PJA have helped secure planning permission for the University of Leicester’s Space Park site in Leicester. The £100m development – in partnership with Leicester City Council, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, and National Space Centre – will be built over a number of phases. Phase 1, expected to be completed in summer 2020, will house the Leicester Institute for Space and Earth Observation as well as providing space for businesses and consolidating the university’s Earth Observation capability into one site.

On completion, Space Park Leicester will house a combination of University of Leicester Research and Teaching facilities, together with the research institutions and international commercial partners developing a new generation of cutting-edge satellite technology, and analysing the space-enabled data transforming, for example, international communications, resource management, environmental monitoring and disaster relief. It will provide a unique environment where industry and academia will collaborate and exploit opportunities in space and space-enabled research, education and innovation

PJA prepared a Transport Assessment (TA) for the site which analysed the unique nature of the site in order to develop a bespoke trip generation and parking accumulation model, which helped the City Council understand the transport and highways impacts of the development.

PJA’s commission on Space Park Leicester is one in a long line of similar projects with the University, namely TA’s for Percy Gee (Student Union) Building on Central Campus and the Leicester School for Business site at Brookfield, as well as advising the University on development feasibility at the Freemen’s Common site and preparing designs for a more student-friendly street environment on University Road and Lancaster Road.

Image courtesy of University of Leicester / Space Park Leicester