New biomedical campus unveiled

Countryside Properties, Liberty Property Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have secured planning consent for the development of 70 acres of land adjacent to the existing Addenbrooke’s Hospital on the Southern Fringe of Cambridge.

The scheme will include some 2.3 million sq ft of new biomedical research and development space and further clinical development to accommodate the expansion of the existing Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Proposals also include a new learning centre, conference and hotel facilities, as well as additional retail accommodation serving the site.

The entire Campus is set to become one of the leading centres for medical and biomedical research and development in Europe as well as an academic clinical centre of international stature. The UK is already the largest bio-tech market in Europe raising more money than any other European country for research in this field, and Cambridge is the centre of the biomedical industry in the UK.

“The Cambridge Biomedical Campus”, as it will be called, will incorporate existing facilities, building upon the 9 major research institutes already on the site which include Cancer Research UK Centre, the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, The Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, The Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, the University of Cambridge’s School of Clinical Medicine, as well as a new 27,000 sq m Laboratory of Molecular Biology, designed by RMJM Architects for the Medical Research Council, to be constructed as the first phase of the Countryside/Liberty development.

The world renowned Papworth Hospital has also announced its intention to relocate to the site. This will enable better integration of clinical services with Addenbrooke’s and greater investment in research in these fields.

Countryside Properties has also submitted a planning application for major new housing proposals at Clay Farm, which, together with other proposed housing schemes in the Southern Fringe, will provide 3,000 – 3,500 new homes.

Cambridgeshire County Council is already constructing a new road providing access into the site from the Hauxton Road and Junction 11 of the M11 Motorway. The new Cambridge Guided Bus route will also serve the site.

Works on the new road are due to complete in 2009 and it is envisaged that the first new research and development buildings on the Campus will be completed in 2010.

The landowners were advised throughout by Bidwells. Savills acted for Addenbrooke’s Hospital.