Cambridge Bio-medical Campus

Project Capella is a new biomedical research development within the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The aims of the project were twofold: to provide the University with a valuable asset: spatially efficient and highly adaptable, and to provide a stimulating environment for innovative research and collaboration.

The new laboratory building included lecture and conference facilities and brought together a large number of medical research groups with a convergent scientific focus. The intention was to establish an international centre of excellence, attracting leaders within the world class scientific community. At the same time, the study explored the long-term adaptability of the typical laboratories and how specialist facilities could be shared in order to ensure maximum efficiency and flexibility. The focus on facilitating non-disruptive adaptability included the easy conversion of traditional lab space for bioinformatics (dry labs) and automated processes.

The site masterplan was able to achieve a significant increase in accommodation on the site and looked at how the facilities could complement and share those of the adjacent Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CI).