Design firm submits plans for canalside homes

The design firm rg+p has submitted a planning application to continue the waterfront regeneration in Leicester.

Working for Trafalgar Global, rg+p has designed a proposal for 360 new homes on unused brownfield land west of Charles Bennion Walk, previously part of the British United Shoe Machinery (BUSM) site.

The plan features seven apartment buildings, ranging from four to five stories in height, along with 43 two, three, and four-bedroom houses, and designated parking spaces.

The firm’s design director, Ben Walton said: “Our design narrative plays on the waterside location and Leicester’s rich heritage in garment and shoe machinery production. The site was the former home of BUSM, which at one point was the world’s largest manufacturer of footwear machinery, exporting to more than 50 countries. This is interpreted as pleats of fabric, folds of leather or ripples along the canal. In the façade of the new buildings, materials and textures were deliberately chosen to be indicative of those found in the warehouses of the time, and therefore continue telling the story of shoemaking.

“The site’s wider placemaking has sought to maximise views of local landmarks through the shaping and arrangement of buildings. The landscape moves from a formal urban edge through a central open space into a natural, biodiverse environment adjacent to the canal. Well-defined public spaces and pedestrian/cycle routes enable strong connectivity with the city.”