Brookgate to build offices instead of apart-hotel on Cambridge Railway Station car park

Offices will be built instead of an apart-hotel on the car park at Cambridge Railway Station.

Cambridge City Council approved the plans, despite some members of the public arguing too much office space was being created.

Two office buildings – one five storeys tall and the other four storeys tall – are due to be built, along with a new multi-storey car park for the station.

The work will be the final stage in the wider redevelopment of the area around the station, which started after initial outline plans were approved back in 2010.

Earlier plans for this final section were approved by the council in 2021 featuring one office building and one ‘apart-hotel’ but developer Brookgate Property has rethought.

A representative told a planning committee on Wednesday (July 5) the offices would be built to high sustainability standards and would use less water, with fewer showers compared to the hotel.

The representative said the proposals “deal head on with the climate change emergency” declared by the city council, adding: “We obsess over the level of harm it could cause to heritage assets,

“This scheme, rather than have a harmful impact, will have a positive effect and enhance the character of the conservation area.

“The hotel was good, but this building is of the highest quality design and jumps off the page.”

But a representative of the South Petersfield Residents Association argued the development would “contribute to the failure of [the city council’s] Local Plan to provide housing for local people” and would create more office space than in the original outline plans.

Employment growth in the city was growing beyond the supply of housing, the resident argued, warning this would cause house prices to rise “unaffordably”.

“You are failing Cambridge people by building too many offices and not giving them enough houses,” the resident said.

Cllr Richard Robertson (Lab, Petersfield) said there was a problem with flats near to the station being used as AirBnB short-term lets and suggested an ‘apart-hotel’ was needed more than offices.

A planning officer explained that according to the Local Plan office space was acceptable on the site and said a hotel would not necessarily prevent flats being used for short-term lets.

Cllr Martin Smart said he thought the new proposals offered a “better looking scheme”.

Cllr Katie Thornburrow (Lab, Petersfield) had concerns that the Environment Agency had not commented on the new plans, which proposed deeper basement levels.

Officers said the agency had not responded to the current plans, but raised no objections during a previous screening of opinion.

Cllr Dave Baigent (Lab, Romsey) asked whether the soil that would need to be dug out of the ground could be transported away via the railway, to reduce the number of lorries on site. Officers did not think that would be possible.

Cllr David Levien (Lib Dem, Trumpington) told the meeting that he often cycles past the station but said it was “terrible” for cyclists and asked if the developer could “think more about bicycles”.

Officers said cyclists and pedestrians “are the first people thought of in this development”, and said the current application “could not fix all of the perceived problems in the CB1 area”.

A highways officer said recognised issues in the wider area, but believed any issues created by the application were mitigated.

A majority of councillors voted in favour of the plans.