No 6490
Wednesday 10 January 2018
Vol cxlviii No 14
pp. 268–305
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 on the West Cambridge site to replace six existing buildings which form part of the Cavendish Laboratory’s current accommodation.
2. A First-stage Report for this project was published on 15 February 2017 (Reporter, 6455, 2016–17, p. 362) and approved by Grace 1 of 15 March 2017. 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 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 Together, these will offer unrivalled facilities for the benefit and advance of Cambridge and UK research.
4. 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. 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 physics departments in other UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through collaborations and other initiatives to make facilities in Cavendish III available to the wider physics community.
5. Cavendish III will be located on the East Paddocks site to the west of JJ Thomson Avenue and to the north of a new open space (JJ Thomson Gardens) and new Shared Facilities Hub building (see the separate Report on p. 291). 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 will be demolished. The Multi-Faith Centre currently accommodated in the farmhouse will be re-located to alternative accommodation at West Cambridge. There will be various changes to the landscape features in the vicinity of Cavendish III including phased modifications to the existing access and parking arrangements for the Vet School.
6. The new building will comprise a gross internal area of approximately 33,000m2 extending over three floors, with a basement in approximately 15% of the footprint of the building. Four linked wings will house general and specialist laboratories and clean rooms, teaching labs, academic offices, workshops, and stores. A public wing will house two lecture theatres, seminar rooms, administration offices, and common room. Utilities buildings at the western edge of each wing will house plant, services, and gases equipment. A key objective of the design is to create facilities which are sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of physics research for the next 50 years.
7. There will be approximately 770 cycle parking spaces located close to the entrance and arrival points of the new building. Parking for service vehicles will be provided within the curtilage of the Cavendish III site. Disabled parking will be provided adjoining the site on JJ Thomson Avenue. Site-wide car parking will be developed in accordance with the West Cambridge Site Masterplan. Contractor parking and other construction logistics will be controlled through a construction management plan to mitigate the impact on existing activities in West Cambridge during the construction of Cavendish III.
8. The target for Cavendish III is to achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard. A ground source heat pump (GSHP) energy solution will be installed to optimize the carbon reduction and operational energy performance of the building. Cavendish III and the Shared Facilities Hub will share the same borehole array and will be connected to each other via a linked ground loop. This will secure construction economies and improve the efficiency of the GSHP system by linking buildings with different, but complementary, demand for baseload heating and cooling.
9. In accordance with the Capital Projects Process, a Full Case has been prepared by the Department of Physics and was approved by the Planning and Resources Committee on 13 December 2017.
10. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be £303.7m. This is £300m as reported in the First-stage Report plus an additional allocation of £3.7m agreed by the Planning and Resources Committee in June 2017 as a contribution to the cost of the GSHP. The project will be funded with a government investment of £75m (announced in the Autumn Statement 2015 and confirmed in December 2017), a contribution from the Capital Fund of £78.7m and philanthropic contributions of £150m. As part of the latter, a gift of £75m from the estate of the late Ray Dolby to the capital cost of the building has recently been announced. The philanthropic funding has been underwritten by the University to enable the project to proceed with certainty on a timetable to achieve expenditure of the government funding by March 2020.
11. A provisional estimate of the cost of new furniture, IT, and AV equipment for Cavendish III, and the cost of moving existing scientific and other equipment, people, and operations out of existing buildings into the new building is £15m. This initial estimate will be refined further with the development of a detailed decant plan during the next phase of project development. Funding to cover the costs of the move is expected to come from funds available to the Department of Physics.
12. 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 industry, philanthropic donations, eligible trust funds, and central university funds for equipment.
13. A Full planning application was submitted to the Local Planning Authority in October 2017. This is expected to be determined by March 2018. The planning application includes an extension to the eastern edge of the northern wing to provide for future expansion. Construction of this extension is not part of the scope of the current project.
14. Cavendish III is dependent on additional infrastructure being provided in the vicinity of the site (drainage, utilities, highways improvements, public realm, etc.). This infrastructure forms part of the additional infrastructure and amenity required to support delivery of the new masterplan for West Cambridge. The initial infrastructure required by the Cavendish III, Shared Facilities Hub and Civil Engineering Building3 projects is, in effect, advance works on the infrastructure required for the new masterplan for West Cambridge.4 Approval for expenditure totalling £45.25m for this initial phase of infrastructure as a charge on the West Cambridge Infrastructure fund account was agreed by the Planning and Resources Committee on 13 December 2017. A Concept Case under the Capital Projects Process will be brought forward for the full package of infrastructure once planning consent for the Outline application has been granted and the full extent of the infrastructure required for the new masterplan has been scoped and agreed.
15. Enabling works for Cavendish III are expected to start in 2018. The main construction works are expected to take three years and are due to be completed in 2022. The Department of Physics is expected to move in to Cavendish III in a phased decant programme concluding in 2023.
16. An access protocol, cost recovery model, and governance arrangements are being developed for the national facility aspects of the project. Once the new building is operational, researchers from non-collaborating HEIs will be able to access facilities in Cavendish III for up to 25% of the available time/capacity of these facilities. Providing access for other HEIs through such arrangements is a condition of the government funding for the project.
17. Drawings of the proposed development are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade and are reproduced online at https://www.prao.admin.cam.ac.uk/capital-planning/plans-and-drawings. A plan showing the location of the proposed new building is shown below.
18. The Council recommends:
I. That approval is confirmed for the construction works outlined in this Report, including the demolition of Merton Hall Farmhouse.
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.
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9 January 2018 |
Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor |
Nicholas Gay |
Jeremy Morris |
|
Ross Anderson |
David Greenaway |
Michael Proctor |
|
|
Richard Anthony |
Nicholas Holmes |
Sara Weller |
|
|
Stephen J. Cowley |
Alice Hutchings |
Mark Wormald |
|
|
Daisy Eyre |
Darshana Joshi |
Jocelyn Wyburd |
|
|
Anthony Freeling |
Fiona Karet |
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 and North West Cambridge Academic Board.
2(1) Cavendish III, (2) Physics of Medicine/Maxwell Centre, (3) Kavli Institute/Battcock Centre.
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 Shared Facilities Hub building on the West Cambridge site (‘the SFH Building’).
2. A First-stage Report for this project was published on 28 June 2017 (Reporter, 6471, 2016–17, p. 695) and approved by Grace 3 of 26 July 2017. 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 SFH Building will be a new multi-use facility at the heart of the West Cambridge site. It will be located on the East Paddocks site to the west of JJ Thomson Avenue and to the south of the new gardens (JJ Thomson Gardens) and the new Cavendish Laboratory building (see the separate Report on p. 289). The Department of Veterinary Medicine will continue to operate in its current location and more intensively use the West Paddocks.
4. The SFH Building will extend to three storeys and comprise approximately 4,650m2 of gross internal area. The accommodation to be provided will include: a shared library/learning information hub and study areas; shared teaching/meeting rooms; catering outlets and social space, to include a cafeteria and café bar; a retail space; and a pastoral/contemplation room. There is an external terrace on the first floor and the landscaped gardens to the north and east of the building are accessible directly from the cafeteria and café bar. A key objective is to create a versatile, flexible building which meets current needs and priorities and which is adaptable to meet different requirements in the future.
5. Up to 320 cycle parking spaces will be provided close to the building entrances and arrival points. Parking for service vehicles will be provided within the curtilage of the SFH Building site. Disabled parking will be provided adjoining the site on JJ Thomson Avenue. Site-wide car parking will be developed in accordance with the West Cambridge Site Masterplan. Contractor parking and other construction logistics will be controlled through a construction management plan to mitigate the impact on existing activities in West Cambridge during the construction of the SFH Building.
6. The target for the SFH Building is to achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard. A ground source heat pump (GSHP) energy solution will be installed to optimize the carbon reduction and operational energy performance of the building. Cavendish III and the Shared Facilities Hub will share the same borehole array and will be connected to each other via a linked ground loop. This will secure construction economies and improve the efficiency of the GSHP system by linking buildings with different, but complementary, demand for baseload heating and cooling.
7. In accordance with the Capital Projects Process, the Full Case for the project was approved by the Planning and Resources Committee on 13 December 2017.
8. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be £40m. This includes allowances for furniture and equipment, and IT and AV installations. £35m will be funded from the Capital Fund and £5m from philanthropic contributions.
9. The catering activities in the building are expected to cover their own costs but are not expected to generate a surplus sufficient to cover the entire running costs of the SFH Building. The net recurrent costs of the building are estimated to be around £0.5m per year at current prices. This cost is primarily the premises-related running costs of a building in which two of the three floors provide facilities which support core activities of the University – teaching spaces, library, and study areas – but which, in themselves, are mostly not income-generating.
10. Above all, the SFH Building is an investment in the amenity of the West Cambridge site. It addresses existing shortcomings and, by providing new shared facilities early in the next major phase of development, will enable savings on future projects through less duplication and more intensive use of facilities [in the SFH Building] in which the University has already invested.
11. A Full planning application was submitted to the Local Planning Authority in November 2017. This is expected to be determined by March 2018.
12. The SFH Building is dependent on additional infrastructure being provided in the vicinity of the site (drainage, utilities, highways improvements, public realm, etc.). This infrastructure forms part of the additional infrastructure and amenity required to support delivery of the new masterplan for West Cambridge. The initial infrastructure required by the Cavendish III, Shared Facilities Hub and Civil Engineering Building1 projects is, in effect, advance works on the infrastructure required for the new masterplan for West Cambridge.2 Approval for expenditure totalling £45.25m for this initial phase of infrastructure as a charge on the West Cambridge Infrastructure fund account was agreed by the Planning and Resources Committee on 13 December 2017. A Concept Case under the Capital Projects Process will be brought forward for the full package of infrastructure once planning consent for the Outline application has been granted and the full extent of the infrastructure required under the new masterplan has been scoped and agreed.
13. Enabling works for the SFH Building are expected to start in 2018. The main construction works are expected to take around two years and are due to be completed in 2021. Occupation of the SFH Building will be co-ordinated with on-going works on the Cavendish III building and JJ Thomson Gardens which are expected to be complete in 2022.
14. In addition to the kitchens required to service the catering outlets in the SFH Building itself, the SFH Building includes an area adjacent to the cafeteria kitchen which could be fitted out in the future as an alternative production kitchen to replace the University’s current Central Production Kitchen (CPK) located in the University Centre at Granta Place. The CPK space in the SFH Building will be built to shell and core only initially. The CPK can then be fitted out (or not) when production volumes increase with the further development of the site and/or once the future of the University Centre is clear. This area will be useable as storage space in the interim.
15. Following remarks on the First-stage Report,3 the Council notes the following: that a representative of the Department of Computer Science and Technology has joined the Shared Facilities Hub Representative User Group; that a dialogue between the West Cambridge Action Travel group and Estate Management has improved the provision for cyclists; and that the operating plan for the catering outlets anticipates a mixed economy of in-house and contracted-out provision in the two principal catering outlets in the early years.
16. Drawings of the proposed development are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade and are reproduced online at https://www.prao.admin.cam.ac.uk/capital-planning/plans-and-drawings. A plan showing the location of the proposed new building is shown below.
17. 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.
|
9 January 2018 |
Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor |
Nicholas Gay |
Jeremy Morris |
|
Ross Anderson |
David Greenaway |
Michael Proctor |
|
|
Richard Anthony |
Nicholas Holmes |
Sara Weller |
|
|
Stephen J. Cowley |
Alice Hutchings |
Mark Wormald |
|
|
Daisy Eyre |
Darshana Joshi |
Jocelyn Wyburd |
|
|
Anthony Freeling |
Fiona Karet |
The Council begs leave to report to the University as follows:
1. Facilities to meet the University’s needs for athletics, hockey, and general training are provided at the Wilberforce Road Sports Ground. These facilities are provided in addition to the amenities available at the University Sports Centre at West Cambridge, and the University Cricket Ground, the Indoor Cricket School, and University Lawn Tennis Club facilities at Fenner’s.
2. A First-stage Report on the construction of two additional synthetic hockey pitches at Wilberforce Road was submitted to the Regent House on 11 January 2017 (Reporter, 6450, 2016–17, p. 306) and approved by Grace 1 of 8 February 2017. 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. Two new sand-dressed pitches will be created, lit by LED floodlighting. The existing changing facilities will be remodelled and additional car and cycle parking provided. Planning approval was received from Cambridge City Council in June 2017. Initial archaeological excavations have identified the remains of a Roman farmhouse on the site; these will be investigated further before the main works commence.
4. The Full Case for the new facilities was approved by the Planning and Resources Committee on 13 December 2017. The estimated project cost is within the range £2,600,000 to £3,200,000. A philanthropic donation of £2,500,000 will be supplemented by a grant of £250,000 from Cambridge City Council and other funds available to the University Sports Service.
5. Drawings of the proposed scheme are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade and are reproduced online at https://www.prao.admin.cam.ac.uk/capital-planning/plans-and-drawings. A location plan is shown below.
6. The Council recommends:
I. That approval is given for the construction of additional hockey and changing facilities as described in this Report.
|
9 January 2018 |
Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor |
Nicholas Gay |
Jeremy Morris |
|
Ross Anderson |
David Greenaway |
Michael Proctor |
|
|
Richard Anthony |
Nicholas Holmes |
Sara Weller |
|
|
Stephen J. Cowley |
Alice Hutchings |
Mark Wormald |
|
|
Daisy Eyre |
Darshana Joshi |
Jocelyn Wyburd |
|
|
Anthony Freeling |
Fiona Karet |
