COMMENT Cambridge may be a global city, but its charm remains in the historic character and unique lifestyle it offers to its residents.
The city is thriving with innovative industries that seek to attract individuals who would live locally and enjoy the high quality of life that Cambridge offers. However, as one of the most unaffordable cities in the UK, it is widely recognised that increasing housing supply and the range of housing products and tenures is essential to ensure the city remains an attractive place to live and work for the young population.
As a young individual living and working within Cambridge, the opportunity to explore the city on foot or by bicycle is never taken for granted. Over the years Cambridge has developed distinct areas of identity, with several neighbourhoods evolving across the city, each boasting its own sense of place.
The Mill Road area has a long-standing reputation for its multicultural food scene, eclectic retail and quintessential pubs. Mitcham’s Corner offers residents north of the river an enviable array of independent retail and amenities. Great Kneighton and Trumpington Meadows have established themselves as sustainable new communities with access to open space and close connections to Addenbrooke’s Hospital and AstraZeneca’s biomedical campus.
New communities
In addition, there are a number of new neighbourhoods under construction or planned across the city. These include Wing, located adjacent to Cambridge Airport in the east of the city, which will deliver up to 12,000 new homes and community facilities, Cambridge University’s Eddington District to the north-west of the city, which will comprise 3,000 new homes including key-worker housing, and Darwin Green, which will deliver more than 1,500 new homes, a primary school and a new park off Huntingdon Road. The potential for these new neighbourhoods to create connected, sustainable and green new communities is an unrivalled opportunity for the city.
With these significant growth aspirations for Cambridge, there is an opportunity to deliver a diverse and inclusive range of housing tenures and products that will effectively meet the needs of younger people living in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. As Cambridge’s economy grows, fuelled by the life science and technology sectors, it is fundamental that the city attracts and retains young people and thereby caters for their housing needs.
Two tribes
Cambridge Ahead, a business and academic member organisation dedicated to inclusive and sustainable growth, has been working closely with its Young Advisory Committee to explore the quality of life and housing options across the city for the younger generation.
A piece of work was undertaken to articulate the housing needs of young people in the city based on their own experiences and drawing on survey results of more than 200 young people working in Cambridge. Two housing tribes were identified – the “worker bee” and the “space cadet”. These tribes seek to personify the priorities of two particular cohorts of younger people looking for housing within Cambridge and surrounding areas.
The worker bee represents an individual who has moved to Cambridge for work and wants to live centrally, in the buzz of the city, such as the Mill Road area. The space cadet is seeking more space and proximity to nature but is restricted by affordability in the city centre – this individual is therefore constrained in the orbit of Cambridge for their housing options.
It is recognised that these two tribes will not represent all young individuals working within the city but they seek to identify and relate to a large contingent. It is hoped that the tribes will help shape policy-making in the city for the benefit of younger people and their requirements for living and working in Cambridge in the future.
Housing options
Build-to-rent homes have been identified to play an important role in Cambridge for contributing towards the younger generation’s housing needs, replacing the variable quality of existing rental provision. In addition, the introduction of the government’s First Homes policy should deliver discounted market housing that will appeal to young individuals aspiring to get on the housing ladder. Both of these policies have the potential to cater for the younger generation living and working in Cambridge.
Cambridge has an array of vibrant neighbourhoods offering an attractive lifestyle to all generations. A challenge for the future of Cambridge may be the demographic shift in population should the younger generation continue to be priced out of housing options that are fit for purpose.
There is a significant opportunity to address this by delivering more homes, in the right places and of a diverse range in the city, ensuring that the needs of the worker bees, space cadets and wider young population are addressed.
Abigail Jones is an associate director in the development team at Savills in Cambridge
Click here to view the production from EG’s recent Future of Cambridge event
