Plans for student residence at Homerton College in Cambridge

Homerton College in Cambridge has put in plans for a new £8.5 million, 120-bed student residence block on Hills Road, which will replace a number of buildings to be demolished at the site close to Harrison Drive.

The new accommodation, which goes as high as four storeys in places, is part of a college-wide estates strategy - the most urgent need of which is new student accommodation.

The design and access statement for the plans, submitted by Martindales Architects on behalf of Homerton College, said: “Homerton College has an urgent need for additional postgraduate student bedrooms, both in order to provide better accommodation for students currently living on the campus and to provide campus-based accommodation for students currently living outside the college.”

The car park is set to be extended to 181 spaces - an increase of 36 spaces - to cater for “the demands of their visiting conference trade and to make provision for future expansion”.

The planned site is set well back from Hills Road and to the south of the existing student accommodation on the site.

The proposals are also set to include a £71,500 piece of public artwork, with an invitation for proposals due to go out in February.

“Homerton College expects that a major piece of public art would create an identity for the campus and could contribute to the profile of the college under a common image,” the planning application says.

The work would also see the car park extended and the existing main entrance into the car park from Harrison Drive closed.

It is hoped the building will be open by August 2016.