Highcross John Lewis Car Park

Contemporary car park in harmony with Leicester’s ancient history

AWARDS: Large Scheme of the Year Award in the 2008 ProCon Leicestershire Property and Construction Awards

THE PROJECT: The Highcross John Lewis Car Park project was part of Hammerson’s ambitious £350million shopping centre development, increasing the new centre’s car parking capacity by 2,000 spaces. Pick Everard developed detailed designs for the three dimensional masterpiece designed to echo the calibre of the eye-catching John Lewis building opposite. Pick Everard was able to demonstrate its respect for the ancient past when University of Leicester archaeologists made an unexpected discovery during construction - the remains of a Roman townhouse and the 15th century church of St Michael’s. The significance of these finds called for a considerable re-design of the original car park plans, including its substructure and pilings. The end result is a unique, contemporary car park in harmony with an archaeologically significant piece of Leicester’s ancient history. It seems ironic that Leicester’s past was always on the car park’s design agenda – the distinctive, bespoke metal cladding forming a hexagonal weaved pattern, is inspired by Leicester’s textile industry heritage.

PICK EVERARD’S ROLE: Architectural Design
VALUE: £30 million