The owner of the business park shared its plans during the council’s joint development management committee meeting on Wednesday, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Councillors heard that the Crown Estate is trying out a “experimental approach to the masterplan,” including ideas like converting an unused office building into an innovation hub with a rooftop farm and turning a parking lot into a modular lab space.
They also backed the Crown Estate’s plans to include more accessible areas and appreciated the proposed green spaces.
Katie Thornburrow, a Labour councillor from Cambridge City Council, commented: “We have a housing crisis in Cambridge and if you are not going to provide [500 homes], I would like to know why.”
Mr Sampson mentioned that further details about house numbers will come up in pre-application meetings before they officially submit an outline plan for redevelopment next year.
The Crown Estate is an independent company, owned by the monarch during their reign, managing a £16bn property portfolio across the UK.
Its profits go straight to the Treasury, which then decides how much money goes annually to the King through what’s called the Sovereign Grant.
