Through Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP), our partnership with housebuilder The Hill Group, we have been one of the top ten council house builders per capita for two of the last four years.
Since CIP was established in 2018 we have built nearly 900 new council homes across Cambridge.
Cambridge is one of the few councils in the country that has managed to increase the number of council homes in the last few years.
Through CIP we are committed to improving accommodation standards for people living in existing council homes; and building additional council homes to meet local need and address wider council housing supply issues, such as the need for more large family homes.
We do this by building high-quality new council homes and private-sale homes – both of which are in high demand – along with associated facilities such as new community centres.
We usually build on council-owned land, such as on the site of the council’s former depot, or on ageing council estates where existing homes often don’t meet modern standards our tenants deserve.
In summer 2026 the council was one of three councils outside London to become a Homes England Social and Affordable Housing Programme (SAHP) strategic partner, winning a bit for £96.4 million grant funding. This enables us to expand our ambition to build upon the nearly 900 council homes already completed, to deliver 1,400 more council homes by 2036. The strategic partnership will also enable us to offer more of our new council homes to tenants on the lowest level of council rent.
Homes for sale
Through CIP we also build high-quality new homes for sale on some of our development sites. The added benefit of these is that any profit the council makes from selling these homes is reinvested to fund the building of more council homes, as well as funding other much-needed facilities on these development sites – such as parks, preschools and community centres.
Our CIP partner, Hill, manages the sales and marketing of the for-sale homes. These homes are publicised on the Hill website for many months before the sales launch, and anyone can register their interest in receiving updates about the for-sale properties. Cambridge is an attractive place to live, and desirable for people currently living in Cambridge and those living elsewhere in the UK or abroad who would like to relocate to the city for work. CIP cannot limit the sale of homes only to people who currently live in Cambridge, but does have policies in place to prevent homes being bought by investors, as sales are limited to one home per buyer.
The need to build new council homes
Cambridge City Council owns 7,600+ council homes.
Since the 1980s, governments have allowed people living in council homes to purchase their homes under ‘Right to Buy’. Along with this, some ageing council homes were not built to last as long as many longer-standing old homes, meaning some council homes may become unsuitable for people to live in and therefore need to be demolished.
A combination of these issues means that if we didn’t build new council homes, the number of council homes available to local people would shrink year on year.
As a council we have a vision for a Cambridge where everyone has a warm, safe, and affordable home. With Cambridge being one of the least affordable cities in the country, many local people hope to be able to move into a council house.
High quality new council homes
All new CIP homes meet or exceed national space standards, and our council homes are all designed to meet or exceed the ‘Cam Standard’. This is a standard introduced by the council to ensure that every new home delivers low operational energy use, high levels of thermal comfort and strong resilience to climate impacts.
Our sustainable housing design guide sets out the key design principles we will follow when building new homes and developing land.
Council tenants who have moved from ageing council homes into our newly built council homes have much more comfortable surroundings, with homes better able to be heated and ventilated. This can bring down people’s bills, or ensure people are able to stay warmer in winter without having their bills increase.
CIP developments
The best place to find out the latest information about specific CIP developments is on the CIP website.
Some historic information about CIP developments, and other background information about our housebuilding programme, is available on our Affordable housing programme webpage, but please note that this page is not kept up to date.
