Tuesday 1 October 2013

It's Been Hot Town Summer in The City

There was no summer slouching on the development front in Cambridge.

In fact, the locations of many of the buildings are contributing to creating new frontiers in the city’s expansion or, at least, new gateways.

The remodelling of the city’s Newmarket Road spine is forging ahead with the new 219-bed Travelodge opened last month (August) as part of the vision for the Eastern Gateway and work on the new Premier Inn is underway here too. The Travelodge is financed and owned by the Charities Property Fund – whose investor base includes substantial representation by the Cambridge colleges - and, on the occasion of the opening, the Fund referenced the value of such a freehold interest in a ‘development constrained centre such as Cambridge’.

The early part of the summer saw the ceremonial ground-breaking at another new frontier in the city with work-on site well underway on Phase 1 of North West Cambridge. This £1 billion development by the University of Cambridge will eventually see a 150 hectare mixed-use development on land around the Huntingdon Road and Madingley Road routes.

The University also moved forward on its preparation of proposals for the redevelopment of its New Museums Site campus on Pembroke Street in the heart of the city.

Also in the historic core of the city, on Trumpington Street, The Cambridge Judge Business School – previously known as the Judge Institute of Management Studies – appointed a project team to advise on proposals for its £30 million expansion project.

As the summer really hotted-up in July, the planning application was submitted for the city’s second railway station. Known as Cambridge Science Park Railway Station, the transport interchange will form an integral part of the redevelopment of Cambridge’s northern fringe which is envisaged will see the creation of new, high quality B1 commercial space complementing the existing business and science park locations in this part of the city.

And speaking of this part of the city, July also saw the announcement of outline planning permission being granted for three plots of Phase VI at the Cambridge Science Park which, in total, will add 13,800 sq m of brand new office and research & development space in this internationally renowned location.

Over at Cambridge’s first railway station, developer Brookgate is working to bring forward one of the next phases of CB1: numbers 50 & 60 Station Road. Spread over eight floors, 50 Station Road will give 62, 840 sq ft and 60 Station Road will be a significant 68, 254 sq ft of much-needed, Grade A accommodation in the centre of this world-class city.

News recently of AstraZeneca increasing its requirement at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus on the Addenbrooke’s site to 800,000 sq ft from the earlier figure of 650,000 sq ft.

Institutional investors, financiers and developers are doing what they can to maximise the property potential in the city’s ‘development constrained centre’ and its outer fringes.

Hot town summer in the city, indeed. Despite the past summer’s heat, it’s been alright for those of us with development and property interests here.


Will Mooney MRICS
Partner

Commercial, Cambridge

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