Cambridge Assessment, Cambridge

Eric Parry Architects for Cambridge Assessment
Contract value: £121.3m 
GIA: 41,599m² 
Cost per m²: £2,916

The client, which manages the university’s three exam boards, is one of the city’s largest employers. Staff from more 11 offices have been brought together in this new headquarters, a new series of brick and precast concrete buildings with landscaped courtyards at its heart. At its narrowest point to the south of the site it forms a prow facing the railway. This sculptural 38m tower with its illuminated glazed lantern is a beacon for the city and a landmark for people arriving by train. There are 1,150 cycle spaces and only limited car parking located at ground level, avoiding the need for a carbon intensive basement, and allowing three landscaped podium gardens above.

See the rest of the East shortlist here. And all the RIBA Regional Awards shortlists here