Ridge's Cambridge project management team, led by Keir Dixon, has been recognised at the CFCI Awards 2026 for their work on Hinsley Lane - Cambridge's largest Passivhaus neighbourhood.

St John’s College wanted more than student accommodation at the former Grange Farm site in West Cambridge; they wanted a neighbourhood with genuine long-term value. Last week, Hinsley Lane was recognised at the CFCI Awards 2026, winning the Best New Neighbourhood award with Ridge’s Cambridge PM team, led by Partner Keir Dixon and Associate Project Manager Carrie Bull, central to its delivery.

The Project

Designed by Allies and Morrison, Hinsley Lane provides 245 student rooms across 39 terraced townhouses, occupied by students from St John’s, Clare Hall, and Lucy Cavendish Colleges. The houses are arranged around a series of communal gardens and connected by a new public lane – Hinsley Lane itself – which opens up a previously disconnected part of West Cambridge, improving access and movement for the wider community as much as for its own residents.

Passivhaus at the Heart of It

Passivhaus certification emerged through a rigorous analytical process during RIBA Stage 1, where engineers, architects, planners, project managers, and cost consultants collectively assessed twelve design variants; ranging from building regulations baseline through to full Passivhaus Classic certification – weighing up performance requirements, carbon emissions, construction risk, and cost at each level. That shared understanding gave St John’s the confidence to formally commit to Passivhaus Classic standards, with individual Air Source Heat Pumps serving each of the 39 townhouses. The scheme now delivers an annual energy use of 56 kWh/m²/yr, 25% below the targets set in the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard and generates 5,145 kWh of electricity from on-site solar panels.

Exceptional Build Quality

Airtightness is the definitive measure of Passivhaus performance, and Hinsley Lane’s results are remarkable. Against a required standard of 0.6 ACH (Air Changes per Hour), the scheme achieved an average of 0.17 ACH, with the best-performing terrace reaching 0.08 ACH – over 50 times better than standard building regulations. Achieving this required real problem-solving on site: with 36 cables per townhouse needing to pass through the airtight layer and no suitable product on the market, contractor Cocksedge building contractors fabricated a bespoke spacer system to control cable positioning within the conduit, ensuring a reliable, consistent seal across the entire development.

The Challenges Ridge Navigated

Delivering Hinsley Lane required Ridge’s team to manage a genuinely layered set of pressures. The site carried archaeological constraints, neighbouring residents and  colleges, that required ongoing and careful engagement throughout the construction period, and as an endowment scheme, the project demanded close commercial scrutiny at every stage. When costs increased during the design phase, rather than looking for savings in the environmental specification, the team identified an opportunity to add value, optimising underused attic plant space to create an additional bedroom within each of the seven-bed townhouses, increasing accommodation capacity without any compromise to the project’s sustainability ambitions. Ridge’s combined experience with Cambridge Colleges and Passivhaus delivery – an uncommon pairing – meant the team was well placed to manage both the technical accreditation process and the broader stakeholder complexity that a project of this type demands.

A Neighbourhood That Gives Back

What distinguishes Hinsley Lane beyond its technical performance is the care taken with place. The design works around mature orchards, woodland, and a hedgerow that follows the line of a Roman Road, preserving layers of character that would typically be lost on a development site. In the gardens, swales manage surface water runoff while simultaneously supporting biodiversity and giving structure to the landscape. The new public lane extends these benefits outward, improving connectivity across this part of West Cambridge for the whole community.

Congratulations to the Team

Keir Dixon, Carrie Bull, and the Ridge Cambridge team should be proud of what this award represents – not just a well-delivered project, but a commitment to doing it properly, held across a client, design team, contractor, and project manager who shared the same ambition throughout. Congratulations also to St John’s College, Allies and Morrison, and Cocksedge Building Contractors.