Granta Park Phase 2 for BioMed Realty will help meet urgent demand for cutting edge flexible lab / workspace in Cambridgeshire. The five new buildings are set in a new 28 acre landscape.

Consent for phase two of Granta Park provides 368,000 sq ft of space for high-tech research and development within five buildings, to meet the immediate demand for life sciences and other lab space in the Cambridge area.

The five new buildings are targeting a 32% improvement on building regulation guidelines for energy performance and will be designed to meet the thermal standards set by the LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide. In addition, they will meet the requirements of BREEAM Excellent, WELL Gold and WiredScore accreditation.

Rather than a set of individual identities, the buildings have been conceived as an ensemble of pavilions in a natural landscape.

Phase one of Granta Park was built around a “village green” with a cricket pitch, surrounded by new tree planting. Making the landscape sustainable was treated as a first principle, with extensive use of permeable surfaces, rainwater attenuation ponds and landscape buffers between building plots to promote biodiversity.

Phase two develops this precedent with a wild landscape based upon the surrounding fens. The creation of wetland habitat, a drainage swale and wildflower meadows will lead to a net gain in Biodiversity of 40% over the original site. The series of ponds forms the pedestrian heart of the scheme, with routes that cross the site converging on this central feature.

This latest phase of development at Granta Park builds upon the experience gained by Eric Parry Architects during three decades of work on the site. The design for five new buildings has been developed in partnership with a client group that combines deep knowledge of the local market with global expertise as a leading provider of real estate solutions to the life science and technology industries. The beauty of the landscape was the starting point for Eric Parry Architects’ work at Granta Park and this new phase retains our landscape-first approach. The buildings are set within grounds and wetlands inspired by the surrounding fens, placing nature on the doorstep of the R&D buildings to create an inspirational environment that supports wellbeing, biodiversity and sustainability.

Robert Dawson, Associate Director, Eric Parry Architects