Christ's College, Cambridge – New Library and Study Centre

Working on behalf of Christ's College in Cambridge, Beacon Planning helped to secure listed building consent and planning permission from the City Council for a multi-million pound project to develop a new library and study centre.

Beacon acted as planning and heritage consultants on the project which was approved on 19 October 2011. We provided support throughout the application, giving general advice on planning and heritage issues as well as undertaking more specific work such as a Historic Buildings Assessment, Heritage Statement and Planning Statement. We also led pre-submission discussions with English Heritage, Cambridge City Council and its Design and Conservation Panel.

Christ's College was founded in the early 16th Century and its buildings and courtyards associated with the plans for the new library project are Grade I Listed and, therefore, nationally important 'heritage assets'. In undertaking the work, Beacon Planning ensured that the approved plans will respect the statutory constraints of this unique location which is within the College but has a public face onto a street in the heart of Cambridge's Historic Core Conservation Area.

Fundamental to ensuring that the new building respects its context was Beacon Planning's work to identify buildings, features and settings of lesser significance. This enabled the architects to site the new building where there would be less impact on features of higher quality. The scale, design, mass and materials of the proposed development was carefully considered to show clearly how the area outside the College would be affected.

Recent development in the area adjacent to the new library, which overlooks the recently re-opened thoroughfare of Christ's Lane, has seen a radical transformation with the development of an upmarket retail and residential mixed-use scheme. This has left the location of the new library and study centre open to public view for the first time in many decades.

The plans approved by Cambridge City Council will see the replacement of the 1970s library with a new building designed by Rick Mather Architects to fulfill Christ's College's brief to create a library and social space in a location and setting which will serve the whole College community.