Council votes in favour after cutting homes from rejected former proprosals by 30%
Buckley Gray Yeoman has been given the green light for a mixed-use scheme in Cambridge after cutting the number of homes by 30%.
The city council unanimously voted in favour earlier this month for the Devonshire Gardens scheme, which was designed for investor Railpen and developer Socius, previously known as First Base.
It follows the rejection of a former 100-home proposal lodged last year which was deemed too “imposing” for the three-acre site, which is located adjacent to the Mill Road conservation area.
The new downsized plans have reduced the heights of two blocks, changed the use of one block from residential to office and slashed the number of homes to 70.
The landscaping element has also been redesigned and simplified with some proposed mounds removed and tree canopies reduced.
The scheme will require the demolition of an existing single storey depot operated by materials supplier Travis Perkins to make way for two residential blocks and four commercial buildings with a central garden space designed by LDA Design.
A total of 120,000sq ft of workspace will be provided, along with community facilities, a creche, a pavilion and some flexible studios.
It will also feature wildlife corridors and bat, bird and bee boxes which Buckley Gray Yeoman said will increase biodiversity on the site by 350%.
The practice, which won a RIBA London Award this year for its refurbishment of a grade II-listed art gallery, recently completed an extension of a former gin distillery in Clerkenwell.
It also unveiled plans last month for new office space at the grade II*-listed Heal’s department store on Tottenham Court Road.
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