Leicester Waterside
Leicester, UK
| Title: | Leicester Waterside, Leicester, UK |
| Markets: | Residential |
| Services: | Masterplanning and urban design |
| Region: | United Kingdom |
| Date: | Ongoing |
Leicester Waterside is the transformation of a long-neglected area of the city into a distinctive emerging neighbourhood incorporating 325 new homes, workspace and parks. This strategic regeneration priority for Leicester City Council is located at the hub of the city’s river, canal and foot/cycle network.
The city council as landowner held a design/developer competition for this £80 million brownfield regeneration site. Leading the design team and providing masterplanning, urban design, landscape and planning inputs, Gillespies supported developer Keepmoat in their successful submission. The proposals include a masterplan and designs for 325 homes, workspace, retail, leisure spaces, alongside a new neighbourhood park. At the heart of the scheme is Soar Island, an island located in the middle of the River Soar and Grand Union Canal. Gillespies’ designs for this prominent hub for canal and river include a wildlife area - to be managed by a local trust - and an exciting waterside activity destination including a café, boat and cycle facilities, and views to Leicester Cathedral - the burial place of Richard III.
Gillespies continues to support Keepmoat in taking designs towards Reserved Matters applications. Working closely with the city council, this role includes the development of a design code and detailed landscape design for new streets, spaces and gardens.
The scheme is due on site in 2017 and has the potential to be one of the most exciting large-scale regeneration developments in the East Midlands.
