Commercial Units for Sale in Cambridge
31 properties found within 15 miles
About Commercial Units in Cambridge
Cambridge is the centre of one of the most concentrated science and technology clusters in Europe, and its commercial property market is shaped by that more than by anything else. The city itself is small, with a population of about 150,000, but demand for offices and laboratories comes from a global pool of life-science, software and semiconductor companies. Agent research reports that 77 per cent of current office requirements in the city come from science and technology companies, and the market runs from period offices around Hills Road and the station quarter to purpose-built research campuses on every side of the city.
The pattern was set in 1970, when Trinity College opened Cambridge Science Park on the northern edge of the city; it now covers 173 acres with 173 companies on site as of July 2026, including Microsoft, Amgen and Raspberry Pi. To the south, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe, with over 23,000 people working on site, among them Addenbrooke's Hospital, Royal Papworth Hospital, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and AstraZeneca's global headquarters and Discovery Centre. Further out, Granta Park and the Babraham Research Campus to the south-east, Cambridge Research Park at Waterbeach to the north and Cambourne Business Park to the west spread that demand along the A11, A10 and A428.
For its size, Cambridge is one of the best-connected cities in the country. The fastest trains reach London King's Cross in 49 minutes, with 113 services a day and a typical journey of about 1 hour 15, and Greater Anglia runs to Liverpool Street in a fastest time of 1 hour 13. Three stations serve the city: Cambridge, Cambridge North for the Science Park and business parks, and Cambridge South, opened on 28 June 2026 to serve the Biomedical Campus. The M11 runs up the west side of the city to meet the A14 at the Girton interchange (Junction 14), and London Stansted is about 30 miles south, half an hour by direct train.
The result is a tight and expensive market. Prime city centre office rents stood at £65 per sq ft at the end of 2025, with prime out-of-town space at £48 and forecasts of £70 by 2027, and prime industrial rents have risen to £21 per sq ft, with mid-tech research space at £27.50. Supply is catching up: Railpen has consent for a one million sq ft laboratory and innovation park on the Beehive Centre site, the Grafton Centre has planning permission, granted February 2024, to convert roughly two-thirds of its floorspace to laboratories, and Marshall's move from Cambridge Airport by mid-2029 releases a 700-acre site at Cambridge East for more than 10,000 homes and 9,000 jobs. Away from the science parks, small offices, workshops and trade units on the established estates around Clifton Road, Coldham's Road and Milton still let at far more ordinary rents.
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.
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