Architects:Shepheard Epstein Hunter

Area:10700m²

Year:2022

Photographs:Paul Kozlowski,Ben Clarkson | Bowmer+Kirkland,Martine Hamilton Knight

Manufacturers:KEIM,Kingspan Insulated Panels,Air Tightness Solutions,Airedale Group,Architectural Profiles,Avonside,Bespoke Building and Joinery Projects,Boon Edam,C2C,Dolphin,EOS,Evans Concrete,Framedeck,Howdens,IKO Polymeric,Komfort,MB Glass,MPB Concrete,MR Industrial,Manson Timber Engineering, +7Monowa,Otis,Permabond,Reynolds,Syston,VMZINC,Velfac-7

Project Management:Bidwells, Pulse Consult, Concept PM

Landscape:Ares Landscape Architects

Acoustic Engineering:Sweco

Design, Direction, Development And Delivery:Steven Pidwill, Patricia Martin del Guayo

Design And Specification Support:Ruth Nelson, Alvaro Santos, Sarah Kidd

Construction Stage Detailed Support:Ana Carp, Seetal Mistry, Tzeh Bin Cheong, Celia Hsin

Cost Consultancy:Gleeds

Phase One M&E Design:Tetra Tech

Phase Two M&E Design:CPW

Construction Stage Mechanical Services Detailed Design:Anderson Green

Cladding External Wall:Norman & Underwood

Breeam Facilitator:Stroma

Constructions:Bowmer + Kirkland

Structural And Civil Engineers:Tetra Tech

Building Control:Socotech

Fire Engineering:Sweco

City:Leicester

Country:United Kingdom

Text description provided by the architects. Space Park Leicester is designed as a robust, sustainable, and practical facility which can manage change and adaptation over a long life to suit changes in the requirements of the users, but is also intended to be a beautiful, attractive place that equally welcomes research specialists and schoolchildren, and manages to convey ‘something about space’ through its use of functional forms and long-lasting, recyclable materials.

The building is arranged as four and five-story pavilions that provide teaching, laboratory, office, and collaboration space around a central atrium, encouraging interaction between disciplines and outreach with the local community and schools; and a two-story technical wing (capable of upward extension) which provides specialist laboratories, workshops, and clean rooms, delivering the METEOR (Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology, and Earth Observation Research) program. The buildings hug the curving eastern boundary like a serpent on the plan, sitting close to parkland and mature tree canopies, and furthest from the adjacent low-rise housing to the west which is of a different scale.

The project is an example of design excellence and imaginative and regenerative use of publicly owned brownfield land which promotes economic growth in association with neighboring development. It creates Space Park Leicester as an independent research institute, synergetic with the nearby National Space Centre, and aligned with the UK’s National Space Strategy's four objectives: unlocking growth in the UK space sector; collaborating internationally with partners and allies; growing the UK as a science and technology superpower and developing resilient space capabilities and services.

Space Park Leicester has transformed a long-disused contaminated brownfield site in a flood-risk zone at the end of a cul-de-sac into a generator of social, economic, and environmental improvement. The site, formerly used for a landfill, was capped and raised to 400mm above the 1:1000-year flood level and 700mm above the 1:100-year (+50% climate change allowance) flood level. The site was overgrown after disuse twenty years ago and adopted by badgers and so the rectangular perimeter on which initial designs were based was reduced by 25% during early design stages to allow their retention.

Professor Martin Barstow from the University of Leicester has said: ‘We have an amazing building. It has really delivered everything we wanted in terms of the quality of the environment and the variety of meeting/interaction spaces and laboratory facilities. The beautiful atrium creates a focal point for the occupants of the building and a welcoming landing space for visitors. The facility allows us to host industry partners side-by-side with academic researchers and creates a new model for collaboration. We believe we have created something unique in the world and a number of international visitors have confirmed this in their enthusiastic and positive comments.’

Project gallery

Project location

Address:Space Park, 92 Corporation Rd, Leicester LE4 5SP, United Kingdom