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Report of the Council on the construction of new laboratories and offices at Strangeways Research Laboratory

The COUNCIL beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. It is proposed to construct a new laboratory and offices of 1,888 sq.m. gross area on the Strangeways Laboratory Site at the intersection of Worts Causeway and Babraham Road as shown on the accompanying plan.

2. The laboratory will comprise a single storey extension to the existing Strangeways building with a basement and plant and storage in the roof space. The office will be a separate structure over two floors with plant and archiving in the roof space and a link to the existing building at ground floor level.

3. The buildings will allow groups within the School of Clinical Medicine (the Institute of Public Health (IPH), the Departments of Oncology and Genetics) to carry out genetic epidemiology work at Strange-ways Research Laboratory. The work will combine epidemiology and molecular genetics to study, at the population level, susceptibility to adult onset diseases, interactions between genes and environment, and the applications for screening and prevention. The existing building at Strangeways accommodates sixty researchers in genetic epidemiology and other support staff together with large-scale facilities for the reception, processing, and storage of biological samples. The additional space is required for provision of a high-throughput genotyping facility to process large numbers of analyses; for computing and bioinformatics resources to receive the data; and for research scientists related to this activity to collaborate with their colleagues in other areas of the School of Clinical Medicine and integrate the two disciplines in a unique and relevant way on the site. The new laboratory will accommodate eighteen permanent staff including three senior scientists. The new office will accommodate fifty permanent staff including six senior scientists.

4. Provision of these new facilities will significantly raise the profile of the University as a major leading international institution in research, development, and provision of genetic analysis. The University will further become a key stakeholder in further research projects of the Medical Research Council (MRC) following on from the Human Genome Project. It is expected that the University will attract significant funding over the next five years from the MRC's £60m allocation for research of this type. One of the projects will be the MRC Millennium Cohort which will carry out a study of a total population of 500,000 in five centres, each of which will study a population of 100,000. It is proposed that one of these five centres will be in the new facilities at Strangeways Research Laboratory and work is due to commence in 2003.

5. The project was originally the subject of a JIF application in 1999 which was unsuccessful but was recommended for SRIF funding. An outline planning consent was obtained from Cambridge City Council at the same time. A SRIF application was made in June 2001 based on revised proposals which took into account certain changes requested by the IPH and the Department of Oncology, the intention being to make the scheme better suited to the research which will take place. This resulted in the buildings design changing to an extent which requires a new planning application to be submitted. The new layouts, with the removal of a first floor from the laboratory, are an improvement in planning terms and have taken into account many of the objections of local residents. The new application is not considered to be contentious, but will require a Section 106 agreement for a green travel plan, contribution to the Southern Corridor Area Transport Plan (SCATP), and occupier restriction ensuring that the buildings will be used for research or sui generis purposes only. An estimate of SCATP contribution is included in the project budget.

6. The SRIF application was successful and an amount of £4.5m was awarded which included £330,000 specifically for computing equipment, freezer storage of samples, and genotyping facilities. The project budget is £5.67m and the balance has been made up by private donations of £1.5m to the School of Clinical Medicine. The project is currently designed to RIBA Stage D and a report is shortly to be circulated to the Representative Users for their comment and approval. Submission of the new planning application is imminent.

7. The new buildings will be constructed on land in the freehold ownership of the Strangeways Charitable Trust and the University will negotiate with the Trustees for a ground lease for a minimum of forty years although sixty years would correspond to the minimum life expectancy of the new buildings. Running costs for the new buildings including the ground rent on the land, likely service charges (to cover rates, maintenance, and some services) and utilities are expected to be in the order of £80,000 a year. This figure will be clarified as Heads of Terms are agreed with the Trustees. The lease will also cover the management of the new buildings which will either be directly by the University or by the Lessor against a charge to the University. These matters are in hand and will be substantially completed before the University enters into a contract for the construction of the buildings. It is anticipated that the 'post genome' research programmes will increase significantly with the provision of this new facility. Portions of the grants allocated to overheads will be recovered to the chest to cover the recurrent costs.

8. The Council recommend:

I. That approval be given for construction of the new laboratory and offices as proposed in this Report.

II. That the Treasurer be authorized to accept a tender for construction of the buildings and all associated works subject to costs remaining within the project budget.

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Cambridge University Reporter, 27 February 2002
Copyright © 2001 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.