the city, which will feature better pedestrian to both St Margaret's and Haymarket bus stations.
Incidentally, back in the early 1970s, buses from Market Harborough terminated at a long-vanished terminus in Northampton Square. You can see it in the photograph below.
Thank you for this photo Jonathan. My Dad and I caught the bus home to Church Langton after watching Leicester at Filbert Street from Northampton Square. The bus didn't go directly to Church Langton we had to get off at Foxton Crossroads which was an "unofficial" stop and walk the rest of the way home.
ReplyDeleteHappy Days!
The £13.5m cost seems modest for such a large capital project. I presume there will be other costs for street works and electric charging infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteThe current bus station was built in 1984 to replace a 'functional' facility built in 1941. It will be interesting to see how well the new one can be adapted to technological change.