Artist's impression of the North elevation of Botanic House. Construction has already begun on the project.

Building sites and cranes are popping up across Cambridge amid one of the biggest development booms the city has seen in decades. And it’s all occuring despite the recession.

From the completion of the Guided Busway, to the start of work on a brand new community on the fringes of Trumpington, Cambridge is changing at a rapid pace.

After years of waiting many high-profile developments are suddenly coming to fruition all at once and residents should be prepared to see massive changes to their city within the next 12 months.

Alongside two new hotels - one in Station Road, and another in Newmarket Road - several office blocks, including one called Botanic House opposite Station Road, which will also include 165 flats and some 8,000 sq ft of retail space, the number of homes in the city will begin to increase at a rapid rate.

The building of houses on the Trumpington Meadows and Clay Farm developments will begin in September this year and work at the former Parkside Fire Station has already started and will culminate in 194 new apartments going on sale next year - 40 per cent of the houses on all three sites will be affordable.

This will be complemented by completion of work on the new station platform for Cambridge expected in December this year.

Johnny Vincent, of Pace, the developers for Botanic House, said his company believe Cambridge is the ideal place to be investing in right now - despite the vicious recession which has seen many parts of the UK crippled when it comes to development.

Mr Vincent said: “We have taken the initiative to start the project [Botanic House] speculatively, which underlines our belief that there is strong demand for new high quality offices and homes in central Cambridge.

“We began our development last year because we thought there was lack of supply and actually the Cambridge ecnomy is quite special - it’s a resilient, exciting, dynamic economy, not suffering like other parts of the UK.

“It has a fantastic place in the market and I think its looking pretty sound and certainly if you look at the amount of cranes popping up as an indication.”

Mr Vincent and his team hope to complete the office portion of the Botanic House development - all 34,000 sq ft of it - by next year, ready for its new, but as yet unnanounced, occupiers, whi are descrined as a “major local employer”.

Mr Vincent said: “The residential portion should be completed by 2014, with around 40 per cent of it being affordable housing. There hasn’t been the volume of affordable homes built over the last two or three years because of the slowdown so I think it’s even more important now to get that going to keep supply up.

“I’ve never built anything in a green field, so my own view is that city centres and the regeneration of city centres is very exciting.

“I think Cambridge is a very special place. The nice thing about it is that its very different from other cities in the UK in as much as there is a very special character around it and that hasn’t been spoilt by over development.”

Cambridgeshire Horizons is a body about to be shut down following Government funding cuts, but it was set up to project manage the delivery of the growth strategy for Cambridgeshire, equating to at least 73,300 new homes, 50,000 new jobs and more than £4 billion worth of new infrastructure by 2021.

John Williamson, director for development at Cambridgeshire Horizons, said: “The guided busway will be opening which is a major piece of infrastructure - it’s had problems in terms of getting to this point, but it’s encouraging it’s opening now and will make a significant difference, linking several major developments.

“Those developments include the ones in what are called the Southern Fringes, at Clay Farm and Trumpington Meadows which are really beginning to take off now.

“At the moment the infrastructure is being put in on site and the first phase of housing should start before Christmas,

“Ultimately overall there you’ll see 4,000 houses south of Trumpington and the M11.”

Mr Williamson said he believes that despite the recession land values around Cambridgeshire have remained high as a result of pressure for more housing.

He said: “Cambridgeshire has done quite well through the recession and private developers are very willing to come here.

“In terms of progress with major developments, most of the progress is now being made on the Southern Fringe - there will soon be obvious and visible signs of progress.

“But the next area which we need to pick up on is North West Cambridge. Whether that starts next year is still in question, but it will follow on soon. That could potentially be a very interesting project because they have high ambitions for making it very environmentally sustainable.”

Botanic House:

With more than 53,000 sq ft of office space, 165 apartments and 8,000 sq ft of retail space, the first phase of Botanic House, near Cambridge’s station, will be ready for occupation in summer 2012.

The new Hills Road-based building will be adjacent to Station Road and investors for the project say they feel its construction marks increasing confidence in the economy of Cambridge.

William Scoular, of Investec’s structured property finance division, one of the project’s investors, said: “We are excited to be backing this client and project. It’s an important milestone for the city and a key indicator that business confidence is improving.

“Having already attracted a high level of interest from potential tenants we are confident that this project will be very successful.”

Johnny Vincent, of Pace, the developers for Botanic House, said: “Botanic House is an exciting building architecturally and I hope it gains the reputation of being one of the best office buildings in Cambridge and people will recognise it.”