Student housing projects at St John’s have been praised for their ‘characterful’ design and being ‘integrated into the historic Cambridge city fabric’, in the Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards 2026.
The Hinsley Lane development of 39 Passivhaus-certified townhouses is winner of the Best New Neighbourhood Award, while a row of six 19th-century period properties in Portugal Street has won the David Mackay Award for Engineering and Sustainability.
The shared properties in Portugal Street, which house St John’s postgraduates, have also been highly commended in the Best conservation, alteration, or extension of an existing building (over £3m construction value) awards category.
Alison Cox, Domestic Bursar and Fellow of St John’s, said: “These awards recognise the major investment the College is making in high-quality, low-energy student housing that is beautifully designed for modern life.
“Our new accommodation provides comfortable shared homes for postgraduate students in communities close to the main College site, supporting academic studies while cutting the carbon footprint of the St John’s estate.”
The awards honour projects and professionals who are setting new benchmarks for sustainable design, craftsmanship, and community-focused development across Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.
They recognise individuals whose skills strengthen the future of the region’s built environment. Jess Tyson, of MCW Architects, has been named Young Professional of the Year in the People Award category for her work on the College’s Portugal Street properties.
St John’s won the David Mackay Award two years ago for the College Buttery dining room, Bar and Café building project, also designed by MCW Architects.
The winners of the 2026 awards were announced by Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service and the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry at an awards ceremony on Wednesday 18 March.
Experts visited the shortlisted schemes in February to assess design, craftsmanship, accessibility, construction quality, and environmental performance.
Hinsley Lane, off Wilberforce Road, is the largest student development in Cambridge certified by Passhivhaus – a rigorous international benchmark for buildings that require very little energy for heating or cooling. Built next to the University Sports Ground, the development provides 245 student rooms in 39 townhouses, arranged as terraces around shared gardens, and a new central lane.
Described by judges as ‘a characterful, Passivhaus-certified student community integrated into the historic Cambridge City fabric’, Hinsley Lane houses St John’s postgraduates as well as students from other Cambridge colleges, and welcomed its first residents at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.
The Portugal Street houses have been praised for ‘exemplary sustainable design and engineering integration’. The student accommodation underwent a deep retrofit and extensions before reopening for St John’s postgraduates in September 2025. The heritage properties were degasified and their fabric upgraded, and their new extensions have created larger amenity spaces and extra toilets for 43 bedrooms.
St John’s is one of the largest Cambridge colleges and aims to offer accommodation to all its 400-plus postgraduate students. Housing is guaranteed for all St John’s undergraduates.
A third renovation project at two Grade II-listed properties in Madingley Road also opened to postgraduate tenants last autumn.
The three new building programmes, which are now home to more than 100 St John’s postgraduates, were designed to increase capacity and improve accessibility for people with disabilities, as well as cut the carbon footprint of the College estate.
They are part of a variety of competitively-priced accommodation options for postgraduates at St John’s. As well as shared properties there are single-occupancy bedsits, flats and housing for Master’s and PhD students with a long-term partner or family.
All St John’s-owned student accommodation is furnished and includes utility bills, high-speed internet, kitchens and free laundry facilities.
Further low-carbon and Passivhaus-standard projects are scheduled to open in the coming years to expand and enhance sustainable postgraduate accommodation at St John’s.
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