Land to Let or Buy in Cambridge

Business character

Science and technology set the tone. AstraZeneca is the largest life-science employer, with about 4,000 direct staff in Cambridge and 6,000 jobs supported, and its Discovery Centre on the Biomedical Campus is the UK's largest research facility by number of scientists. Arm's global headquarters occupies all six buildings at Peterhouse Technology Park on Fulbourn Road, 330,000 sq ft in total, and took a further 95,000 sq ft in 2025. Microsoft Research, Abcam, Jagex and Marshall are among the other names, with Qualcomm, MathWorks, Red Gate Software and the patent attorneys Mewburn Ellis at Cambridge Business Park in the north of the city. The University of Cambridge employs around 13,600 academic and administrative staff and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust over 11,000, so the academic and public sectors are the other big occupiers of space. Professional services follow the science: intellectual property firms, specialist lawyers and accountants cluster around Hills Road and the station. Retail and hospitality serve a large student and visitor population as well as residents, and a long tail of contractors, laboratory fit-out firms and trade suppliers keeps the industrial estates busy. Other significant employers include Royal Papworth Hospital, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Cambridge City Council.

Transport & connectivity

• Motorway: M11 (Junction M11 J11, 3 miles)
• Nearest rail: Cambridge (also Cambridge North and Cambridge South, opened 28 June 2026) (49 min to London)
• Airport: London Stansted (30 miles)
• Key A-roads: A14, A10, A11, A428, A1303, A1307, A603

Market context

Cambridge is consistently one of the most expensive office and laboratory markets in the UK outside London on headline rent. Prime headline office rents reached £65 per sq ft in the city centre at the end of 2025, prime out-of-town space was £48, and agent research forecasts £70 by 2027; prime fitted laboratory space achieves upwards of £70 per sq ft depending on the science park and containment level, and agent research recorded lab requirements at a three-year high of about 607,000 sq ft in early 2026. Demand strengthened again in 2026: office take-up reached 296,700 sq ft in the first half of the year, availability fell to 11.4 per cent (869,600 sq ft), and laboratory requirements rose to 606,500 sq ft, the highest for three years. Below the prime tier the picture is far broader. Industrial space is scarce and priced accordingly: Agent research puts prime standard industrial rents at £21 per sq ft and mid-tech at £27.50, with availability of 5.6 per cent and 246,000 sq ft let in 2025, and a February 2026 agent datapoint puts prime rents at about £18 per sq ft within ten miles of the city and £21.50 in the city itself, with secondary stock around £10 and mid-tech schemes above £25. Retail is settling into a smaller footprint as the Grafton Centre and Beehive Centre are repurposed for laboratories, which concentrates demand on the Grand Arcade, Lion Yard and the independent streets.