R&D success at Granta Park

Acting on behalf of Granta Park Ltd, Januarys’ Planning Team has had a notable planning success with the grant of reserved matters approval for three Research and Development Buildings within the science park situated to the south of Cambridge.

 

The development involves the erection of three individual buildings which are important components within the second phase of development at Granta Park. The three buildings are to be constructed on Plots 200, 400 and 500 and will provide high quality laboratory and flexible office space. They will provide approximately 9,620 sq m of accommodation within 2 and 3 storey buildings with a centralised shared landscaped area in the form of a small ‘circus’.

 

The buildings will follow the Granta Park tradition of impressive building designs set in generous landscaped settings, and the plots border one of the established parking groves which were established as part of the advanced infrastructure package intended to allow early integration of buildings into the landscape, to the benefit of future site occupiers.

 

The buildings, designed by Architects Nicholas Hare Associates, will be built to exacting energy efficiency standards and will seek to achieve a minimum BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’.

 

Januarys’ Associate Justin Bainton says that the permission was a good reward for much hard work put in by the applicant company and the design and consultant team, and explains how he is delighted that it was possible to work very constructively with South Cambridgeshire District Council to ensure that the Park continues to evolve in a highly sustainable and attractive way.

 

“Inevitably, a major planning application such as the one now approved at Granta Park brings with it very many challenges, and there are now a huge range of technical and design matters that need to be considered in putting a proposal together. However, with the benefit of careful and detailed pre-application work, and with appropriate consultation with the Local Planning Authority, all aspects of the proposal were resolved well within the statutory 13 week period from determination of the application.”

 

Bainton adds that the environmental sensitivity of the Granta Park site was assessed by the Design Team as of paramount importance, and is a key driver for the owners of the park in terms of ongoing and future development.

 

Granta Park Managing Director John Granger commented: “I am delighted we have achieved this planning consent in such a short time and with only minimal alteration to the original plans. When a company decides it needs a new building, it wants it yesterday. This consent enables us to fast-track buildings for both new companies to the Park and those who have already made it their home and now wish to expand. We are already in discussion with a number of such companies.”