Cambridgeshire County Council’s former HQ, Shire Hall is set to become a luxury hotel, after Councillors backed plans to sell the site at Committee yesterday (Weds 17 July)
Shire Hall, the attached Octagon building, the former registry office in Castle Lodge and the Old Police Station along with the surrounding car parking was put up for sale in February. Following a decision made by the previous county council administration in 2018, the County Council’s HQ relocated to the purpose-built New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald in 2021 and put the Shire Hall site up for sale.
The previous decision to sell Shire Hall was reviewed in detail by the Joint Administration on taking control of the council in 2021. A decision was then taken to move forward with the agreed sale, whilst ensuring action was taken to protect the public realm around the site, including Castle Mound, a scheduled ancient monument.
Unfortunately, the original sale could not be completed due to factors outside either parties’ control, including the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and sharp increases in interest rates which led to the previously proposed deal become unviable. As a result, the site was remarketed earlier this year.
15 bids were received with a range of different uses proposed for the various buildings on the site including hotels and extended stay apartments, retirement living, student, co-living, research, residential apartments, offices and business space. Marketing was carried out by BNP Paribas Real Estate.
A shortlist of 4 bids, including 3 to create hotels on the site, were submitted to the council’s Assets & Procurement Committee, following extensive due diligence work by officers.
The bid which aims to create a luxury hotel at the Shire Hall site, with a restaurant and spa complex, was backed by a majority of the Committee’s Councillors.
The council will now enter an exclusivity period with a preferred bidder. This time will allow the bidder to carry out surveys of the buildings, discuss their proposals with the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service and further their designs, with the aim of exchanging contracts and completing the sale in the Autumn. Due to commercial sensitivities, the financial details of the bid are not being made public at this time.
The developer’s proposals to create a new high-end hotel on the site will require planning permission and considerable building works to transform the existing offices into premium visitor accommodation.
Chair of the Asset & Procurement Committee, Councillor Ros Hathorn said: “We received a lot of interest in the Shire Hall site and carefully considered all the shortlisted bids at the Committee. I know that this has been a difficult decision for all of us. Shire Hall is a Cambridge landmark and where many of us began our political roles.”
“The original decision to sell the site and relocate to Alconbury Weald was made back in 2018 by the previous Conservative-led administration, so it is only the final step in this process that fell to us yesterday.”
“We’re all aware of the impact the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increasing construction costs has had across the development industry and the role this played in the previous bidders withdrawing from the previously agreed sale.”
“Our newly chosen bidders made a strong case for the creation of a luxury hotel at Shire Hall, which we hope will offer a five-star future for this historic site, as well as bringing new jobs and a wide range of economic benefits to the city.”
