GRESHAM ROAD DEVELOPMENT £12M PLANS SUBMITTED Plans have now been submitted by the College for the £12m development of new student accommodation on the former University Gym site on Gresham Road. The College has had the extraordinary good fortune to buy one of the most sought-after sites in Cambridge for its new building – the site which in location and sheer ‘presence’ will most enhance not only Hughes Hall but also the City of Cambridge itself. It is hoped that 80 new student rooms will be created. For Hughes Hall the site offers a unique opportunity to create a major new building on a historic sporting green space, which will
offer a clear view of Hughes Hall itself, thus forming an important new College interface with the city; for the first time, an open view of the main building from Gresham Road will be created, so that Hughes will no longer be secreted away behind neighbouring buildings. Fenner’s Cricket Ground is celebrated as one of the great historic sporting spaces of Britain. One of the oldest crickets fields in the world, the headquarters of Cambridge University Cricket Club since 1846, it has been the scene of historic matches and is still well used for cricket through the summer months. Outside match
days it is a calm oasis near to the busy centre of Cambridge. The planned new development will greatly enrich the academic community at Hughes, and the plans also feature a fine public space – a hall of some 100m² – which will be the focus of the new complex, to be used for a multiplicity of purposes. A new landscaped garden space of some 250m² is envisaged, which will fuse the building to the green expanse of the cricket field. The garden will be arranged around a central lawn, set back from the road. Hedges and ornamental planting will give privacy to ground floor rooms, while opening on to the
A fine tradition: Fenner’s has a rich cricketing heritage view over the cricket field to the original Victorian buildings of Hughes Hall. A planning decision is expected as Hughes goes to press – see the website for updates.
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