U and I Group PLC
U+I selected for major Cambridge development project
U+I (LSE:UAI), the specialist regeneration developer and investor, has been appointed as masterplanner and promoter to transform the current water recycling centre in north Cambridge into a major residential-led mixed-use urban quarter.
U+I's appointment follows a competitive procurement process by landowners Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council. Working with its development partner TOWN and a design team led by Wolfson prize winners Urbed, its role will be to prepare a masterplan and design code, secure planning permission, deliver enabling infrastructure and sell development-ready land parcels to third parties, delivering a transformational project for Cambridge.
The 120-acre site, part of the wider Cambridge Northern Fringe East (“CNFE”) which also includes a golf driving range owned by the City Council, will be redeveloped into at least 5,200 homes and one million sq. ft. of office space. It will include a mix of retail, community and leisure space – providing north Cambridge with an exceptional new neighbourhood that will further strengthen the city's strong economy and superb quality of life.
Regeneration is expected to take 10-15 years to complete and the first profits from sales of land are expected to be realised after an initial 3-4 year planning and enabling development phase. U+I's initial expectation is that the £3.5 billion project1 will deliver circa £20-30 million of development and trading gains over its life span.
The first stage will involve the preparation of a business plan to secure £193 million of funding from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to relocate the current water recycling centre and remediate the site, without which the project cannot proceed. The project was shortlisted for funding by Homes England earlier in 2018.
Matthew Weiner, Chief Executive of U+I, said:
“We are hugely excited to have the opportunity to work with Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council on this prestigious site, which deepens our pipeline of PPP projects in the London City Region where we are focused, alongside Manchester and Dublin. This is a further milestone for U+I as this was one of two major partnership projects we announced we had been shortlisted for at our full year results (on 26 April). This win provides further evidence of our ability to be selected for large, complex and valuable regeneration projects.
“We see enormous potential in the site, and our passion for placemaking will help us to transform this quarter of Cambridge into a vibrant place, providing much-needed housing to this currently undersupplied market.”
Fiona Bryant, Strategic Director, Cambridge City Council, said:
“We are very excited to be working with U+I, who demonstrated the innovative approach, stakeholder engagement and partnership working we were looking for in developing homes and wider facilities for people who wish to live, work, learn and play within the community of the whole CNFE area.”
Jonny Anstead, Director of TOWN, said:
“We are looking forward to extending TOWN's presence in the Cambridge market and to working with U+I and the landowners in delivering a landmark new quarter of a city that already has a reputation for producing some of the best new housing in the country.”
1 This value equates to the total value of the completed development including employment, infrastructure, educational, cultural, landscaping, and residential uses, once fully built out by the plot developers
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