COMMENT There is a tech company arms race unfolding in Cambridge. Microsoft was the first superpower to arrive in 2014, with researchers from Apple, Amazon and Samsung joining them in recent years, bringing the 21st century battle for artificial intelligence talent to our ancient city.
These household names are here to lure the best talent coming out of the University of Cambridge to their R&D centres. They all want to be a walk away from the university’s labs but, in the city’s ongoing race for the best office and lab space, the environmentally conscious tech giants from California are now trying to secure Cambridge’s most sustainable buildings too.
Like all major corporates, the environmental credentials of the tech giants are under increased scrutiny, so what was once a box-ticking exercise has, in the past 12 months, become a far stronger influence on tech firms’ property decisions. Being car-free and next to the train station is a big tick, but being in a highly sustainable building is now essential too.
The race for (green) space
When Bidwells completed 50/60 Station Road at Brookgate’s CB1 development in spring 2019 it was one of Cambridge’s most sustainable buildings, complete with large green rooftop terraces and rated Excellent on the BREEAM rating scale.
We have just agreed a 79,000 sq ft prelet with the third of the world’s three largest tech giants (by market capitalisation) at 30 Station Road and we expect the building to be BREEAM Excellent too. Additionally, Bidwells is currently working confidentially to bring forward a truly special BREEAM Outstanding development in the coming months.
These brave design brief decisions are influenced as much by recruitment and corporate PR strategies as they are by property requirements and a tangible will to do the right thing.
The tech occupiers want their young researchers to collaborate in buildings with automatic light sensors, photovoltaic windows, green roofs and electric car chargers in every parking space, and which reflect the heat in the summer and retain it in the winter. They want to know that its naturally ventilated and the rainwater is collected from the roof and recycled.
For the smaller, but rapidly expanding, tech firms across the city the environmental credentials of their smaller buildings are perhaps even more important. The scaling up science and tech companies fighting to lure away the best from the biggest must fight on all fronts to attract the talent they need to grow. A move to new, more environmentally friendly space is another weapon in their branding armoury. You can’t claim to be at the forefront of global change if your offices aren’t at the cutting edge too.
The University of Cambridge now stipulates that all major new-build and refurbishment projects must have impeccable sustainability credentials, which means the spin-out firms coming out of university-owned research buildings will not expect to move into a less-sustainable building.
Staying ahead of the sustainability curve
This battle is heating up. Bidwells’ latest offices and lab research found combined office and laboratory take-up in 2019 exceeded 800,000 sq ft – the highest total since 2014/15 – and there is currently a requirement for 1.2m sq ft of space in the city.
Rents continue to rise as supply remains hampered in tightly constrained Cambridge but, for the likes of Apple, Amazon and Samsung, a building’s sustainability credentials are overtaking price in its assessment criteria.
As in all aspects of our lives, it’s the tech firms quickening the pace of change in Cambridge, rather than good old-fashioned regulatory change. And as ever, the city is at the forefront. For consultants, it’s up to us to advise our clients on just how fast an environmentally aware investment market is moving and how they can future-proof buildings by ensuring they stay well ahead of the sustainability curve.
Nick Pettit is a partner in Bidwells’ building consultancy division
