South Cambridgeshire buys £13m office building

South Cambridgeshire District Council has bought an office building at Cambridge Science Park in a bid to generate more money for the local authority.

The building has been sold with tenants – the firm DisplayLink – in place, who have a 15-year lease from 2015.

According to the council, the rent generated by the building will provide the local authority with an initial net return of around 5.6%.

The purchase comes after councillors agreed the authority’s first ever investment strategy at a meeting in February.

The building is listed as Grade A office space – which means it is among the highest quality buildings on the market.

And its location, Cambridge Science Park, is widely considered Europe’s most successful research and development park.

It is also well-served by public transport with the Guided Busway and Cambridge North railway station within a few minutes’ walk.

The council already generates around £2m a year itself. In the past income had mainly been generated from Ermine Street Housing – the Council’s private sector housing company.

By the end of March 2024, council investments are forecasted to return an income of just over £5 million a year which will be used to protect the services local people want and need.

‘We’re extremely pleased to have moved quickly to agree and complete this purchase,’ said the council’s lead cabinet member for finance, Cllr John Williams.

‘This investment will give us a good return which we will re-invest into frontline services for many years. An opportunity to buy an office in this world-renowned South Cambridgeshire location is rare and our recently-agreed investment strategy means we were in an excellent position to be able to capitalise on it.

‘This purchase also means we have made a good start towards achieving our savings targets during the next few years. By making sensible investment decisions like this, we are helping to protect vital frontline services, like recycling and waste, housing support for vulnerable people and planning, in the face of cuts to national funding.’

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