A NEW report has been published outlining the next steps for Cambridge City Council’s Civic Quarter project to improve the experience of everyone visiting Cambridge’s Market Square, Corn Exchange and Guildhall while making the most significant investment in the public realm in the city centre for 50 years.

The ambition of the project is to make the city centre more inclusive and accessible, with better public spaces where people can meet and enjoy cultural events, while also enhancing these heritage sites by reducing water use and carbon emissions. As custodian of these historic sites, the council needs to invest in their upkeep and plans to do so in a way that will generate income and reduce operational costs.

The report sets out the latest high-level proposals, which have continued to evolve since the project was initiated in January 2024 in line with feedback from two public engagement programmes and regular meetings with stakeholders, which include the Civic Quarter Liaison Group and market traders. 

Councillors will consider options including:

• committing £4.4 million for technical design and development of contract sum proposals ahead of submitting planning application(s) and Listed Building applications in the autumn;
• doing only the works required to comply with legislation and net zero policies, estimated to cost at least £60 million;
• reducing the scope of the proposals by excluding one or more of the assets;
• or doing all the work proposed as part of the Civic Quarter project across the three sites and surrounding public realm, at a currently estimated cost of £92 million, with a final decision to be made in September 2026 in light of planning consents, final costs and funding arrangements.

The report has been published ahead of consideration by councillors at Performance, Assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9 September. A recommendation will then be made to Cabinet, which meets on 25 September, where Cabinet members will decide how to proceed. If approval is given for the technical design work to proceed, there would be time after any planning applications are submitted to finalise the finer detail of the proposals, as well as opportunity for residents to feed back through the planning application process. A final decision would then be taken by councillors in September 2026.

Proposal highlights

Public realm

The proposals for the public realm around the Market Square, Guildhall and Corn Exchange will be the most transformative change in the city centre for 50 years with a shared surface, restricting traffic to the area, increased Blue Badge Parking from five to six spaces, increased cycle parking  by 10% to 219 bays, and a new biodiverse route along Peas Hill and St Mary's Street and Market Street.

Market Square

Building on the vision for the Market Square that was agreed in March 2022, for a bustling seven-day market which is an accessible, attractive, welcoming, exciting and safe place to visit, shop and gather during the day and into the evening, the proposals for the Market Square include:

• Resurfacing the whole area to make it more accessible, while preserving the Victorian granite setts. Currently the pavement, road and setts on and around the market prevent people from accessing the market if they are wheelchair or pushchair users. Planting will also make the area more biodiverse and provide natural shade in the square
• Retaining and refurbishing the existing fountain to make it fully functioning, with covered seating provided by parasols around the fountain. The proposals respond to feedback about wanting to retain the fountain, and about antisocial behaviour taking place in the current market which is hidden from CCTV cameras by the vacant stalls
• Replacing the current stalls with 96 new stalls, including 44 fixed stalls and 52 demountable stalls. Traders who trade most often will benefit from new lockable stalls, while the demountable stalls will make it possible to create a more flexible space to allow events on the square when there isn’t the demand from traders to have all 96 stalls in use. This is a similar approach to other markets across the UK and Europe which also use demountable stalls to create flexibility
• Renovating and retaining the toilets in the Market Square basement to support traders, and installing underground waste bins to improve waste storage and collection processes.

Corn Exchange

The proposal is to improve the venue with energy-saving measures (including insulation and solar panels), accessibility in all areas, and better sound quality and new audio visual systems for events to ensure performances and events meet higher standards for audiences and performers. Also, introducing more concessions and bar areas – including outside in Parson’s Court – to enable quicker service and more food and drink options. Meanwhile increasing event capacity to accommodate more attendees, allowing for larger events and wider variety.

The Guildhall

The proposal is to conserve the Grade II listed building while enabling it to operate at net zero carbon, using EnerPHit principles to reduce energy use and installing Air Source Heat Pumps and solar panels. The Ground Floor would feature a new customer service centre for people visiting the council, a welcoming public café, along with a Changing Places toilet open to the public. Work spaces and meeting rooms are proposed for council staff, as well as work space for commercial tenants, and publicly bookable rooms for meetings or events, spanning the other floors.

The council chamber currently has fixed furniture and an uneven floor which makes the space difficult to access, and inflexible in terms of how it can be used, with wheelchair users forced to sit in gaps between furniture making participation in meetings difficult. While considering the chamber’s heritage status, the latest proposals would see the fixed furniture removed (while retained and refurbished for use in other parts of the Guildhall) in order for the chamber to become accessible, usable for different types of events including community events, and able to adapt to changing requirements such as increasing number of councillors following local government reorganisation. The large and small halls will have sensitive modern interventions to deliver high quality multifunctional spaces. The proposals provide flexibility to enable the Guildhall to be used as the headquarters for a new unitary council.

Cllr Simon Smith, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, said: “The council is grateful to everyone who has taken the time to share their views on this wide-ranging project. From this feedback we are proposing to retain and restore the fountain, to have much smaller areas of cover on the Market Square to help tackle antisocial behaviour, and at the request of the traders increase the number of fixed stalls. 

“As custodians of the Guildhall, Corn Exchange and Market Square we have two responsibilities. First, to make these heritage assets fully compliant and fossil fuel free, and second, to make them viable over the long term. 

“Protecting the heritage is estimated to cost £60 million, and works to reduce the buildings’ operating costs and increase income would cost a further £32 million. Business cases for the three sites make the case for full investment due to a combination of financial returns and wider public benefit. 

“These benefits include making the Corn Exchange more welcoming, with accessibility for all, better acoustics, more space to socialise before and during events, and the ability to attract a wider range of artists to perform. It means securing the Guildhall as the seat of local democracy that is accessible to all and more inviting to residents with a café and events programme in the small and large halls. It means a more vibrant and accessible environment around the Market Square, directly benefiting traders and other local businesses by attracting residents and visitors to spend more time and creating a welcoming, year-round destination. And better public spaces where people can meet, eat and enjoy cultural events. 

“If Cabinet approves proceeding to the next stage, more work will be carried out over the next year including the submission of planning applications, work on the technical design and budget sum and detailed funding arrangements.” 

View the report and appendices published for Performance, Assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Read more about the project, or sign up for project updates.

View the engagement report [PDF, 9MB] following the engagement programme in spring 2025.