51 Hills Road
The greenest office in Cambridge

Sitting on a main street which runs all the way through Cambridge, this small office building is a reaction to the area’s historical context.
Behind the site sits six model homes from the 1860s, opposite is the Great Eastern Hotel and the botanical gardens are nearby. The building is surrounded on two sides by listed buildings. The street facade relates in both scale and materials to the adjacent Claremont Terrace, and the scheme’s complex three dimensionality is designed to engage with these different surrounding buildings.
Despite being situated on a tight site, the project responds to its prominent position on the high street with generous threshold spaces, enclosed courtyards and setbacks. The tallest point acts as a marker as it is approached from the high street, and the chimneys – which enable naturally driven stack ventilation – give a presence on the street.
Due to the gap site’s historical context, we went through a complex planning process to develop the right proposal for this location. This included discussions with the neighbours and drawing what they would see of the building from their windows. The building’s form is highly sculptural and to design this we made many different models and very much thought of the design from the inside out.
The result is a BREEAM Excellent low-energy speculative office building which is designed to be flexible, allowing for different internal layouts and changes in tenants. Externally high-quality materials of brick and stone have been carefully detailed and the environmental elements are integrated into the architectural expression, while inside a limited palate of in-situ concrete and exposed timber offers a neutral but robust interior.

Further information
Data
- Location
- Cambridge
- Project type
- Workplace and learning
- Budget
- £2.3m
- Status
- Completed 2015
- Floor area
- 780m2
Credits
- Client
- Jesus College, Cambridge
- Gort Scott Team
- Jay Gort, Fiona Scott, Susie Hyden
- Collaborators
- Bidwells (Project Manager), Max Fordham (Building Services), Quantem (Quantity Surveyor), Ashe Construction (Contractor)
- Picture Credits
- David Grandorge (Photographer)
Awards
- UKCSA 2019: Best Cast Stone on a Contemporary Design Project - Winner
- Civic Trust Awards 2017 - Commendation
- Brick Awards 2016 - Winner
- RICS National Awards 2016 - Commendation
- BCO National Awards 2016 - Commendation
- BCO Regional Awards 2016 - Winner
- RIBA National Award 2016 - Winner
- RICS Awards 2016: East of England - Winner
- RIBA East Award 2016 - Winner
- Cambridge Design and Construction Awards 2016 - Commended
- BD Awards 2016: Sustainability Architect of the Year - Shortlisted