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West Cambridge

 
West Hub

The opening of the dynamic £40m West Hub, on the University’s West Cambridge Site, represents the start of a radical transformation of the research campus to create a new and lively destination quarter in the city - the West Cambridge Innovation District.

Featuring state-of-the-art buildings and cutting-edge laboratories, the West Cambridge Innovation District will be a world-leading home for research and enterprise, incorporating pedestrianised plazas, central gardens, lakes and urban orchards.

The West Hub, which opens on 26 April, sits at the heart of the emerging Innovation District, offering a unique meeting place for people to connect and socialise, and marks a new University approach to learning spaces and shared-used resources. Open and accessible to everyone at the University, as well as to members of the public, the co-working Hub will enable new ways for academics, researchers, students, businesses and the wider community to share, learn and collaborate through the flexible spaces it offers. The three-storey development – which features a shop, cafeteria and the site’s first bar – is situated in a highly sustainable environment on JJ Thomson Avenue, and is designed to be a focal point for the community, bringing a new vibrancy and sense of place. It will be open access to all from Monday to Friday, 8am to 9pm.

Anna Steeden, the West Hub’s Operations Manager, said: “The West Hub is a pioneering development, social in nature and designed from the ground floor up with people in mind. Above all it is a place of collaboration and co-working, designed to foster connectivity and serendipitous ‘collisions’ that spark new ideas. Its flexibility means its spaces can be configured to meet the daily needs of all Hub users - students, staff, and the wider community - and outside, its amenities will bring a new vibrancy to the site.”  

As well as connecting industry with academic expertise, to support collaboration and enterprise, the West Hub will provide additional learning space for the University, and will house teaching for the University’s landmark Foundation Year programme, which will welcome its first cohort of students in October 2022.

The cafeteria and bar at ground level will open directly into green space and external seating, landscaped to include rain gardens and recreational space, and close to an east to west pedestrian and cycle path. Its upper floors incorporate a library service, media lab, multi-use spaces, learning resource areas, and workspaces ranging from informal open areas through to individual study booths. Learning spaces and meeting rooms are available to businesses and the wider community outside of core teaching times, for activities including social and networking events, talks and art exhibitions.

Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at the University of Cambridge, said: “The launch of the West Hub has created a new heart for the West Cambridge Innovation District, and represents a new way of bringing people together and providing co-working spaces, for University departments, research collaborations, local businesses, and local residents. It also represents the start of the site’s transformation into a more outward-facing campus, to ‘put the science on show’, nurture the entrepreneurial strengths of the Cambridge Cluster, and take the University’s world-leading research and technology to the next level.”

Designed by acclaimed architecture practice, Jestico + Whiles, the West Hub is a low-energy building which has scored an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM (Building Research Establishment (BRE) Environmental Assessment Method) rating. High-performance building fabric and ‘passive design’ measures – which use the building’s geometry and the natural movement of heat, air and light to keep conditions comfortable - reduce the Hub’s energy demand, which is further reduced by ‘active design’ measures such as lighting sensors and heat recovery. Low and zero carbon technologies - including an optimised ground source heat pump system - have helped achieve a 10% reduction in carbon emissions in accordance with planning requirements, moving away from gas as the primary fuel for generating heating and hot water.

James Tatham, Director, Jestico + Whiles, said: “We approached the design by focussing on the essential human need for connectivity and collaboration. As such, we were able to deploy our specialist skills in sectors that are often disparate – from research, education, co-working and cafeteria and bar design – to create a truly holistic, blended use scheme that responds dynamically to the changing needs of the university year.”

The West Cambridge Innovation District scheme was approved by Cambridge City Council in 2021, subject to a section 106 agreement. The site – where The Ray Dolby Centre will be the new centrepiece of the Cavendish Laboratory - is already home to brilliant research in technology and the physical sciences. The University sits at the heart of the so-called ‘Cambridge Cluster’, in which more than 5,300 knowledge-intensive firms employ more than 67,000 people and generate £18 billion in turnover.

Story replicated from the University of Cambridge website

Image credit: Photography by Ståle Eriksen.