What’s the plan for Mill Lane?

Pembroke’s draft plans for the redevelopment of the South side of Mill Lane are exciting not just for the College, we believe, but for the city of Cambridge.

To put in place something that is a credit to this city is something that the College is committed to doing and our conversations with city planners have been conducted with this in mind. Please bear in mind that the proposals described below are subject to receiving planning permission and plans may still change.

The two images below show the existing and proposed site plans for Mill Lane.

Existing Mill Lane site plan:

Proposed Mill Lane site plan:

Ray and Dagmar Dolby Court will be a large new court of accommodation, housing 100 new student rooms. Named in recognition of the incredible gift from Ray and Dagmar Dolby, the Court will enable more graduate students, as well as a number of undergraduates, to live on the College site and be more integrated with the College community. The courtyard will accommodate both graduate students and final year undergraduates, and also provide facilities designed for more mature students. The Court will be built where the Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, the Bailey Gundy Garrett Building and Miller’s Yard currently stand.

Stuart House is known as the current home of the University Careers’ Service. This beautiful mock-Georgian building will become the social hub of the Mill Lane side of Pembroke. There will be a café serving street food, a new Graduate Parlour, more Library and study space, a Reading Room (modelled on the British Library’s) for Pembroke Members, institutional partners and senior visitors to the College, a large screening room, and additional supervision rooms.

The United Reformed Church we intend to transform into an auditorium for music, talks and other events, which the College currently does not have the capacity to host. This great building will become one of the best chamber music venues in Cambridge.

4 Mill Lane will contain flexible gallery and exhibition space, a Recital Room, and much-needed teaching, seminar and meeting rooms.

1 Mill Lane and Kenmare House are intended to provide a new home for administrative offices and Fellows’ studies, freeing up around 40 more rooms for student accommodation on the Chapel side of the Trumpington Street, bringing the total number of additional study bedrooms provided by the Mill Lane site to around 140. Trumpington Street will have a new entrance to the College, including an additional Porters’ Lodge.

Pembroke expects to get vacant possession of the Trumpington Street buildings, 1 and 4 Mill Lane in January 2018, at which point internal refurbishment can begin. Certain administrative offices should be in use there by October 2018, immediately freeing up several additional student bedrooms on the Chapel side. We will submit a planning  application around Easter 2018, and hope to be granted permission in summer 2018. This will be followed by getting vacant possession of Stuart House in 2019 and United Reformed Church in 2020, and the rest of the Mill Lane site in 2021. We hope to have finished all work on the site, including demolitions and rebuilds, and the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Court, by 2023.