£40M joint venture to start for University of Cambridge

Hill Residential and Homerton College venture will provide new accommodation.

Work is set to start on a £40M joint venture at the University of Cambridge to provide student accommodation as part of a mixed use scheme. 

Granted planning permission in February, the joint venture is with Hill Residential and Homerton College who own the land. 

The layout at Harrison Drive has distinct buildings that form the western and southern edges of a shared landscaped amenity space which will be enclosed by the new student accommodation to the north and at the east, a converted teaching building. 

A total of 95 new homes will be built on this “important project”, comprising a mixture of apartments and large family homes. Local policies will be complied with, therefore ensuring 40% of the properties are affordable housing. As a result, 38 are affordable homes for Cambridgeshire City Council.  

The accommodation consists of 87 homes that range of one-, two-, three-bedroom apartments and maisonettes, along with eight four- and five-bedroom houses. 

This is the first partnership between Hill and Homerton College, and Deborah Griffin, Bursar of the college, explained why Hill was the ideal partner for the scheme. 

She said: “We chose to partner with Hill on this development as we wanted to create an exceptional residential development. 

“As the college will be the freeholder and neighbours, it was important that we could be proud of the design and quality of the construction.” 

Apartments will be arranged in three pavilion blocks facing onto the adjoining railway edge and the development will benefit from green open space. 

All properties will have, depending on the type of home it is, a patio, balcony or private garden. 

Rob Hall is the Deputy Manager of Hill, and he outlined the priority for the development, adding: “While we are currently working alongside the university on the North West Cambridge development, this is a rare opportunity to collaborate directly with the university’s largest college, and we are thrilled to have been chosen on such an important project. 

“We have a proven track record of building award winning design-focused developments and it is the architecture of the scheme which really sets it apart. 

“Our priority was to ensure that the new buildings sit sensitively within the existing surroundings, so we were delighted when the planning committee called the plans ‘well thought’ and ‘a very good design’.”

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