diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 599997e647ecb00d1b6466b7215cac19435d0419..4e1b76a51fef019a747fd15f9037ab67a5469ab9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # v1.3.0 (in development)
 **User Facing**
+* Check Design File for spaces in name and file contents
 
 **Background**
 * Add Nextflow Tower integration into CI (GHH's profile)
diff --git a/workflow/main.nf b/workflow/main.nf
index 8862991d57eec85dae8d55ecc7ac7001a187e671..37841165a1d4172e16210f0039670484ee020d5b 100755
--- a/workflow/main.nf
+++ b/workflow/main.nf
@@ -87,7 +87,11 @@ process checkDesignFile {
     """
     hostname
     ulimit -a
-    python3 ${baseDir}/scripts/check_design.py -d ${designLocation} -f ${fastqList}
+    noSpaceDesign=\$(echo "${designLocation}" | tr -d ' ')
+    if [[ "\${noSpaceDesign}" != "${designLocation}" ]]; then
+      mv "${designLocation}" "\${noSpaceDesign}"
+    fi
+    python3 ${baseDir}/scripts/check_design.py -d \${noSpaceDesign} -f ${fastqList}
     """
 
 }
@@ -353,4 +357,4 @@ process multiqc {
     multiqc -c ${multiqcConf} .
     """
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/workflow/scripts/check_design.py b/workflow/scripts/check_design.py
index c5c679e58b2819e6fafb4f34e6181cdd62f8cdbd..4a4d84c80f74098e709817794218a29b7cec6b60 100755
--- a/workflow/scripts/check_design.py
+++ b/workflow/scripts/check_design.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def main():
     logger.addHandler(handler)
 
     # Read files as dataframes
-    design_df = pd.read_csv(args.design, sep=',')
+    design_df = pd.read_csv(args.design, sep=',', converters={'Sample': str.strip, 'fastq_R1': str.strip, 'fastq_R2': str.strip})
     fastq_df = pd.read_csv(args.fastq, sep='\t', names=['name', 'path'])
 
     # Check design file
@@ -107,4 +107,4 @@ def main():
     new_design_df.to_csv('design.checked.csv', header=True, sep=',', index=False)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    main()
\ No newline at end of file
+    main()