Transport infrastructure is a major constraint to housing development in Cambridge, where the shortage is regarded as “acute”, and unless it is addressed, truly affordable accommodation will be a pipe dream for the city’s young adults, EG’s Cambridge Question Time heard.
The ability for people who cannot afford to live in the city to be able to travel into its centre without having to endure the congestion of the A14, the county’s east-west road link, is vital to Cambridge’s growth, said Martin Curtis, associate director at planning consultancy Curtin & Co.
“The reality is, the only way you can deal with housing for young people is to get infrastructure right and to drive growth.
“Yes, housing growth will stifle increasing house prices, but if young people can’t get housed they will go elsewhere and the businesses will follow.”
Long before professionals from Cambridge’s property industry flowed through the corridors of the city’s historic Guildhall for the annual state-of-the-market debate, early questions submitted to the panel pointed to transport being a central theme. It always is.
However, this time, with the finding that the ratio of earnings to house prices in the city is 13.5% higher than the national average, and with proposed transport options including an underground system, light rail and busway given greater impetus by the new Cambridgeshire mayor James Palmer and combined authorities, the sense of urgency is palpable.
But it would be a mistake to try and build housing in isolation to commercial space, warned Rob Sadler, the head of Savills’ Cambridge office.
“Young people want to be here because there is employment, especially in the R&D sector, so we have to bring housing and employment together,” he said.
“It is important that we are looking at these large-scale out-of-town residential opportunities and it is vital we get the infrastructure right so we can bring people to where their jobs are.”
Pic credit: Matthew Power
Michaela Henson, partner at law firm Howes Percival, said the crisis had encouraged new entrants to the market and led to innovative solutions.
She referred to the North West Cambridge Development in Eddington, where Cambridge University is providing 3,000 homes, with discounted rental accommodation for qualifying university and college staff, as well as market housing for sale by private developers.
“The university is in a unique position with its land holding but it has actually done something with its own hands to fix that problem, and other local authorities are setting up trading companies to do the same thing.”
Space running out for life sciences companies
The ongoing ambition to position Cambridge as the centre of the UK’s R&D industry is significantly unmatched by the pipeline of suitable space for businesses to move into.
Currently there is just 18 months’ worth of laboratory accommodation available in city, according to Rob Sadler, head of Cambridge office for Savills.
Cambridge has become the destination of choice for pharmaceutical companies particularly from Boston. Eight out of the 10 top pharma companies from the US city are already established in Silicon Fen.
It is more than just the access to talent and research that spins out of the university that appeals. It is 40% cheaper to employ scientists in the UK than it is in the US, said Sadler.
“This sector has so much more to give, and if you think about the fact that we are all living longer, that does make the life sciences sector, to a certain extent, future proof.
“But without the space for it we really are going to hit the buffers.”
The greatest need is for “small scale wet laboratory space” of 1,000-2,000 sq ft.
Sadler acknowledged the expensive build costs (roughly £450 sq ft with fit out) but urged forward-thinking, as the small companies using that space initially would develop into large occupiers.
Time for a rebrand
What’s in a name? Quite a lot if international recognition is at stake.
The relevance of “Silicon Fen”, the name for Cambridge’s ecosystem of science and technology businesses, became a surprisingly divisive topic among the Question Time panellists.
While Savills’ Sadler took an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach, others argued the city had outgrown the name.
William Jewson, development director at Howard Group, suggested running with the term “Cambridge cluster”, which often followed Silicon Fen where it was written.
A more forthright Derek Carr, partner at accountancy firm PEM, described the current brand as “parochial”.
“We all know what it is, but if you speak to someone in China, what the hell is a Fen, for goodness sakes?”
It was a point somewhat validated by John Miu, chief operating officer of ABP London, who reassured the crowd that foreigners recognise Cambridge as a world-class centre of education.
Carr urged the city’s marketeers to have a bolder vision, suggesting the term “super cluster”.
Curtis, who was the former leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, argued for a name that would cement Cambridge’s place in the Cambridge-Oxford-London triangle.
“If you compare Silicon Fen and Silicon Valley, the geography of the two are massively different. The reality is if you want to compete with Silicon Valley, the geography has to be bigger. But what Cambridge has to do is keep its uniqueness, and going forward that is helped by a world-class university. That will make sure that our corner of the triangle stands out. The rest of it will grow – that is very much the government’s ambition – so we’ve got to make sure we grow too.”
From the panellists’ mouths
Cambridge’s cost of living
John Miu: “Only 17% of graduates choose to stay in Cambridge after they have graduated, which shows that the level of income is totally detached from the cost of a decent standard of living. If your income doesn’t allow you to buy or rent a house here, you will simply go elsewhere. Why can’t Cambridge embrace a wider variety of industries, further to R&D to open up more employment and professional opportunities?”
Growth outside of Cambridge
Martin Curtis: “The reality about making Cambridge a better place is that it will also make Cambridgeshire a better place. Economic growth in Cambridge will be a springboard for wider growth. The biggest cause of Wisbeach’s problems is connectivity. You can’t get there by train, it’s all single lane carriageways to go by road, and yes, we have to recognise and address those issues, but we can’t do that at the expense of Cambridge because value will grow out.”
Mobility
Rob Sadler: “There is a problem with how we travel here and now. We’ve got capacity in terms of rail lines from outlying towns such as Royston, Newmarket, March and towards the north so why shouldn’t we spend money on those transportation links to move people in and out of Cambridge? These will be quick initiatives. But in a sense, we’re not looking far enough into the problem. Technology will make us less reliant on the car and it will change the way we travel to work and move around cities in the next 20-30 years.”
Speculative development
Michaela Henson: “There’s not enough speculative building, particularly in the offices sector. When clients, and even ourselves, are looking to move, there’s not much choice out there and you tend to have to wait for something to be built.”
Spec building on the cards for Howard Group
Cambridge-based Howard Group is considering speculatively building 60,000 sq ft of offices in response to the growing demand from life sciences companies for new accommodation at relatively short notice.
The development company’s plans will be subject to approval for an existing application for a 200,000 sq ft business park in Sawston in south Cambridgeshire.
The first phase of the Sawston scheme will provide 72,000 sq ft of mixed use space, including co-working offices.
William Jewson, development director, said: “We are seriously considering building speculatively as the sort of occupiers our buildings appeal to don’t like to wait 18 months for a new building. They don’t plan that far ahead. What they like to see is a building coming out of the ground so they know it’s going to be completed by the time they are ready. And often they like to engage with the developer as it is being built, then refine it to their requirements.”
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