History and today

Old Addenbrooke’s Hospital

The building housing the School is a refurbishment and extension of the old Addenbrooke’s Hospital, first established on this site in 1766. The original Georgian building was extended in 1824 and again in 1834. A major reconstruction of the hospital in 1866, designed by Matthew Digby Wyatt, incorporated these buildings behind a new facade. 

Little now remains of the original buildings other than two listed fireplaces and door frames, but Digby Wyatt’s facade was restored as part of the Business School development, forming the first three storeys of the building as it is viewed from Trumpington Street. Further extensions to the hospital in 1915 and 1930 added the top floor. This was later embellished with a new cornice intended to harmonise it with the rest of the facade, with the central colonnade and pediment being rebuilt. 

Due to a shortage of space at Trumpington Street, plans were drawn up in 1948 to move the hospital to a new site on the South side of the city. The first of the new buildings was eventually opened on the new site in 1961. It was not until 1984, however, that the last remaining patients were finally moved from the old hospital. The building then remained empty for eight years, its ‘listed’ status preventing its demolition. 

The new building

In 1991, generous benefactions from Sir Paul and Lady Judge, together with the Monument Trust, provided the funds for the construction of a building for the newly formed Business School. The architect John Outram was appointed to the project which was completed in August 1995, and officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 

Outram converted the listed ward blocks and arcades and rebuilt the central block of the Old Addenbrooke’s Cambridge City Hospital into what is now the Information Centre, Common Room, seminar rooms, teaching rooms, balconies, break-out boxes, meeting rooms, the main hall of the new School, and space for expansion. He added three new sections: 

• The Ark, containing rooms for faculty, research graduates, and professional staff 
• The Castle, containing two key lecture theatres and MBA teaching spaces and room 
• The Gallery, an 80 feet (24.5m) high space containing seminar rooms, multi-level circulation routes, the social stair, and part of the hall 

The Addenbrooke’s building: a unique interior 

With floating staircases and the balconies in the Gallery, arranged rather like opera boxes, Outram’s vision of a space for interaction and collaboration can be seen at its best. The impetus for incorporating large break-out areas originally came from Sir Paul Judge, who wanted the interior of the School to stimulate a networking environment. 

The balconies provide room for collaboration and encourage our community to bring meetings, workgroups and seminars out into the open, and to share ideas and concepts. 

The Simon Sainsbury Centre

In 2018 students and Executive Education delegates began arriving to the new Simon Sainsbury Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School, a four-storey, 5,000-square-metre structure that greatly expands lecture, breakout rooms, meeting and dining facilities while uniting the Business School’s activities under one roof. 

The project, designed by Stirling Prize-winning architect Stanton Williams, sits just behind Cambridge Judge Business School’s iconic Addenbrooke’s building on Trumpington Street. The project was supported in part by a generous donation from the Monument Trust, whose founder Simon Sainsbury was also one of the business school’s original benefactors. 

Our buildings: from 1766 to today

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