Mission Street and BGO have secured planning consent for a 23-acre urban science district in central Cambridge, England, UK. 

The project has been approved by Cambridge City Council’s planning committee.  

Subject to the council's Section 106 and Conditions, the project is located a ten-minute cycle from the city's central railway station and will revitalise a long-unused site. 

The new district will offer a million square feet of gross internal area across seven buildings, catering to research and development (R&D) companies at various stages of growth.  

The scheme, master-planned by Hawkins\Brown, aims to prevent the relocation or fragmentation of innovative companies by providing a scalable space within a major science and technology cluster. 

The pedestrianised master plan, which is open to the public, features a central square and is designed to be a destination for all ages.  

The development includes local business units, fitness infrastructure, play space for children, diverse food and beverage options, and a community events space.  

The project will also host public art initiatives, including an Artist in Residence event, and a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-based educational outreach partnership with the Cambridge Science Centre. 

Mission Street said with more than 600,000ft² of lab space in demand in Cambridge, the project addresses the critical shortage of inner-city R&D space, a concept already established in the US but relatively new to the UK.  

The project is expected to generate £7m ($9.3m) in local expenditure and create nearly 4,000 high-skill jobs while supporting apprenticeship and training programmes and ensuring a Cambridge Living Wage. 

Mission Street CEO Artem Korolev said: “Since our first consultation with local stakeholders and the Cherry Hinton community, we’ve said that this is about breaking down the barriers prevalent with traditional science parks, creating an open and inviting innovation district, and putting the science on show.  

“This project embodies the principle that it is entirely possible to blend R&D space for world-leading innovators with community amenities that everyone can enjoy.” 

The partnership between Mission Street and BGO boasts a development pipeline exceeding 1.5 million square feet of lab and office space in key locations such as Cambridge, Oxford, and Bristol.  

Their recent projects include Fabrica and Inventa in central Oxford, and The Press, Foxton, in the Cambridge Southern Biomedical Cluster. 

Recently in Cambridge, consultancy and construction company Mace was selected to take on the project management for a new children’s hospital.