Specialist regeneration developer U+I has been appointed to a £3.5 billion residential-led mixed-use urban quarter project in Cambridge.

The company will act as masterplanner and promoter for the 120-acre project, which will see at least 5,200 homes and one million sq ft of office space developed on the site of the current water recycling centre in north Cambridge.

Working with development partner TOWN and a design team led by Urbed, U+I will prepare a masterplan and design code, secure planning permission, deliver enabling infrastructure and sell development-ready land parcels to third parties.

A business plan will now be prepared to secure £193m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to relocate the current water recycling centre and remediate the site. The regeneration is expected to take 10 – 15 years to complete.


Matthew Weiner, Chief Executive of U+I, said: "We are hugely excited to have the opportunity to work with Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council on this prestigious site, which deepens our pipeline of PPP projects in the London City Region where we are focused, alongside Manchester and Dublin.

"This is a further milestone for U+I as this was one of two major partnership projects we announced we had been shortlisted for at our full year results (on 26 April). This win provides further evidence of our ability to be selected for large, complex and valuable regeneration projects.

"We see enormous potential in the site, and our passion for placemaking will help us to transform this quarter of Cambridge into a vibrant place, providing much-needed housing to this currently undersupplied market."

Fiona Bryant, Strategic Director at Cambridge City Council, added: "We are very excited to be working with U+I, who demonstrated the innovative approach, stakeholder engagement and partnership working we were looking for in developing homes and wider facilities for people who wish to live, work, learn and play within the community of the whole CNFE area."

Jonny Anstead, Director of TOWN, said: "We are looking forward to extending TOWN's presence in the Cambridge market and to working with U+I and the landowners in delivering a landmark new quarter of a city that already has a reputation for producing some of the best new housing in the country."

(LM/MH)