Skip to main contentCambridge University Reporter

No 6455

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Vol cxlvii No 21

pp. 359–369

Reports

First-stage Report of the Council on the construction of a new Cavendish Laboratory in West Cambridge

The Council begs leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In this Report the Council is seeking approval in principle for the construction of a new building on the West Cambridge site to replace six existing buildings which form part of the Cavendish Laboratory’s current accommodation.

2. The project outlined in this Report (‘Cavendish III’) will complete the rebuilding of the Cavendish Laboratory’s accommodation at West Cambridge by replacing ageing and inflexible accommodation in six existing buildings1 with a new, integrated research and teaching building so that the vast majority of the Department of Physics’ research, teaching, impact, and outreach activities will be accommodated in three large complexes at West Cambridge/Madingley Rise,2 offering unrivalled facilities for the benefit and advance of research in Cambridge and in the UK.

3. The new building will include Laser Optic, Microscopy, Cryostat, General Assembly and other specialist laboratories and clean rooms, teaching facilities – including teaching labs, seminar rooms, and two lecture theatres – academic and administration offices, workshops, and ancillary facilities. A key objective is to create facilities which are sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of Physics research for the next 50 years. The target for Cavendish III is to achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard.

4. As well as being the focus of Physics research and teaching at Cambridge, Cavendish III will act as a university-based national facility for physics, supporting the endeavours of all UK physics departments through collaborations and other initiatives to make facilities in Cavendish III available to the wider physics community. Cavendish III will be a world-leading national facility for UK physics, supporting many different models of collaboration with universities, national institutions, and industrial organizations.

5. Cavendish III is a key part of the University’s strategy to create a Physical Science and Technology campus at West Cambridge. The close proximity of the disciplines of physics, astronomy, chemistry, materials science, earth science, engineering, mathematics, and computing will strengthen existing collaborations and foster new types of interdisciplinary research. In a very practical sense, Cavendish III will enable the full integration of the Department of Engineering in West Cambridge, part of which will be built on the site of the existing Cavendish Laboratory.

6. The new Cavendish building will be approximately 33,000m2 gross internal area and will be located on the East Paddocks site to the west of JJ Thomson Avenue and to the north of a new open space. This site offers the prime location in West Cambridge for the ultra-low vibration capability required in Cavendish III. The Department of Veterinary Medicine will continue to operate in its current location and more intensively use the West Paddocks. The existing Merton Hall Farmhouse falls within the development footprint of Cavendish III and is planned to be demolished. The Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Centre currently accommodated in the farmhouse will be re‑located to alternative accommodation at West Cambridge.

7. The capital cost of the proposed development is estimated to be £300m. The project will be funded by a government investment of £75m announced in the Autumn Statement 2015,3 matched by a cash contribution from the University of £75m. A further substantial philanthropic gift, currently worth in the region of £150m, has been committed for the benefit of the Department of Physics. The terms around the specific purpose and timing of this gift are still under discussion and therefore the University has agreed to underwrite the donation in the first instance to enable the project to proceed with certainty on a timetable to deliver the completed building by 2021. The government funding for the project is expected to have been spent by March 2020.

8. A provisional estimate of the cost of essential new furniture and IT and AV equipment for Cavendish III and the cost of moving existing scientific and other equipment, people, and operations out of Cavendish II into the new building is £15m. This initial estimate will be refined with the development of a detailed decant plan during the next phase of design development. Funding to cover the costs of the move is expected to come from funds available to the Department of Physics.

9. Beyond this, the Department’s general approach is to decant and re-use existing scientific equipment in Cavendish III, and to replace this over time in accordance with regular practice for replacing and acquiring new equipment. Funding for specialist equipment will, as now, come from a variety of sources including research grants, government schemes, collaborative programmes with high-tech industries, philanthropic donations, eligible trust funds, and central University funds for equipment.

10. A Concept Case for the project was approved by the Planning and Resources Committee on 1 February 2017. Further details relating to the design, maintenance, capital, and recurrent costs of the project and sources of funding will be brought to future meetings of the Buildings Committee and the Planning and Resources Committee. A Full Case will be prepared and a Second-stage Report will be published in due course to seek approval for implementation of the project.

11. A Full planning application will be prepared for the scheme which is consistent with, but separate from, the Outline planning application for West Cambridge (Reporter, 6387, 2014–15, p. 544) which has yet to be determined by the Local Planning Authority (LPA). The strategy to submit a Full planning application for Cavendish III rather than wait to submit a Reserved Matters Application under the Outline consent has been agreed with the LPA and is intended to provide greater certainty over the timetable for the project.

12. There will be extensive cycle parking located close to the entrance and arrival points of the new building. Disabled parking and parking for maintenance vehicles will also be provided within the curtilage of the Cavendish III site. Site-wide car parking will be developed in accordance with the West Cambridge Site Masterplan. Contractor parking during the construction of Cavendish III will be controlled through a construction phase management plan to be agreed during the contractor procurement process. The management plan will control construction logistics to minimize impact on existing activities on the West Cambridge site.

13. A plan showing the location of the proposed building is shown below. Drawings of the proposed development are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade and are reproduced online at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/cam-only/offices/planning/building/plans_and_drawings/.

14. The Council recommends:

I. That approval in principle be given for the construction of a new Cavendish Laboratory building in West Cambridge.

II. That the Director of Estate Strategy be authorized to apply for detailed planning approval in due course.

14 February 2017

L. K. Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor

Amatey Doku

Michael Proctor

Chad Allen

Nicholas Gay

John Shakeshaft

Ross Anderson

Nicholas Holmes

Susan Smith

Richard Anthony

Alice Hutchings

Sara Weller

R. Charles

Stuart Laing

Mark Wormald

Stephen. J. Cowley

Susan Oosthuizen

Jocelyn Wyburd

Footnotes

  • 1Mott Building, Bragg Building, Link Building, Rutherford Building, Kapitza Building, Microelectronics Research Centre. The retention/demolition strategy for these buildings once they have been vacated by the Department of Physics will be determined by the West Cambridge Site Board.


  • 2(1) Cavendish III, (2) Physics of Medicine/Maxwell Centre, (3) Kavli Institute/Battcock Centre.


  • 3Subject to final approval of the Business Case by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.


Location plan for the proposed new Cavendish Laboratory in West Cambridge

Second-stage Report of the Council on the construction of a new building for the Department of Engineering in West Cambridge

The Council begs leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In this Report the Council is seeking approval for the construction of a new building in West Cambridge to accommodate the National Research Facility for Infrastructure Sensing and the Department of Engineering’s Geotechnical and Structures research activities (together the ‘Civil Engineering building’).

2. A First-stage Report for this project was published on 15 June 2016 (Reporter, 6430, 2015–16, p. 643) and approved by Grace 9 of 13 July 2016. This Second-stage Report is to inform the Regent House about further development of the scheme and to seek approval for construction to proceed.

3. The National Research Facility for Infrastructure Sensing (NRFIS) will be an interdisciplinary UK Centre for sensors and instrumentation for infrastructure monitoring and assessment hosted by the University of Cambridge, as part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC). The Civil Engineering building will be key to the Future Cities mission of the Department of Engineering. In addition to the core NRFIS facilities, the Civil Engineering building will include workspace for researchers and significant new laboratory facilities – including a Large Scale Infrastructure Testing Laboratory and a Severe Environment Testing facility – to replace ageing facilities at Trumpington Street.

4. The Civil Engineering building will comprise a gross internal area of 4,376m2 extending over three floors and a small basement and will provide flexible laboratory, research, and office space that can be repurposed as priorities evolve in the future. The building is expected to achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard. The carbon and operational energy performance of the building has been optimized using a bespoke energy metric developed by the Department of Engineering.

5. The Civil Engineering building will be located behind the Roger Needham and Electrical Engineering buildings on the eastern edge of the West Cambridge site. Recent survey evidence suggests that car parking provision across West Cambridge is under-utilized. With some re‑allocation of spaces within the Park and Cycle area, sufficient car parking exists across West Cambridge to mitigate the loss of spaces associated with the Civil Engineering building and to meet the likely parking requirement of users of the new building. This situation will be kept under review. Ample cycle parking is proposed at the front of the building close to the entrance.

6. In accordance with the Capital Projects Process, a Full Case was prepared by the Department of Engineering and subsequently approved by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) on 7 February 2017 under delegated authority granted by the Planning and Resources Committee at its meeting on 19 October 2016.

7. This project will be funded by a grant from the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) of £18m matched by an allocation of £18m from the University’s Capital Fund. The Department of Engineering will underwrite the cost of fit-out and relocation of the Civil Engineering operations from Trumpington Street to the new building, estimated to be £1m.

8. Construction will be carried out in two phases. Enabling works will be undertaken to prepare the site and implement essential infrastructure funded as part of the West Cambridge site infrastructure works. These works are expected to start in spring 2017. The main works to deliver the new Civil Engineering building are expected to start in August/September 2017. The project is planned to be completed by mid-2019.

9. A plan showing the location of the proposed new building is shown below (p. 365). Drawings of the proposed development are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade and are reproduced online at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/cam-only/offices/planning/building/plans_and_drawings/.

10. The Council recommends:

I. That approval is confirmed for the construction works outlined in this Report.

II. That the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) be authorized to accept a tender for the works, within the available funding, in due course.

14 February 2017

L. K. Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor

Amatey Doku

Michael Proctor

Chad Allen

Nicholas Gay

John Shakeshaft

Ross Anderson

Nicholas Holmes

Susan Smith

Richard Anthony

Alice Hutchings

Sara Weller

R. Charles

Stuart Laing

Mark Wormald

Stephen. J. Cowley

Susan Oosthuizen

Jocelyn Wyburd

Location plan for the proposed new building in West Cambridge for the Department of Engineering