Breakthrough Properties’ proposed transformation of the Vitrum Building, on St John’s Innovation Park, to the north-east of Cambridge city centre, is set to go ahead after securing a conditional planning approval from the council.
In April this year, Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture between investors Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, revealed plans to redevelop the existing 44,000 sq ft office block into a 176,000 sq ft research and development facility.
The move followed the acquisition of the two-acre site in April 2022 for £25m.
The decision on the project was expected to be made in September but was pushed back as the planning committee sought extra time to review last-minute amendments submitted by the developer.
The changes to the scheme came amid concerns raised during the consultation period about “over-development” of the site.
Breakthrough has now updated the initial scheme by reducing the number of car parking spaces from 102 to 99, relocating cycle parking from the basement to the ground floor, moving the main entrance and lobby to the northern facade of the entrance square and allocating more space to green terraces.
Adam Wlodarczyk-Black, director for design and construction in the UK and Europe at Breakthrough, said at the committee meeting: “Our new building has been designed collaboratively to address the community feedback.
“We have listened to and addressed concerns of landscape and visual impacts, including a reduction in height. Vitrum is lower than other approved buildings on the innovation park.”
He said the project would be built to exceed local and national sustainability targets, including 11.7% biodiversity net gain, while targeting BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Platinum ratings.
Wlodarczyk-Black added: “Our facility will complement and support the growth of the life sciences ecosystem by providing critical real estate capacity to scale existing businesses and attract life sciences companies to Cambridge.”
Thomas Renn, vice president of acquisitions and development for Europe at Breakthrough, said: “We have secured a planning permission to move forward with our vision to transform Vitrum by Breakthrough into a flexible, high-performance laboratory designed for a wide range of scientific uses.
“We are grateful to the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service planners for working with us to craft a proposal that addresses the acute need for purpose-built, class A lab space in the North Cambridge cluster while simultaneously complementing and enhancing the surrounding community.”
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