A traditional topping out ceremony has taken place at Cambridge Investment Partnership’s flagship development, Cromwell Road, Cambridge to celebrate the progress of construction.
Ward Councillors and board members of Cambridge Investment Partnership were present to officially infill the final bit of concrete to mark the completion of the highest point of the frame on Block E, which consists of 50 market sale homes.
Cromwell Road is CIP’s largest scheme to date and will deliver 295 new homes, of which 118 will be brand new council rented homes. The former Ridgeons site will also include a nursery, landscaped central park and open spaces, play equipment, parking for cars and bicycle parking including a basement car park and electric vehicle charging spaces for every house and 10% of the communal area.
All of the council rented homes will be wheelchair accessible, with six of the units specially adapted for wheelchair users. Three of the homes will also be designated as ‘Housing First’ homes for people who had previously been vulnerably housed or homeless.
Cllr Mike Todd Jones, Executive Councillor for housing at Cambridge City Council and CIP board member commented: “It’s a privilege to be part of this topping out ceremony to mark the excellent progress that has been made at Cromwell Road, particularly with all the restrictions that have been in place due to the pandemic. This development will bring forward a further 118 brand new council homes to the city and help tackle Cambridge’s affordable housing shortage.”
The new homes will be built in line with the Cambridge Sustainable Housing Design Guide which exceeds national policy guidelines and will incorporate a number of sustainable features including green roofs on apartment blocks, photovoltaic panels on roofs of houses and apartments, sustainable urban drainage system incorporated into the landscape and denser insulation and wall thickness to minimise heat loss and reduce energy bills.
Tom Hill, Regional Director of Hill said: “It is wonderful to be able to mark the milestone of this project by holding a topping out ceremony and to celebrate all the hard work by our team and partners during these unprecedented times. As a partnership we are extremely proud of this development and look forward to residents enjoying their new community for years to come.”
CIP has also committed £250,000 towards three public art commissions as well as £3.2m towards local schools, parks, sport centres, the Chisholm Trail, NHS and open space adoption.
The former Ridgeon Timber was founded in 1911 from the back of Cyril Ridgeon’s house in St Barnabas Road, Cambridge. By 1928 the business had grown enough to acquire the timber yard at Cromwell Road. Logs were sawn, cut and stored on the site for almost 80 years under the management of four generations of the Ridgeon family.
Header image shows from left to right: Claire Flowers, Head of Housing Development at Cambridge City Council, Chris Luxford, Hill. Cllr Mike Todd Jones, Tom Hill, Cllr Mike Davey, Cllr Dinah Pounds and Dean Gooden, Project Manager at Hill.
