[3] The site was owned by the Ministry of Defence, and included post-World War II yellow prefab offices for the Inland Revenue (HMRC), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Driving Standards Agency.

[5] The site is bordered by Brooklands Avenue, including Brooklands House, to the north, Shaftesbury Road, including Eastbrook, to the east, the Cold War nuclear bunker to the south and Hobson's Brook to the west.

[7] By 2001, the joint venture between Countryside Properties and a US pension fund had submitted the first planning application to Cambridge City Council and by 2003 Countryside Properties had purchased the site from HM Government (UK) and had appointed Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects as the main architect for the site.

[10] In September 2003 Kajima, the contractors, began work on phase I of the brownfield site development.

[7] Countryside Properties later sold the site to Redeham Homes, who continued the development in phase II and III.

In 2008 it became the first housing development to win the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize.