Lucy Cavendish is the fastest growing and most diverse college in Cambridge. They approached rhp with a pressing need to increase undergraduate residential accommodation on their College grounds, a sensitive site in a Conservation Area. rhp responded with a site wide masterplan with inclusivity, connectivity and student wellbeing at its heart. The new buildings provide 72 new en-suite student rooms together with an integral café, dining, social and teaching spaces. The challenge was to design a modern, highly sustainable, future proof building which complements the surrounding College buildings and the character of the site in the West Cambridge Conservation Area. Our approach has been to learn from the existing buildings on site; with pitched roofs, clay plain tiles, red brickwork, and timber cladding; but to use these materials in a contemporary way which balances reduced embodied carbon with longevity and materials that can, ultimately, be recycled at the end of the building’s life.