New Cambridge science building looks like "angry hippo"
What do you think?
A new Cambridge science building has been described as looking like an “angry hippo”, before councillors asked the developer to look at the plans again.
Councillors from Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have deferred making a decision on plans to demolish and redevelop an office building in Milton Road.
The replacement building was proposed to offer office and laboratory space, which the developer said there was ‘strong demand’ for in the city.
A cafe was also proposed for both future employees and the public to use. The new building was also proposed to provide 45 car parking spaces and 313 cycle parking spaces.
At a joint development control committee this week (October 18), a representative of the applicant, Kadans Science Partner 9 Limited, said the proposals represented part of the company’s “long term commitment to Cambridge”.
They said there was currently an undersupply of office and laboratory space in the city, and said there would be ‘strong demand’ for the building.
They said: “Tenants for these buildings need quality design and the building sets the bar for further developments in the area.
“The scheme provides job creation, when this building is fully occupied this building will provide up to 800 jobs of which 40 per cent are expected to be less than degree qualified, giving opportunities to all areas of the community.
“During construction we estimate that this will employ 200 jobs and a preferred contractor is committed to support local communities and colleges.
“The community benefits for the scheme is to provide a new community cafe for both the employees and the community to enjoy.”
The proposed building would sit within North East Cambridge, an area of the city where the city and district councils have set out hopes to create jobs and build thousands of new homes.
The authorities have put together an ‘area action plan’ setting out the future vision for the area.
Councillor Dr Tumi Hawkins said the development had been “picky” about what areas of the plan were followed and said it was “sticking two fingers up at the city and South Cambs”.
She said: “The proposals have been selective with responding to the area action plan, I note it has been given little weight, but that concerns me, because that is the vision that both councils have for that area.
“When you look at the plan this section is supposed to be residential; this is now proposed for commercial office use.”
Officers explained that while the area action plan had been signed off by both councils, the process had been paused in order to wait for the outcome of Anglian Water’s application to relocate the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Works.
They said that until that process had concluded they were only able to give “limited weight” to the plan.
Councillor Katie Porrer said she thought the building looked like an “angry hippo”. She described the layout as “all backwards”, explaining that the “natural entrance” to the site for people to arrive on foot, or cycling was proposed to be the only car entrance.
Councillor Katie Thornburrow said she was concerned about the lack of external space proposed for employees to be able to use within the development.
Concerns were also raised about the number of trees proposed to be cut down under the plans.
Councillor Anna Bradnam asked for the developer to consider looking again at the plans to see if it was possible to keep more of the trees and hedges that are currently there.
A suggestion was made to defer making a decision on the application in order to ask the developer to look at making potential changes to the plans to address some of the councillor concerns.
When this was put to a vote a majority of councillors agreed to defer the application.