Latest on plans to demolish and replace 1960s Cambridge flats in ‘poor condition’

A planning application could be submitted by the end of this month setting out plans to demolish and replace two 1960s blocks of flats in Cambridge.

Hanover Court and Princess Court were earmarked for redevelopment by Cambridge City Council and have been described as being in a “really poor state of condition”.

Councillors at a developer briefing on Thursday (August 14) were told that there is a waking watch in place at the flats as there is no compartmentalisation to meet fire safety standards.

Plans are being put together by the Cambridge Investment Partnership, a development company set up by the council and The Hill Group, to redevelop the site, which is made up of 127 flats across the two blocks, 82 of which are council homes.

The flats fall below nationally-described space standards and are said to be in a “poor condition with structural issues”.

The blocks are proposed to be demolished and five new blocks built in their place creating 165 flats, 72 of which would be affordable housing and 93 sold as private homes. Four of the flats are due to be accessible homes, and the only car parking on site will be for these properties.

The blocks are proposed to range in heights from four storeys up to six storeys, but the developers said the overall footprint of the new buildings would take up less space than the existing blocks.

Cycle parking at the site is also proposed to be increased from 52 spaces to 247 spaces, 14 of which would be for larger bikes. The existing community room will be replaced in the new development.

A new communal garden is proposed with a sensory garden, a children’s play area, and various seating areas.

The developer said 13 of the existing trees will need to be cut down, as they said it would not be feasible to demolish the flats with the trees still in place.

Due to the loss of these trees the developers said it would not be possible to create a 20 per cent biodiversity net gain on the site itself, and explained that they would need to buy credits to support biodiversity improvements elsewhere in the city.

However, the developers said there would be 17 new trees planted on site, alongside a range of other planting in the communal garden.

Cllr Katie Thornburrow (Lab, Petersfield), cabinet member for planning and transport, asked the developers why they were still proposing to make some of the flats single aspect, where only one side of the property has windows facing the outside.

She also raised concerns about the potential for overheating, highlighting that she could not see in the plans any external treatments to the windows to reduce heat gain.

The developers said only 23 of the flats would be single aspect and they had tried to reduce the number as much as possible. They added that none of the single aspect flats would be north facing.

Addressing the overheating concerns the developers said the advice they had been given was that the plans passed the overheating analysis, but said this was something they could look at further before submitting the application.

Cllr Thornburrow urged them to do so and said she felt the analysis often used to decide if new homes would be ok was “outdated” and did not reflect the reality of the high temperatures now being faced in the city during the summer.

“We need to be designing homes not just for now, but for the future as well,” she said.

Cllr Naomi Bennett (Green, Abbey) said she was often contacted by people complaining that they were unable to open their windows in the summer due to people smoking underneath them.

She asked if the developers could consider how they used the landscaping to try and prevent this issue at the development. The developers said there is planting planned and they could look at more.

Cllr Katie Porrer (Lib Dem, Market) said she and other ward councillors had “pushed very hard for a like for like replacement” of the number of council homes at the site.

She said it had “caused some concern” that the number of council homes in the redevelopment would be fewer than are currently there.

The developers said while there would be fewer affordable flats, these flats would be larger and built to modern standards and said the overall total floorspace of affordable homes would be greater, even if the absolute number was lower.