Skip to main contentCambridge University Reporter

No 6572

Wednesday 15 January 2020

Vol cl No 14

pp. 180–191

Reports

Second-stage Report of the Council on the refurbishment of 1 Regent Street for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

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

1. In this Report the Council is seeking approval for the refurbishment of 1 Regent Street as new accommodation for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and a sustainable business hub, as set out below.

2. A First-stage Report for this project was published on 1 May 2019 (Reporter, 6545, 2018–19, p. 496) and approved by Grace 1 of 22 May 2019. This Second-stage Report is to inform the Regent House about further development of the project and to seek approval for refurbishment to proceed.

3. The 1 Regent Street site was formerly occupied by Cambridge Assessment. Furness Lodge has been sold to Emmanuel College and a long lease has been granted for the current car park to the same College.

4. The project will deliver a newly refurbished building to house CISL and a Sustainability Business Hub and Accelerator. CISL currently occupy premises in a number of different city centre buildings. The refurbished building will provide a net internal area of 2,254m2 across six levels. CISL will occupy 882m2 and the sustainable business hub will occupy 1,089m2. There will be 283m2 of space shared between CISL and the sustainable business hub and other usage.

5. The project will be the first project delivered to Passivhaus1 and BREEAM Outstanding standard2 in the University estate in order to improve energy efficiency levels in retrofitted buildings and in keeping with the mission of CISL. It will also target the WELL standard for health and well-being in buildings.3 The project will thus make a significant contribution to the University’s commitment to reduce its energy-related carbon emissions to absolute zero by 2048. It is also expected to be an exemplar of technology innovation.

6. Cycle parking will be provided to the rear of the building. There will be two disabled car parking spaces and one electric pool car parking space.

7. In accordance with the Capital Projects Process, a Full Case was prepared by CISL and was approved by the Planning and Resources Committee on 11 December 2019. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be £10.07m including furniture and equipment. The capital cost will be funded as follows: a benefaction from Envision Energy (£6m), a grant from the European Structural Investment Fund (£2m), and CISL reserves (£2.07m). On completion, the building will be renamed the Entopia Building.

8. The capital cost of £10.07m includes £610,000 for furniture and IT/AV equipment costs. The project will be a case study for the Circular Economy, therefore CISL will re-use the furniture left in the building by Cambridge Assessment as much as possible.

9. The refurbishment works are expected to commence in February 2020 and take around nine months. CISL is expected to be in occupation by late 2020.

10. 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.

11.The Council recommends:

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

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

15 January 2020

Stephen Toope,Vice-Chancellor

Anthony Freeling

Jeremy Morris

Madeleine Atkins

Nicholas Gay

Edward Parker Humphreys

Gaenor Bagley

David Greenaway

Richard Penty

Alessandro Ceccarelli

Jennifer Hirst

Andrew Sanchez

R. Charles

Nicholas Holmes

Mark Wormald

Poppy Cockburn

Fiona Karet

Jocelyn Wyburd

Stephen J. Cowley

Christopher Kelly

Sharon Flood

Mark Lewisohn

Location plan: 1 Regent Street