Water Living Lab for Greater Cambridge
A collaborative innovation programme testing and scaling practical solutions to Greater Cambridge’s water challenges, supporting resilience, nature recovery and sustainable growth.
Greater Cambridge faces interconnected pressures from water scarcity, economic and population growth, future flood risk and the decline of the natural environment. The region relies on globally rare chalk streams for its water, while existing systems rely heavily on potable water and centralised infrastructure.
The Water Living Lab for Greater Cambridge will bring organisations together around a network of real-world testbed sites across the region – from schools to offices to agricultural and industrial sites - creating a practical environment to test, demonstrate and scale new approaches to water management. Starting with anchor sites and expanding over time, it will connect buildings, estates and their surrounding green spaces to explore how water can be used more efficiently, retained and reused locally, and managed in ways that strengthen resilience and support nature.
From ideas to practical solutions
The programme will bring together local businesses, asset owners, water companies, public bodies, researchers, innovators and community organisations to test and evaluate integrated approaches including:
- water efficiency and demand reduction
- water reuse, including rainwater harvesting
- nature-based and sustainable drainage solutions, including wetlands, rain gardens and swales
- smart and decentralised infrastructure and other innovations in water management
Evidence and learning will be shared to help successful approaches move towards wider adoption and inform investment, planning and policy.
Building from real-world pilots
The Living Lab will start small and scale, establishing an initial model with anchor sites before expanding to additional sites and partners across Greater Cambridge and beyond.
The programme is already beginning to put this model into practice. Supported by the Water Efficiency Cambridgeshire Fund, CISL’s initial Water Living Lab network will connect emerging innovators with host organisations to test water-efficiency solutions in non-domestic buildings, generating evidence about their impact and what works in practice.
The wider ambition is to build on these foundations, connecting sites across Greater Cambridge and expanding from water efficiency into water reuse, flood resilience, sustainable drainage and nature-based solutions. Through real-world testing and shared evidence, the Living Lab will identify successful approaches and what is needed to replicate them at scale.
Over time, this evidence will help develop the business cases and investment models needed to move successful solutions from demonstration to wider implementation.
Working with partners across Greater Cambridge
The Water Living Lab is being developed with organisations across Greater Cambridge’s water, business, research and innovation ecosystem. Initial engagement includes Churchill College, Hills Road Sixth Form College, Water Sensitive Cambridge, and Greater Cambridge Shared Planning, alongside regional water and nature expertise.
Churchill College and Hills Road Sixth Form College, the University of Cambridge and others, through our initial Water Efficiency Cambridgeshire funding are providing initial opportunities to establish the Living Lab model, with the potential to expand over time to a wider range of sites across Greater Cambridge, including business and science parks, university estates, housing and surrounding areas.
It will build on the significant work already underway across the region, including through the Cambridge Water Scarcity Group, Cam Catchment Partnership and other local initiatives, providing a route to turn strategy and innovation into practical, place-based action.
Get involved
CISL is looking for partners who can help fund, test and scale solutions through the Water Living Lab.
We are interested in working with funders and investors, businesses and asset owners offering potential test sites, innovators and operators with solutions to demonstrate, and research, public-sector and community partners who can contribute expertise, evidence and routes to wider adoption. This reflects the Living Lab's collaborative model, which brings together stakeholders spanning business, water, government, research, innovation and communities.
Interested in supporting the next stage of the Water Living Lab? Contact the Living Lab team to discuss funding, partnership, test-site and innovation opportunities.