Cambridge Jewish student centre wins planning approval after 14-year battle

Plans for a new Jewish student centre in Cambridge have won unanimous planning approval, bringing to an end to a 14-year process and clearing the way for a purpose-built home designed around how Jewish students actually live, study and socialise.

The development will replace the existing Cambridge University Jewish Society synagogue at 3 Thompsons Lane, a single-storey building built in 1937, which has long served as the focal point for Jewish student life. After decades of adaptations, the building has reached the end of its design life and no longer meets the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse student population.

The project is being driven by Cambridge alumni Richard Loftus and Robert Perlman, who have worked on the scheme for more than a decade. As they described, the aim was never simply to rebuild a synagogue.

“It’s not just a synagogue. It’s a Jewish student centre,” they told Jewish News. “It has to be a building where you can take a non-Jewish friend and feel proud.”

The approved plans are explicitly student-focused. The ground floor will house a traditional Orthodox synagogue alongside a large flexible hall that can open into the prayer space to seat up to 150 students for Friday night dinners. A kosher meat kitchen, meeting rooms and a secure entrance with an airlock and staffed security booth are also included.

The first floor is designed for everyday student use, with a quiet study and IT space that can double as an egalitarian prayer area, as well as social space, a dairy kitchenette and a garden room with an opening roof designed for use during Succoth. Sliding partitions throughout the building mean rooms can be reconfigured for prayer, study sessions, talks, welfare events and social gatherings.

Adaptability was central to the brief. The project leaders explained: “Whatever we do today will be wrong in ten years’ time. So the building has to be able to change.”

Earlier versions of the project were refused following objections from neighbouring residents, including concerns about overlooking and trees, and an appeal was also unsuccessful. The scheme was later redesigned by architects Allies and Morrison after extensive consultation with planners, residents and students. The final proposal received strong officer support and was approved unanimously by Cambridge City Council’s planning committee earlier this year.

Student input had shaped the project throughout. “We’ve had meetings with past and present student presidents over the years, and we are continuing dialogue with focus groups, ” the project leaders said. “That’s what shaped the brief. The students are ecstatic – this is about giving them a proper home.”

It is estimated that there are more than 1,000 Jewish undergraduate and postgraduate students in Cambridge. While the centre will also serve a small local Jewish community, it is intended to remain firmly student-led, with professional staff brought in to provide continuity. “At the moment it’s all run by the students,” they said. “That’s great, but it doesn’t work long-term. There needs to be continuity with some professional staff.”

Around £500,000 has already been spent on planning, design and consultant work, funded by two of the project’s trustees. About a third of the total cost is already accounted for, with fundraising now underway with major donors and foundations. Plans also include an endowment fund to cover running costs and help subsidise student meals. “It would be a shame if students don’t come because they can’t afford it,” they said.

Demolition of the existing building is expected in  January 2027, with the new Cambridge Jewish student centre scheduled to open in September 2028, in time for the start of the new academic year.

A search for a suitable temporary premises is now in progress.