The Discovery Centre in Cambridge marks a new era for AstraZeneca, a remarkable research facility and headquarters by Herzog & de Meuron that combines boundary-pushing design and sustainability with collaboration. Roseanne Field reports.
In the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC), on what was once an empty piece of land, now sits AstraZeneca’s impressive The DISCovery Centre, known as the DISC, alluding to its triangular-disc form. It is designed to be the research centre for this global organisation.
The British-Swedish based pharmaceutical giant gained an even higher UK profile during the pandemic after it developed a Covid vaccine with the University of Oxford. The company was looking to establish a strategic research and development (R&D) centre in the UK alongside its existing centres in Gothenburg, Sweden and Maryland in the US.
With the company investing $7bn a year in R&D – and a large portion of this taking place in the UK – it was a logical step to invest in a centre that would include the latest in technology and design. However, the result, designed by architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and built by Mace, would also become AstraZeneca’s corporate headquarters. As well as its existing research centres in Sweden and the US, the company has an R&D presence in over 40 countries globally, and development facilities in China and Japan.
A catalyst for collaboration
Locating DISC in the Cambridge Biomedical Campus made sense from several angles. The CBC forms part of a wider development known as the Cambridge Southern Fringe Area, and is intended to become a leading hub for biomedical research and development, home to companies and institutions from the healthcare, education, science and research sectors. AstraZeneca previously operated an R&D facility in Alderley Park in Macclesfield, a semi-rural site that typified the former preferred location of pharmaceutical companies, before a shift occurred to R&D sites being located closer to life science ‘hubs.’
The client deliberately placed the building at the centre of the CBC, to maximise the organisation’s ability to foster collaboration across the campus. AstraZeneca hopes its location will make it a “key point of idea exchange,” and allow it to build on existing collaborations within the Cambridge Life Science community, including the University of Cambridge’s School of Clinical Medicine, the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Cancer Research UK. The DISC’s neighbours also include two leading hospitals – the Royal Papworth Hospital and Addenbrooke’s Hospital – and numerous research institutions and biotech firms. In total more than 400 companies are located within the life sciences cluster, employing around 20,000 people. It’s the most productive life sciences community in Europe, contributing nearly £3bn annually to the UK economy.
Such collaboration, including the work of AstraZeneca itself, has been identified by the Government as key to improving the UK’s overall investment in R&D which it has targeted to be 2.4% of GDP by 2027. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) also recently announced an overall budget of £13.9bn for 2025/26, with every pound of public investment projected to leverage £2 of private investment.
To encourage collaboration further, the ground floor level of the DISC has been designed to be as open plan as possible, allowing users and visitors to get together in a variety of spaces, including purpose-designed collaboration spaces. There are also further areas on the upper floors, providing diverse spaces for informal meetings and exchange.
Bumps in the road
While the DISC has been lauded since its opening, the road to completion was anything but smooth. AstraZeneca first revealed its plans to open a new facility in 2013, when they appointed Herzog & de Meuron to design the scheme. A series of design development stages then took place, before outline planning permission was finally granted in February 2015.
When first announced, it was planned that the centre would take three years to complete, opening in 2016. The company sold its Alderley Park site, with a plan to remain onsite as a tenant until able to relocate all staff to the building in 2016.
However, despite construction beginning soon after planning approval, the project was hit by a series of delays and spiralling costs, with the final total cost hitting £1bn – more than three times the initial budget of £330m. The anticipated spend was gradually increased as the project progressed, first to £500m and then £750m, before it ultimately hit the £1bn mark.
These extreme increases in the spend were blamed on a combination of the complexity of the build, inflation – including impacts which are related to Brexit – and further investment in new technologies and equipment for the centre. As well as resulting in cost increases, this also meant the projected completion date was pushed on several times, with the centre finally having its grand opening five years later than originally anticipated in November 2021.
At the building’s opening, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot commented on the company’s ambition to achieve a new building that would “drive the next wave of scientific innovation.” He explained that it hoped to set a new standard for both sustainability and global collaboration in the R&D field, and “break new boundaries” in relation to disease biology and life-changing medicines.
Designed for discovery
Herzog & de Meuron was appointed to the project at the early stages, with the design initially completed in 2014 before going through just under a year of design development. From the start, the key focus and aim was for the building’s architecture to support AstraZeneca’s desire for collaboration, as well as incorporating the latest technology from both construction and research and biological perspectives.
The DISC itself is triangular in plan with rounded edges, following the dimensions of the site, with an open courtyard at the centre. This courtyard, along with the building’s low-rise structure, were deliberate choices to echo the typical historical colleges of central Cambridge.
The courtyard also formed a key part of the design from a collaboration point of view, providing a large, central meeting point that is easily accessible. The building itself can be accessed from all three sides externally, another deliberate choice by Herzog & de Meuron to make the building as porous as possible and encourage collaboration.
The DISC is largely formed of a glass envelope – again enhancing its porosity and making the building and the work taking place inside it as visible as possible. A sawtooth roof runs from east to west, allowing natural light to flow through the building. The sawtooth pattern is echoed in the building’s facade with a vertical zig-zag geometry. These patterns, along with the hovering effect, add to the building’s distinctiveness and make it a recognisable feature of the wider CBC.
The bulk of the building is the ‘triangular disc,’ which appears to hover above its base. It’s in fact supported by six rectangular glass boxes, grouped into three pairs. This creates the open courtyard space in the centre, with the triangular glass disc on top also containing a triangular ‘hole’ in the centre where the courtyard sits.
Forming an essential part of R&D, laboratories constitute the DISC’s main functional spaces. They’re housed within the glazed rectangular boxes which not only support the structure but also extend vertically through every floor of the building. The layout and design of these laboratories allows different groups to work side by side, once again enhancing the building’s collaborative focus. To build on this further, glazing was used extensively throughout the interior, allowing transparency across each floor of the building. This also further enhances the visibility of the work taking place inside the building to both employees and visitors.
The workspaces utilise open plan layouts as much as possible, arranged and designed in ways to offer employees a choice of workplace settings ranging from private study spaces and quiet areas and booths, to larger more informal collaboration spaces.
The building has an ‘inner ring’ of main circulation space on the upper floors around the courtyard. There are also various spaces located around this, adding to the workspace options for employees and meeting spaces for visitors.
The internal layout of the building has been carefully considered, with each of the four floors serving its own specific purpose. The underground level is home to some of the necessary practical elements, such as a loading area, plant zone and scientific support facilities.
The ground floor houses the building’s key amenities, including conference centre, auditorium, cafe and restaurant. These have easy access from the main entrance, as well as being equally accessible from all other parts of the building. The entrance is as open as possible, and home to various science displays, showcasing the work of the building’s scientists. For example, a beating ‘mini-heart’ is displayed in one of the laboratories, used to test the impact of new medicines on the human heart.
The remaining two floors, both located within the ‘hovering disc’ portion of the building, house the rest of the laboratories and working spaces. In total the building is home to 16 laboratories and 4,000 employees including 2,200 scientists – putting it alongside the Francis Crick Institute in London as the biggest facility of its kind in Britain. The first floor of the ‘disc’ element is connected through the ring area, and the second floor is flooded with natural light not only from the glass facade but also through skylights in the sawtooth roof. The building is also home to an amenities hub for employees which includes a gym, cafe and creche.
Materials matter
Although the DISC houses many distinct work environments, it was important to the project team to achieve design unity, and that overall, the building appears as “one characteristic structure.” This is partly achieved through careful choice of materials throughout the building, creating a cohesive look both externally and internally.
Glazing is the dominate facade material, used to form the rectangular boxes that support the overall ‘disc,’ as well as forming the facade of the DISC itself. All the main partitions throughout the building are also formed of full height glass, to provide both transparency and seamless transitions between the various workspaces.
Other materials internally have been chosen to best suit and reflect the different functions of each area, such as the different flooring materials chosen for specific spaces. The entrances feature natural stone and the main stairs up through the building and the DISC’s inner ring are rough-sawn solid oak. The offices and ‘write-up’ rooms, where better acoustics are required, are finished in carpet, while the laboratories feature a more practical white resin finish.
The other key material used throughout the building is exposed concrete. Not only does this offer glimpses into the construction method and structural function of the building, it was also a deliberate choice to complement the glass and wood.
Sustainable science
As well as designing a building that would encourage collaboration both internally and externally, it was important to the project team and client that The DISC be highly sustainable. It has achieved a BREEAM certification of Excellent thanks to elements of both the design and construction.
AstraZeneca has an aspirational programme it calls Ambition Zero Carbon which includes a series of targets to reduce its own carbon footprint globally, including zero carbon emissions from its operations by the end of this year, and its entire value chain to be carbon negative by 2030. It’s also working on the creation of medicines that have a lesser impact on the environment, such as a respiratory inhaler containing a near-zero Global Warming Potential propellant.
Aligning with this, the building was designed to what AstraZeneca calls “the highest environmental standards,” with a goal of increasing its energy efficiency and “working in harmony with the natural environment as much as possible” through heating, cooling and lighting.
The building has what is thought to be the UK’s largest ‘renewable heat certified’ ground source heating and cooling system. It’s heated and cooled via a ground source heat pump, with four hybrid cooling towers and 174 boreholes used to both provide and store natural geothermal energy. The heat pump saves enough energy to provide power to 2,500 homes. When the building requires more energy for heating or cooling than can be provided by the ground, there are boilers and chillers installed that use 100% biomethane and renewable electricity.
The centre also has high levels of insulation, low-energy ventilation and utilises harvested rainwater to flush the toilets. The sawtooth roof design reduces the reliance on artificial lighting by allowing ample natural daylight in, while also minimising solar gain. Construction waste was kept to a minimum and the material choices were also driven by their sustainability credentials.
The DISC also makes use of modern technology, including smart building technology, LED lighting and daylight-linked controls for the blinds and curtains. It’s also home to the most advanced robotics, AI-driven technology and high-throughput screening.
Worth the wait
Despite the lengthy delays and overspend, the DISC has had high praise since its opening. The building is currently running at a lower energy consumption than predicted by the design, and through close monitoring and controlling of the heat pump’s activity the company hopes to reduce its energy usage even further.
Project contractor Mace reports that it has previously found on buildings of this scale that it takes around 12 months before science activities are ‘activated’ post-completion, but at the DISC it took only six days.
Throughout construction the team worked closely with the scientists and end users who would be working in the building, showing them round at various stages of the project, introducing to the building and its spaces and making changes where necessary to ensure it was as ready as possible to go fully online at completion. Collaboration, the key aim for this building from the start, has proven essential not only for the AstraZeneca’s R&D work past and future, but also for the success of the project itself.
Factfile: Planning
- Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
- Executive & Landscape Architect: BDP
- Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing & Structural Engineering: BDP
- Cost Consultant: Turner & Townsend
Factfile: Consulting
- Acoustic, lighting & sustainability consultant: BDP
- Building physics & facade consultant: Emmer Pfenninger Partner AG
- Laboratory planning: Abell Nepp Architects
- Fire protection & logistics consultant: ARUP
- Signage consultant: NEW ID
- Traffic consultant: WSP
- Gastronomy consultant: Tricon Foodservice Consultants
Factfile: Contractors
- General contractor: Mace Group
- External special glazing: Permasteelisa; Scheldebouw
- Internal doors: TRIA; AEL
- Internal special glazing: Zueblin
- Concrete works: Byrne Bros