Addenbrooke’s Hospital Biomedical Campus

When Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wanted to undertake a major expansion of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to deliver the largest biomedical campus in Europe, they reached out to us for help. Our job? To prepare a planning strategy for the release of green belt land, and to prepare the outline masterplan.

We obtained planning consents for a range of developments related to the expansion, including an Energy Innovation Centre (EIC), which converts waste into energy. The goal? Cutting energy costs in half for Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s biomedical campus. In 2016, we were commissioned by Cambridgeshire County Council to provide an evidence base in support of site promotion for further expansion, demonstrating deliverability for a new site south of the biomedical campus. A key concern of the planning authority and residents was surface water flood risk and the potential impact on the nearby Nine Wells Nature Reserve. We carried out extensive overland flow modelling and a ground conditions baseline study, demonstrating that surface water and groundwater from the proposed site is unlikely to have an impact on the reserve.

Since expanding, the hospital has become a national centre for specialist treatment, a comprehensive biomedical research centre, and a major teaching hospital.