UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, United Kingdom

The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation is a biomedical research partnership involving four organisations – Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, University College London and the Wellcome Trust. It will be the first biomedical research facility in the UK and will rank among the largest in the world in terms of size, second to only Paris-based Pasteur Institute.

The proposed facility will be constructed at Brill Place, north of the British Library in London. Work on the facility is expected to begin by early 2011, with completion in late 2014. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2015.

The facility will cost £600m ($887m) to construct, and an additional £100m to operate. It will be staffed by approximately 1,500 people, of which 1,250 will be scientists.

Building specifications

The 79,000m² facility will be spread over a 3.6 acre site. The main body of the facility will be a distinctive, four-storey glass atrium that will allow the public to see research in progress.

There will be a laboratory wing on each floor. These labs will be home to the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute, among others.

Each floor will be split into four blocks, and the ground floor will also include seminar and meeting rooms, an educational laboratory and a 450-seat lecture theatre. The entire layout will be an open plan with areas for communal breaks to facilitate collaboration and discussion between the researchers.

Almost one-third of the facility will be underground to reduce scale, and its vaulted roof that will be divided into two shells instead of a single span.

Production

The facility will conduct research and use the latest technology to develop of novel treatments for a range of diseases, including heart diseases, cancer, flu and stroke. It will also undertake animal research.

However, the facility will not undertake clinical research or conduct the category four research that is currently carried out at NIMR. Clinical research will be completed by partnering with hospitals and other research centres.

Finance

The facility will be funded through a mix of sources, including the UK Government and charitable organisations. Government funding will be around £250m, which will be provided in a phased manner over the next five years as construction progresses.

About 50% of the construction cost will be met by the UK Medical Research Council. University College London will contribute about 5-10% of the project cost, the Wellcome Trust 20% and Cancer Research UK 25-30%.

Contractors

Arup is project managing of the facility, and will also provide electrical and mechanical engineering services. The contract for the project's structural engineering has been awarded to Adams Kara Taylor.

HOK Architects were originally chosen as the sole architects for the facility. However, in 2009, PLP Architecture was brought on board to collaborate with HOK, following criticism of the orignal design from planning officers.

Controversy

The original design caused a stir in the local community, who objected to the concept of such a massive centre within a city that is facing land scarcity. Their opposition increased as the site was earlier rejected to accommodate public housing. Concerns over the building becoming a potential target for possible terrorist attacks were also raised. The scale of the building was subsequently reduced, following a number of design revisions.