Building’s sister title Building Design will be electing a city as UK Design Capital of the Year as part of the Architect of the Year Awards 2025. This new award recognises outstanding leadership in architecture, placemaking and regeneration and looks beyond individual buildings to celebrate cities showing strategic ambition in shaping their built environment, from long-term masterplans to bold urban experiments.
Across the four shortlisted cities – Cambridge, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle – architects, planners and civic leaders are testing ideas that could set benchmarks for urban growth across the UK. In the first of this series, Ben Flatman takes a closer look at Cambridge to explore the projects, policies and partnerships driving its transformation
Cambridge’s identity as a city is indelibly linked to its status as one of the world’s great academic centres. For many, its ancient university conjures images of quadrangles and the Backs, set against the bicycle-paced calm of university life.
Its often wealthy colleges and generously supported faculties have long been the kind of clients which which top architectural practices aspire to work. From Wren to Stirling, right up to the present day, the city has been a brilliant patron of the UK’s top architectural talent.
Its built heritage is exceptional. The colleges have commissioned architecture of remarkable quality across centuries. But, with limited space inside the historic core, expansion since the 20th century has pushed Cambridge outwards, first into science parks and suburban estates, and now into more complex attempts at edge-of-city urbanism.
Since the mid-20th century, the city has seen significant growth at its edges, often in tandem with the university’s evolving research priorities. West Cambridge’s origins lie in the 1950s as a location for the university’s science faculties and laboratories.
Initially a collection of large-footprint research buildings, it is now being reshaped by a comprehensive masterplan which integrates academic, commercial and social spaces. New buildings such as Jestico + Whiles’ West Hub reflect a move towards creating a campus with a clearer sense of place.
The opening of Cambridge Science Park in 1970 marked a decisive step towards creating new employment centres beyond the historic core. Established by Trinity College on former farmland, it was conceived to bring industry, academia and government into closer alignment — an early physical manifestation of what would become known as “Silicon Fen”.
The first wave of buildings was architecturally modest, reflecting the park’s experimental beginnings, but subsequent phases have grown in ambition. Commissions from practices such as Scott Brownrigg have signalled a shift towards a more deliberate, design-led environment.
More recently, the city has been addressing the associated pressures that have come with economic success: population growth, housing pressure and infrastructure constraints. Cambridge’s history of commissioning good architecture has entered a new, unprecedentedly ambitious phase.
One of the clearest illustrations of this new ambition is Eddington, the University of Cambridge’s flagship north-west Cambridge development. Conceived to deliver thousands of homes alongside schools, retail and community spaces, it has attracted a roster of leading architects, including Alison Brooks, MUMA, Stanton Williams and Witherford Watson Mann.
The result is a mix of distinctive buildings and carefully considered public realm that sets a high benchmark for future growth.
With government backing for further expansion, there is also a chance to think differently. With Eddington already a rare example in the UK of a genuinely urban extension, Hawkins\Brown is now working on a new masterplan to densify the next phases.
Ian Bramwell, a director at Mole and a Cambridge native, welcomes the scale of ambition, arguing that greater density “will give Eddington more of the character of a European district within Cambridge”.
Architecture now sits at the heart of debates within the city, not just as a tool for accommodating growth, but as a means of stitching old and new together. The result is a city where some of the UK’s most thoughtful design practices are helping to shape a denser, more urban and more sustainable Cambridge.
Timeline: 60 years of design highs and lows
1960s: Cambridge begins to feel the limits of its historic core. Early discussions on containing growth through a green belt lead to its formal designation in 1965, setting the pattern for decades of planning restraint.
1970: The M11 motorway is approved, later improving links to London and stimulating pressure for more housing and business space.
1973: Cambridge Science Park is launched by Trinity College, pioneering the UK’s science park model and anchoring the city’s technology-led expansion.
1980s and 1990s: Expansion continues at the city’s edges, with business parks and suburban estates proliferating. Planning remains cautious about density, reinforcing car-based growth.
2000: CB1 masterplan at the station is approved. Intended to create a mixed-use gateway, it becomes a high-profile example of contested regeneration, criticised for poor public realm and lack of character.
2008: Accordia, designed by Alison Brooks Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Maccreanor Lavington, wins the Stirling Prize, setting a benchmark for high-quality, place-led housing in the UK.
2010: The university commits to Eddington, its major north-west Cambridge development, combining housing, academic facilities and infrastructure in a long-term institutional project.
2018: Marmalade Lane, the UK’s first large-scale cohousing scheme, completes. Designed by Mole Architects, it offers a model of resident-led, sustainable neighbourhood design.
2021: The Greater Cambridge Local Plan process begins, signalling a shift towards higher density and more urban growth patterns in response to housing and infrastructure pressures.
2023: The government unveils the Cambridge 2040 vision, proposing to double the population and “supercharge” the city’s role as a global science hub, sparking debate about water supply, transport and heritage.
2024: The Cambridge Delivery Group, chaired by Peter Freeman, is established to coordinate the city’s growth strategy and drive forward the Cambridge 2040 vision.
Vision and ambition
Cambridge has long been a national outlier – a small city with a global reach. But the scale of ambition now being set for its growth is without precedent.
Alongside the Greater Cambridge Local Plan, the government’s Cambridge 2040 initiative aims to “supercharge” the city’s role as a science and innovation capital. This includes proposals to significantly increase the population, a goal that has prompted the creation of the Cambridge Delivery Group, chaired by Peter Freeman, founder of Argent.
Bringing together national expertise in planning, infrastructure and development with the insight of local partners, the group’s remit spans everything from unlocking stalled sites to shaping new neighbourhoods and coordinating major transport and water projects. The aim is clear: to match Cambridge’s global reputation for innovation with a physical environment that can sustain it, creating well-designed, connected places that reflect the city’s unique character while supporting its next chapter of growth.
Still, a broader shift is underway. After decades of edge-of-city development and one-off science park buildings, Cambridge is now exploring higher-density, more urban models of growth in its centre.
Max Kettenacker, of Allies and Morrison, notes a “trend for intensification of the outer part of Cambridge” and a growing appetite for schemes that combine commercial development with placemaking and conservation. His practice’s own Brooklands project is a case in point: “You’re sort of negotiating the opportunity for growth in Cambridge and grade A space… with domestic settings and conservation area characteristics.”
Within the often uninspiring UK context for large-scale housing, Cambridge has also been at the forefront of exploring better, place-based models. The Stirling Prize-winning Accordia development, by Alison Brooks Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Maccreanor Lavington, set a national benchmark for integrating high-quality architecture with generous public realm.
More recently, Mole Architects’ Marmalade Lane introduced the UK’s first large-scale cohousing scheme, demonstrating how resident-led design can foster stronger communities and more sustainable ways of living. Together, they illustrate how the city has tested new approaches to neighbourhood-making that go beyond standard housebuilding formulas.
The University of Cambridge is increasingly looking to rationalise its estate, with the collegiate system creating a degree of duplication in facilities and housing provision. Some colleges have the resources to commission major new developments, while others struggle to secure suitable sites or fund the capital costs of new accommodation.
Allies and Morrison’s Hinsley Lane scheme for St John’s College exemplifies how this imbalance is being addressed. The Passivhaus-standard development of 39 townhouse-style blocks provides 245 student rooms, with St John’s subletting some units to less affluent colleges.
Arranged around shared gardens, the townhouse typology offers flexibility for future adaptation. Alongside new-build projects, colleges are also investing in upgrading their existing housing stock.
At Portugal Street, MCW is retrofitting a cluster of postgraduate properties, also for St John’s, improving thermal performance, energy efficiency and accessibility while respecting the historic character of the terrace. Together, these projects reflect a broader strategy to make the university’s estate more sustainable, efficient and equitable.
To facilitate a wider conversation on Cambridge’s urban future, the Cambridge Room, supported by Professor Flora Samuel, head of the department of architecture at the university, acts as an independent hub dedicated to improving the city’s built environment through collective action and inclusive engagement. With a focus on Cambridge and its wider region, it provides a neutral space, both physical and digital, for communities, practitioners and decision makers to share knowledge, influence planning and promote ethical best practice in shaping the places where people live and work.
With its renowned school of architecture, and a strong ecosystem of local and national practices with studios in the city, Cambridge’s architectural scene is vibrant and growing. Below are a selection of practices and some of their key projects in the city.
The Buttery, St John’s College, by MCW
Cambridge-based MCW, founded in 2011, has built a reputation for skilful interventions in education, heritage and urban settings. Its recently completed Buttery at St John’s College is a clear example of the infill projects now reshaping the city’s historic colleges, maximising constrained sites, upgrading facilities and creating more informal spaces for students and staff to gather.
Hemmed in by listed buildings, the project reconfigured and expanded the existing footprint to provide a bar, a reimagined buttery dining room and the college’s first café. The centrepiece is a glulam oak superstructure that recalls the warmth and tactility of the college’s original timber interiors, paired with carefully selected materials for durability and ease of maintenance.
Sensitive restoration is combined with inventive planning. Circulation has been improved, social spaces multiplied, and accessibility upgraded, all while preserving key views and historic fabric.
“The application of contemporary retrofitting into historic settings is going to be crucial for colleges to thrive beyond the 21st century,” says Paula Mejia-Wright, project lead for MCW. “With collaborative design work, we have been able to re-energise an important part of the college, creating a sustainable and elegant meeting place for the whole college community.”
It is a small-scale intervention in physical terms but one with a significant impact on college life, and a model of how Cambridge architects are unlocking the potential of tightly bound heritage sites to meet contemporary needs.
Brooklands, by Allies and Morrison
Opened in 2017, the practice’s Cambridge office builds on decades of work in the city. Projects range from urban masterplans to sensitive infill, including Brooklands. The studio is known for its collaborative approach, contextual design, and role in shaping conversations about density, heritage, and the city’s evolving urban form.
Brooklands lies on Cambridge’s southern fringe, an area of Edwardian terraces and later suburban growth. Allies and Morrison’s scheme increases commercial floor space while reinforcing the area’s grain and scale.
The practice’s approach was rooted in context. “We are looking at a site that’s right on the border between the historic city and the suburbs,” says Max Kettenacker. “You’re negotiating grade A space… with domestic settings and conservation area characteristics.”
New buildings are set back and modulated to avoid overpowering neighbours, while landscaped courtyards help stitch the development into the street network.
The scheme responds to market demand for high-quality commercial space without defaulting to out-of-town typologies. For Kettenacker, it is part of a wider shift: “There is a trend for intensification of the outer part of Cambridge, and this is a good example of how you can do that without losing the character of the place.”
Brooklands is also a sign of a more mature urban design culture in the city, where densification and conservation are seen as complementary rather than opposed.
Eddington, next phase masterplan by Hawkins\Brown
Eddington is the University of Cambridge’s largest expansion in a generation, planned to deliver more than 5,500 homes alongside academic, commercial and community facilities. Conceived as a long-term model for place-led growth, it combines institutional ambition with a focus on walkability, density and shared public life.
The next phases, currently being masterplanned by Hawkins\Brown, will increase residential density from phase one’s 90 homes per hectare to around 108, with buildings ranging from two to six storeys and some landmarks reaching eight.
Streets are being redesigned for active frontages and a richer mix of uses, supported by a network of car-free “community lanes” and “shared gardens” that encourage informal encounters and outdoor activity. More than 50 hectares of open space are planned, from meadows and sports pitches to buffer landscapes along the M11, integrated with walking, cycling and running routes.
Up to half the homes will be affordable for university staff, responding to severe local shortages, while new facilities will include a health centre, nursery and additional sports provision. For Hawkins\Brown and the university, the project is both an evolution of what has been achieved so far and a testbed for how higher density, mixed-use, edge-of-city neighbourhoods can work in the UK.
Other key players:
Cambridge Investment Partnership
A joint venture between Cambridge City Council and Hill, CIP delivers new homes across the city, prioritising affordability and sustainability. Its projects include estate regeneration, brownfield redevelopment, and infill schemes.
CIP often integrates community facilities and enhanced public realm into housing schemes, seeking to address Cambridge’s acute housing needs.
CDC Studio
A Cambridge-based architecture and design practice with a growing local portfolio, CDC Studio is known for contemporary, contextual schemes. Its work spans residential, education, and commercial projects, often integrating high-quality detailing with strong environmental performance.
The studio engages closely with clients and communities to create architecture that responds to place.
Mole Architects
Founded in 1997, Mole combines local roots with national recognition. Its Cambridge work includes the award-winning Marmalade Lane cohousing scheme and contributions to Eddington.
The practice promotes sustainable, community-focused urbanism, and is currently developing further cohousing and almshouse projects, alongside strategic design input into major urban extensions around the city.
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