Lion Works, Cambridgeshire

Lions Works is a small traditional industrial estate adjacent to the railway station. Although there is nothing special about it, it sits at the heart of the bio-tech cluster south of Cambridge and close to other science parks such as Babraham Research Park, Melbourn Science Park and the Wellcome Genome Campus.

SP&D’s appraisal highlighted the Local Plan’s support for employment development, especially near transport links and where it would support the economic fucntion of smaller settlements. It warned that planning permission would be required for external changes and regard had to be had to neighbour amenity, especially from noise and odour. It gave the client the confidence to invest in the units and transform them to fitted labs. Where Camvale lead others have followed and the estate has slowly transformed into a cluster of lab buildings.