Work is to begin this month on a £47 million regeneration project in Leicester.

Morgan Sindall has been appointed to deliver the mixed-use scheme across a four-and-half-acre site located off Vaughan Way.

Plans include building two new hotels – one six storey and one ten storey; 35,000 sq ft of office space, and a new public realm area, called Great Central Square. The scheme will be carried out alongside the regeneration of the former Leicester Central train station and creation of a new car park for the hotels and office, which developer Charles Street Buildings (CSB) will undertake itself.

In addition, Morgan Sindall will carry out a £3 million programme of highway improvements to Vaughan Way and Grand Central Station Street.

Leicester City Council has also commissioned infrastructure upgrades as part of its wider Connecting Leicester programme, which aims to improve links between key city areas. A 'super-crossing' will be built over Vaughan Way, linking the new mixed-use development with the existing Highcross shopping centre.

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Sean Bowles, Managing Director of Morgan Sindall in the Midlands, said: "Leicester is riding a wave of optimism and prosperity, on the back of a resurgent tourist industry.

"We worked closely with the city council to successfully deliver the Richard III visitor centre, which has helped maximise interest in the historic find. We're incredibly pleased to be working with them, and with CSB, to deliver both this landmark scheme and the programme of important infrastructure upgrades.

"It will breathe new life into the Great Central station area and substantially improve the accommodation offer for visitors to the city."

Joseph Murphy, Director at CSB, said: "We're very pleased to have appointed Morgan Sindall to deliver this landmark development which is set to drive much-needed regeneration in the Waterside area.

"Critical to the success of the scheme, and the resurgence of this part of Leicester, is the super crossing which will reconnect the site with the Highcross shopping centre and the rest of the city.

"To get to this stage is testament to a pro-business local authority working collaboratively with a developer with long established local roots, and a main contractor with the dual capability to deliver an ambitious mixed-used scheme and a programme of infrastructure works."

Work on the mixed-use development will begin in March with completion expected by the end of 2019.

(LM)