Postgraduate Housing: Owlstone Croft rethinks the classic student accommodation

A new era for Graduate homes

The new terraces are a big step forward for the Queens’ postgraduate community. Owlstone Croft rethinks the classic student accommodation design in favour of something closer to a neighbourhood, a place for students to genuinely feel at home during their time here.

Postgraduates may live in these homes for multiple years, and the architecture is designed to support that extended period of living, working and personal growth. Bedrooms are deliberately generous, each exceeding 25m², with a north-facing sleeping area that opens onto a larger south-facing study and living space. This dual-aspect arrangement maximises natural light while giving students room to settle in and adapt the space to their needs over time.

The four- and five-bedroom houses are set within shared gardens, ensuring students have an outdoor space that feels like their own. Each house has its own front door and a communal kitchen, dining and living space at ground level.

Designed with accessibility in mind

Accessibility was at the forefront of the design process for the terraces, with step-free access and platform lifts integrated throughout. All bedrooms are designed to be accessible to wheelchair users. There will be a total of 13 lifts across the terraces, one per house, creating homes that are welcoming and accessible for all.

Architectural Design

Designed to reflect the character of traditional terraced housing, the architecture takes its cues from the surrounding streets. Articulated gables and varied rooflines keep the buildings in scale with Newnham’s residential horizon.

Passivhaus standard

Sustainability is built in from the ground up. The new homes are designed to Passivhaus standards, achieving net-zero operational carbon, through a fabric-first approach that prioritises thermal performance, daylight and comfort.

Naming Opportunities

To honour those whose generosity makes this vision possible, we have a range of naming opportunities for the terraces. If you would like to find out more, you can visit our dedicated Bridge to the Future website or contact our fundraising team at development@queens.cam.ac.uk.

Read more about naming opportunities

Where are we now?

It has been an exciting month on site as the new spaces begin to come to life. The timber frame for the new entrance and common room is now up in Block A, walking through the new study space gives a real sense of it’s scale and the generous natural light that will make it a lovely environment to work in. In Block B, rooms are feeling much closer to home as painting, flooring, and vanity units go in on the upper floors. Meanwhile across the Terraces, internal framing and lift installations are making great progress, and the new electrical substation is now safely positioned.

What are the next steps?

Over the next month, the site will look dramatically different from the outside. Across the Terraces, scaffolding will start coming down, revealing the exterior brickwork as it takes shape and starts to give a true feel for the finished buildings. In Block A, focus will turn to fitting out and enclosing the new common room, entrance, and study areas. In Block B, interior teams will be putting the finishing touches on doors, bathrooms, and final painting across all floors. Finally, we’ll begin preparing the surrounding grounds for landscaping as we move closer to bringing the whole campus together.