Brookland Road, Leicester

Brookland Road is a 248-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme located within close proximity to both the University of Leicester and De Montfort University. Positioned near Victoria Park and a range of local amenities, the development provides a well-connected and vibrant living environment for students.

The scheme comprises a mix of construction types, including a six-storey light gauge steel frame modular building and two five-storey loadbearing masonry blocks. Farrow Walsh provided structural, civil, drainage, infrastructure, and transport engineering services to support the delivery of the development.

The site was heavily constrained, with varying ground levels resulting from a historic clay extraction pit associated with a former brick factory. This created inconsistent ground conditions across the site.

In addition, multiple large diameter public sewers ran through the development footprint, requiring coordination and protection throughout the design and construction process. The site also required the phased demolition of existing industrial buildings and management of contaminated ground. Farrow Walsh advised on the phased demolition strategy to enable safe redevelopment while maintaining protection of live sewer infrastructure.

A piled foundation solution was developed to address the varying ground conditions. The structural design combined modular light gauge steel framing with traditional masonry construction to suit the different building elements and optimise delivery.

Close coordination was undertaken with statutory authorities to manage the existing sewer infrastructure, alongside the design of drainage and infrastructure systems tailored to the constrained site. This integrated approach enabled the successful delivery of a high-density student scheme on a complex urban site.