Peterborough Science and Technology Park

Our proposals for Peterborough Science and Technology Park seek to restore and regenerate a former brickworks through a landscape-led masterplan, creating a world-class campus where nature, biodiversity and innovation come together.

Rather than creating a conventional science park with landscape woven around the buildings, the masterplan begins with the site itself. Existing natural and manmade features inform a connected landscape framework, within which new places for research, manufacturing and enterprise can be sensitively introduced.

The aspiration is to create a development of national significance that will support and grow knowledge-based businesses working with research and educational organisations across the Advanced Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Agri-Tech sectors.

The proposals, currently submitted for Outline Planning Approval, comprise over 111 acres of brownfield land. Almost 50 acres – 45% of the gross site area – will be safeguarded as biodiverse habitat, connecting into adjacent nature parks and wildlife corridors and creating a substantial ecological framework for the development.

Within this landscape, the site will provide over 500,000ft² of purpose-designed laboratories, offices and high-grade manufacturing space, with a flexible masterplan capable of accommodating organisations of different scales as they grow.

Over 1,500 jobs will be created as a result of the development, covering a wide range of skills and disciplines, from science, engineering and construction to administration, logistics and maintenance. Businesses based at the park will also help drive new skills, training, internship and apprenticeship opportunities linked to local schools, colleges and universities.

Landscape provides the organising structure for the entire masterplan. Our concept centres on the idea that development should feel as though it has been sensitively placed within a natural setting, rather than creating a science park with threads of landscape running through it.

This approach transforms a previously industrial site into a greener, more connected environment, using habitat, water, planting and active-travel routes to establish the character of the campus and shape how people move through and experience it.

Within this setting, a flexible masterplan framework creates opportunities for both large and small knowledge-based companies to establish and grow. An energy and innovation centre will support innovative start-ups and early-stage grow-on companies, while creating opportunities for businesses to collaborate with educational bodies on R&D, prototyping and test beds.

The result is intended to breathe renewed purpose into the site and establish Whittlesey as a knowledge-based destination at the forefront of British innovation across the Science and Technology sectors.

The landscape is also fundamental to the environmental performance of the development. A sustainable urban drainage system is integrated with the site’s existing manmade and natural environment, using the existing lake as a storage facility to recycle and reuse the majority of surface water generated onsite. This could also support businesses whose operations and research require substantial amounts of water, contributing towards the objective of achieving Water Neutrality across the development.

Ecological enhancement has been a key objective from the outset. Almost 50 acres of the site will be managed as safeguarded biodiverse habitat, strengthening connections with adjacent nature parks and wildlife corridors and creating space for nature to establish alongside the new campus.

The landscape framework also supports a pedestrian-first approach to movement. Connections to Whittlesey via an active-travel trail, alongside low-speed roads and walkable, car-free areas within the masterplan, will help reduce reliance on motorised transport while creating a campus that is easier and more enjoyable to move through on foot and by bike.

Alongside these landscape-based strategies, a 5G district energy network will deploy renewable energy technologies onsite, including low-carbon heating and cooling, heat recovery and thermal storage, with electricity generated from roof- and ground-mounted solar PV. Small-scale hydrogen generation will provide fuel for zero-carbon transport.

The design also incorporates a sustainable urban drainage system, designed to integrate seamlessly with the existing manmade and natural environment. This will recycle and reuse most of the onsite surface water using the existing lake as a storage facility with the intention to attract some businesses to the site that require substantial amounts of water for their operations and research. The objective is to achieve Water Neutrality across the development.

A key objective and aspiration from the outset has been to improve and manage substantial areas on the site for the benefit of biodiversity and ecological enhancement.  Almost 50 acres (45%) of the gross plot area has been designated as a safeguarded biodiverse habitat zone, linking in to adjacent local nature parks and wildlife corridors.

By harnessing the power of renewable resources, the development will not only reduce our environmental impact but also pave the way for a cleaner and greener community, becoming a blueprint and quality benchmark for the design of Innovation Clusters and knowledge-based masterplanning excellence across the UK.