By Hannah Brown

Copyright cambridge-news

The £92million Civic Quarter project has taken a step forward this week with work to start on planning applications for the regeneration work. Cambridge City Council is also considering selling its offices at Mandela House, in Regent Street, to help pay for the project.

The Civic Quarter project proposes to make “significant investment” in the Guildhall, the Corn Exchange, and the Market Square in Cambridge. The city council said current estimates suggest the overall project could cost £92.275m, including £52.16m for the Guildhall work, £26.491m for the Corn Exchange work, and £13.624m for the Market Square work.

The plans for the Guildhall include making the Grade II listed building more accessible as well as creating a public cafe, new work spaces and meeting rooms for council staff, and work spaces for commercial tenants. The city council also wants to make the building operate at net zero carbon neutral.

At the Corn Exchange the authority is planning to improve the building with energy saving measures, such as increased insulation and solar panels, and to improve accessibility. Better sound quality and new audio-visual systems for events are proposed, and more concessions and bar areas could be created.

The Market Square is proposed to be revamped with 96 stalls, including 44 permanent stalls and 52 demountable stalls. The city council said this mix of stalls would offer “flexibility to accommodate daily trading while also creating opportunities for events and cultural activities”.

At a cabinet meeting this week (September 25) councillors agreed to move forward with the project, recommending that £4.4m should be allocated to fund the technical design work, and delegating authority for designs to be submitted for planning consideration.

The cabinet also agreed to delegate authority to officers to look at the “disposal of Mandela House”. The report published by the city council suggested that £6m could be raised from the sale of the building to be put towards the Civic Quarter project.

Councillor Cameron Holloway (Labour), leader of the city council, said the Civic Quarter project is “hugely significant” for the city. Councillor Simon Smith (Labour), cabinet member for finance and resources, said the plans would make the “city centre more inclusive and accessible”.

He said the city council wanted to create a “thriving seven day a week market” and “transform” the Corn Exchange by addressing some of its “fundamental problems”. Cllr Smith also said investing in the Guildhall and opening it up more to the community would help retain the building as the “seat of local democracy” in Cambridge.

He added that the city council hoped it would become the “new headquarters” of whatever unitary authority replaces the city council under local government reorganisation.

‘Significance of the Guildhall needs to be retained’

Councillor Katie Thornburrow (Labour) said the “significance” of the Guildhall needed to be retained. Councillor Dinah Pounds (Labour) also stressed the importance of the Guildhall and said its primary function needed to continue to be for the governance of the city.

Cllr Holloway said he did not want to see it “end up like Shire Hall”, which he said had been “sad to see” and said they wanted to “retain the important civic heart of the city”. Cllr Smith added that he agreed they needed to “maintain the integrity of this space” and said he believed other councils have made a “mistake” when they “left other chambers behind” for office buildings and business parks.

However, Councillor Naomi Bennett (Green Party) questioned whether everyone in the city agreed with the views about the importance of the Guildhall. She said: “It is not about the building it is about the people and values in an organisation, one of those values has to be financial stewardship.

“I understand you all have warm fuzzy feelings about the Guildhall, I do not think the average resident in Cambridge shares those feelings, people feeling the pinch and are anxious about the financial burden.”

Cllr Bennett raised concerns about the justifications for the investment and said the report presented to them was not a “sound basis for investment”. Cllr Holloway said this was “not purely financial investment”, but was also about “investing in the community’s civic heart and city centre”, and meeting the authority’s net zero goals by 2030.

It was also highlighted that it had been estimated that doing nothing could still cost the city council £60m.

Councillor Tim Bick (Liberal Democrat) said he supported most of the outcomes the authority was hoping to achieve from the project. However, he said they had to recognise that the estimated cost of £92m did stick out to the public. Cllr Holloway said there were “significant costs” associated with the project, which is why he said the city council was taking a “gradual step by step process”.

He added that investing in the assets was the right thing to do, but said they are also “stewards of public money” and that they would be managing that in a “sensible way”. Cllr Smith said the current plans hoped that the reduction in operating costs and increased revenue in the future would fund the long term borrowing costs of the project.

He added there had also been a “substantial underspend” on the Park Street redevelopment project, which he said “realises some very cheap borrowing” that could help the Civic Quarter work. Cllr Smith also said the city council needed to spend money on its public realm to make it better and said that is something the public sector has to do.

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