AHSC’s flagship research facility underway
14 October 2008
A £100 million project to construct a flagship research facility on the Hammersmith Campus is underway, with the building set to be operational by 2011. The six-storey facility will house around 500 staff and will stand on the site of the current L block. A cardiovascular sciences centre, a translational medicine imaging unit, the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility and a Medical Research Council (MRC) genomics centre are due to be located there.
Across four floors 300 Imperial scientists and physicians will undertake research focusing on cardiovascular disease, oncology, neurology, psychiatry and metabolic medicine, with patients and volunteers participating in studies lasting between one day and a week. The demolition phase is due to begin this month and the pre-fabricated laboratory which sits next to L block will be the first to go. This phase will allow investigations into the ground water cooling system for the new facility to begin. The demolition of L and J blocks will start in April 2009.
Dr Martin Knight, Chief Operating Officer, said: “As work on the demolition of L and J blocks gets underway it is visible evidence that the College and the Trust are working together to make the AHSC a reality.”
