RHP proposals for the Lot 5 post-graduate student accommodation for the University of Cambridge at the North West Cambridge Development have been approved by the local planning authorities.
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.
