Cambridge City Council’s planning committee approved the application yesterday morning (15 April) with one abstention and no votes against.

The scheme is a six-storey facility for 736 staff, featuring a 450-seat auditorium, to promote collaboration between AstraZeneca employees and the wider science community.

The project will occupy a site in the AstraZeneca South Plot of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, and will fill in another piece of the pharmaceutical company’s own campus masterplan, which was designed by Herzog & de Meuron in 2013.

The Swiss practice, working with BDP, completed the Discovery Centre within the campus in 2021. That building was subsequently shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize last year.

Currently, the site serves as a temporary car park and offloading area for the construction of the neighbouring Rosalind Franklin Building, also for AstraZeneca, which began on site at the start of 2025.

At the planning meeting, councillors praised the design quality of the proposal, which aims to achieve both BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Gold certifications.

While they described Jestico + Whiles’ design as ‘beautiful’, ‘attractive’ and ‘stylish’, some concerns were raised about the potential for the new centre to boost car traffic in and around the campus. The proposed scheme does not provide any additional parking spaces.

The building’s appearance takes cues from the approved Rosalind Franklin Building and features a horizontal layered design with a timber base, concrete and metal grid office floors, and a ‘penthouse’ upper floor which houses the auditorium and conference facilities.

This penthouse level also includes a balcony and an overhanging canopy structure, which will fully protect the outside space from rain. The building will also house a 110-cover restaurant.

A public art strategy was included in the conditions for approval, though a specific vision for how this art might be delivered has not been fleshed out.

Jestico + Whiles and AstraZeneca have been contacted by the AJ for comment.

Jestico + Whiles approved proposal for a new office and conference centre for AstraZeneca, among the other buildings in the AstraZeneca campus, credit: Jestico + Whiles