The Fleming Centre is at the heart of the global Fleming Initiative, a collaborative new approach led by the Trust and Imperial College London to tackle antimicrobial resistance worldwide. The Centre is due to open on the St Mary’s site in 2028, helping to mark the centenary of Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin there.
Chaired by Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, the Fleming Initiative will bring together worldwide expertise in science, technology, policy, and behavioural science with clinical practice and expertise. Scientists will work alongside clinicians, patients, the public, and policy-makers, ‘to scope, test and scale solutions to the problems created by drug-resistant infections’.
Professor the Lord Darzi said: “The launch of the RIBA design competition brings us one step closer to achieving the Fleming Centre’s unique concept of breaking down the barriers between clinicians, scientists, policymakers, and most importantly, the public, in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. The inaugural Centre will be home to the pioneering research and public engagement needed to develop new solutions to help people in the UK and further afield.”
The Centre will also be a key part of the Trust’s Paddington Life Sciences development, which Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust says is ‘creating a thriving ecosystem for life sciences research and innovation with St Mary’s as its hub’. In turn, Paddington Life Sciences is ‘an integral part of the Imperial WestTech Corridor – a globally significant concentration of technology and innovation stretching across west London acting as a catalyst for investment, employment and inclusive growth’.
St Mary’s Hospital – along with the Trust’s two other main sites, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals – are part of the New Hospital Programme. The Fleming Centre will be the first new building to open at St Mary’s as part of plans to redevelop the whole hospital site over the next decade.
Trust CEO, Professor Tim Orchard, said: “The launch of the RIBA design competition marks an exciting milestone for the Fleming Centre, and the redevelopment of the wider St Mary’s Hospital site. This state-of-the-art facility will not only honour the legacy of Alexander Fleming and St Mary’s as penicillin’s birthplace, but also spearhead the fight against antimicrobial resistance through ground-breaking research and public engagement.
“We are looking forward to collaborating with visionary architects to create a centre that will inspire and facilitate global change in healthcare in a building that will enhance the character of our local community.
The Trust is proposing building the Fleming Centre on the site currently occupied by The Bays buildings on the west of the hospital site. These former industrial warehouses were built around 1850 for transport and distribution networks, and incorporated into the hospital in 1983, primarily for office use. The new Fleming Centre will be an integral part of the new St Mary’s Hospital site once completed.