Waterbeach Lakeside is the first built demonstration of Greystar's new garden-style rental housing strategy for the UK, a model targeting 20,000 homes across the country's highest-growth locations over the next four years. AFK was appointed by Greystar to design the scheme and to work as a close collaborator in defining what that strategy should look and feel like in practice. The result is a 387-home Build to Rent community on the northern edge of Waterbeach Lake, four miles north of Cambridge.
Shaping a new typology
How do we adapt an internationally proven rental model to the specific expectations of UK renters, the requirements of UK planning, and the character of a landscape-led masterplan with a 23-acre lake at its heart?
Working closely with Greystar and the wider project team, AFK helped develop the design principles that now underpin this garden-style approach across Greystar's strategy. A key shift was the concept of amenity as an extension of the home. Rather than prioritising individual balconies, the design invests in a layered system of shared, professionally managed spaces, from internal lounges and landscaped courtyards to the lakefront promenade itself. Connected building cores make those spaces easy to reach and encourage the kind of informal social interaction that builds a genuine sense of community.
AFK also developed the "1B+" unit type, incorporating dedicated study space into the layout to support hybrid working, which is a level of practicality that matters for renters in the Oxbridge science and technology corridor.
Programme and sustainability
Beyond the homes themselves, the scheme integrates more than 7,000 sq ft of retail and amenity space, including a gym, co-working lounge and lakeside amphitheatre. An all-electric energy strategy, roof-mounted solar panels, 1,600 sqm of new reed beds and 640 secure cycle spaces reflect a serious commitment to sustainable living. The development provides 0.28 parking spaces per dwelling, targeting a low-car outcome for a community of this scale.
Collaboration and process
The scheme was developed through close collaboration with Greystar, Urban&Civic and a multidisciplinary design team, and refined through the Cambridge Quality Panel Review process. That rigour is part of what makes Waterbeach credible as a blueprint: the design has been tested, challenged and strengthened at every stage.
