St John’s College has submitted plans to completely redevelop Wolfson Court, its accommodation campus on Clarkson Road.

The campus will eventually house students from Newnham, Lucy Cavendish, and St John’s itself. Currently, there are no students living in the accommodation block.

Originally built in 1971, the site was first owned by Girton College. St John’s acquired the accommodation from Girton in 2017, and has since let rooms to students from various colleges, including Lucy Cavendish.

Plans for the re-development have been in the works since November 2024. The project is spearheaded by St John’s and MICA Architects.

MICA Architects have worked with several other Cambridge colleges on re-development projects, including ‘Project Agora’ at Gonville and Caius, a future development masterplan at Christ’s, and – most recently – a masterplan for Sidney Sussex.

The latest planning application for Wolfson Court was submitted to Cambridge City Council in December 2025, and is currently awaiting approval.

On their website dedicated to the re-development, St John’s shared that the old Wolfson Court buildings, including additional developments added to the campus in 1990, are “dated, inefficient, and no longer fit for purpose in their current form”.

The College noted that the buildings lack accessible facilities, such as lifts and adequate space. Additionally, due to an inefficient boiler and the age of the property, the running costs of the current buildings are “extremely high”.

The College stated that they have carried out “extensive studies,” which have shown that the most sustainable and carbon-efficient approach to refurbishing Wolfson Court is a complete demolition and re-development.

The new Wolfson Court aims to address the constraints of the previous property and will include five new accommodation buildings, labelled A to E.

The Design and Access statement published by the College and MICA in December 2025 shared that buildings A, B, C, and D will contain “cluster flats” and four three-storey townhouses, one attached to each building. Block E will contain one-bedroom apartments.

The plan states that blocks A, B, and C will be let to Lucy Cavendish, providing the College with 313 new single ensuite bedrooms.

Block D, consisting of 73 bedrooms, will be let to Newnham College. Block E, with 22 one-bed apartments, will be let to St John’s students, in addition to a small number of visiting scholars from the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences.

In a letter expressing support for the development, Lucy Cavendish shared that, with their current facilities, they are only able to house 80% of their full-time students in college accommodation.

Lucy Cavendish went on to state that “there is a demand for at least 300 additional rooms,” which could be optimally supplemented by the new Wolfson Court development.

One Lucy Cavendish undergraduate expressed interest in the Wolfson Court development plan, but shared concerns about rent rises, saying: “I do wonder about price, especially as this is another building being built with John’s.”

St John’s is known as Lucy Cavendish’s largest landlord, letting several properties to the College.

The Lucy Cav student elaborated on how some students feel about renting from John’s, stating: “It highlights how much of Lucy student facilities are often dependent on a third party, which isn’t popular with students and is [what students often] blame for high rent prices.”

A 2023 Varsity investigation revealed that the average Lucy Cav rent is among the most expensive out of all colleges. Additionally, Varsity reported that the average St John’s rent is two thirds the average rent at Lucy Cavendish.

“I’m generally happy with the quality of accommodation, so expansion of good housing is great – so long as it doesn’t mean a rent hike!” stated the Lucy Cav student.

The determination deadline for the planning application is 23 March.

MICA Architects were contacted for comment.