Architectural designs for the new post-graduate student accommodation for the University of Cambridge at the North West Cambridge Development have been approved by the local planning authorities.
Designed by the Cambridge-based architectural firm, RH Partnership, the student accommodation buildings for up to 325 post-graduates have been inspired by the traditional collegiate architecture in Cambridge.
The proposals include accommodation within three open-sided courts of individual character and a series of three to five storey buildings that will define the strong street frontages.
Roger Taylor, Project Director of the North West Cambridge Development said "The designs for the post-graduate student accommodation naturally reflect the architectural language of the city and Cambridge colleges, whilst working to achieve high levels of sustainability and creating a great place for future students to live. These are the first buildings in Phase One that have received planning approval and they reflect the characteristics of the masterplan, which is to create a new, cohesive urban extension to Cambridge.”
Andrew Drummond, Project Associate from RH Partnership explained: “The last 18 months has seen an exciting and often challenging collaboration between the architectural, masterplanning and technical teams, working closely together to create an elegant extension to our city. The traditional sequence and hierarchy of spaces within existing collegiate sites in Cambridge was the inspiration for the series of courts and landscaped garden spaces within our proposals, which creates clusters of post-graduate rooms forming varying sizes of houses. The proposal uses a simple palette of materials which draws on the underlying grain and character of Cambridge architecture.”
Phase one of the development will include 325 post-graduate student bedspaces of the 2,000 that was agreed as part of the outline planning permission in February 2013. This accommodation will enable new communities to be formed at a scale similar to the central college sites and is vital to meet the University’s need for growth of the post-graduate population. The design incorporates high levels of cycle parking to enable students and others to travel sustainably, as well as sensitive landscaping and pathways to nurture a strong sense of connectivity, and will meet the BREEAM Excellent standard.
The Joint Development Control Committee granted planning consent for the Reserved Matters Application for Lot 5 of the North West Cambridge Development on 18 December 2013. The subsequent Reserved Matters Applications for the remainder of Phase One of the North West Cambridge Development will continue to be determined throughout 2014. Works on infrastructure will take place in 2014 and phased completions will begin from 2015.
