McLaughlin & Harvey has celebrated a key milestone on its project for Breakthrough Properties in Cambridge, with the topping out of Vitrum by Breakthrough. Situated in St. John’s Innovation Park, the state-of-the-art life sciences building will house lab-enabled and office workspaces upon completion.

The topping out ceremony, held on 5 June 2025, marks the successful completion of the building’s shell. Representatives from Breakthrough Properties and McLaughlin & Harvey were joined by trusted partners working on various aspects of the build to add the final piece of concrete to the roof.

Vitrum is the second building to be developed by McLaughlin & Harvey for Breakthrough Properties. Works continue to progress well at a second site in Oxford, Trinity by Breakthrough.

Andrew Ferguson, Operations Director at McLaughlin & Harvey, said,

“As our second project with Breakthrough Properties, enabling scientific research facilities within the life sciences corridor, Vitrum by Breakthrough is a testament to the collaboration of all stakeholders involved in the project. The topping out ceremony provides an opportunity for us to celebrate all that McLaughlin & Harvey and our supply chain have achieved so far.”

With over 160,000 square feet of life science research and development space, Vitrum by Breakthrough will offer life science companies a base within the North East Cambridge Innovation Cluster. Built to achieve a minimum BREEAM Excellent status, the facility is designed to provide sustainability while also offering dedicated space to promote positive wellbeing for end-users.