Cambridge Properties

The centre of Cambridge is occupied not by civic buildings and offices but by magnificent colleges and their grounds

It is said that Cambridge university, the UK’s second oldest, grew from an association of scholars who left Oxford in 1209, after a dispute with the city’s townsmen. Peterhouse was founded in 1284 by the Bishop of Ely, and Cambridge colleges proliferated during the 14th and 15th centuries, occupying the most scenic positions along the River Cam. The special powers granted to the university by the Crown, meanwhile, would sow the seeds of friction between town and gown that would endure until the 19th century and beyond.

The heart of the city is occupied not by civic buildings, offices and residential property but by magnificent colleges and their grounds, gardens and chapels which – apart from specific periods when a charge is levied – are closed to the general public. Cars are banned in the town centre, with students taking to their bicycles and tourists swarming down King’s Parade, where Newton, Tennyson and Wittgenstein once trod. No wonder the university’s aura of hermetic elitism leads to some animosity.

Things have been changing, and the collaboration between academia and scientific professions is to thank for that. The relationship began in 1970, when Trinity College established the Cambridge Science Park – Europe’s largest and now longest-serving centre for commercial research and development. Today, its 1.65m sq ft of buildings, situated off Milton Road, are home to more than 100 companies, from small start-ups to the subsidiaries of multinationals.

Cambridge Business Park, nearby, followed in the 1980s, offering an additional 320,000 sq ft of office and research and development space. Occupied primarily by software and electronics companies, these ventures have contributed to turning the area into one of the most important technological centres in Europe, housing up to 3,000 IT-related companies and giving rise to Cambridge’s moniker of “Silicon Fen”.

Brookgate's CB1 development

“Cambridge has a resilient knowledge-based economy,” says Toby Greenhow, Savills’ head of residential development sales in Cambridge, “and the flow of personnel into these industries means there is very strong demand for housing, which has carried Cambridge through the recession.” This demand is set to rise, with the expansion of the 139-acre Cambridge Biomedical Campus, a leading research centre employing more than 8,000 professionals, and Brookgate’s 25-acre, mixed-use CB1 development, to which Microsoft will be relocating.

About 1,000 new homes are being built in Cambridge, with planning permission granted for a further 3,500 on the city’s southern fringes. The CB1 development will eventually include about 330 apartments, of which the first phase of 169 is due for completion by Hill Residential next year. Prices start at £250,000 for a one-bedroom flat.

On former green-belt land to the south, homes are being developed at Trumpington Meadows, with Swedish company Skanska involved in a sustainable project at Great Kneighton. Closer to the centre, other developments include Berkeley’s Riverside on Midsummer Common, and Grosvenor Estates’ 99-apartment Parkside Place – a mix of low-cost and upmarket properties. Of the latter, just one two-bedroom flat remains, on the market for £430,000. The rest, including a £1.2m penthouse, sold off-plan.

It is not, of course, only the business community that is drawn to Cambridge. Academics and undergraduates form a large part of the client base. For the second year running, Cambridge has topped the QS league table as the best university in the world, attracting students from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. “Many parents are choosing to buy homes for their children,” says Greenhow. “Asian buyers in particular, favour the new-build properties.” Meanwhile academics tend to inhabit the Victorian and Edwardian houses that line the streets radiating from the city centre.

Infrastructure has improved, with new road links to the M11, a new Cambridge Science Park railway station due to open in 2015, and a regular “guided bus” that links the station, city centre and outlying scientific and biomedical sites. The easy commute to London (47 minutes by train to King’s Cross) and the proximity of Stansted airport (30 minutes), combined with excellent schools and a lively cultural scene, makes Cambridge a popular choice for young families looking to move out of the capital.

“The area south of Cambridge is particularly in demand because of its accessibility,” says Chris Carey, head of residential at Bidwells, a local estate agency. “But generally speaking, beyond a five-mile radius from the city centre, you can expect prices to drop by around 20 per cent.”

Desirability, however, brings its own problems. One hopeful buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, complains of offering the asking price for a house in Cambridge, only to be overlooked in favour of a college offering cash. “I spoke with the agent, who told me we could offer more, but that he would recommend the college bid,” he says. “So even if we could afford more, the power of the college means the agent was working for them.” The age-old tensions between town and gown, it seems, have moved into the property arena.

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