Station stripped to bare bones
What was once a bustling main bus terminal in Leicester city centre has now been stripped back to the bare bones in readiness for the next stage of a £13 million redevelopment plan.
a naked frame is now all that can be seen at the site of the former St Margaret’s Bus Station, off the Burleys Way section of the inner ring road.
the Mercury has been regularly invited along to see how the demolition work is going.
the 10-week project to remove all of the bus station’s fixtures and fittings, and all non-structural metal sheeting and cladding from the walls and roof canopy is about complete.
What remains is literally a shell of its former self, and what generations of people will remember of the building, erected in the 1980s.
the project, which began back at the end of January, is being carried out by demolition experts DSM.
the skeletal support structure that remains will form the frame for a new, modern bus station that Leicester City Council wants to be fit for the 21st century.
It will be glazed from floor to ceiling and feature a striking curved aluminium roof which will appear to
“float” above the main concourse hall, the city council has said.
Passengers will benefit from a completely redesigned and improved internal layout with a new cafe, better seating and real-time digital passenger information.
there will also be more 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 this would be the first bus station to be built to net-zero carbon standards in the UK.