Lead contractor, Bouygues UK, has recently marked the completion of the concrete structure of the new centre for advancing eye health, in St Pancras, with a traditional topping-out ceremony. The new centre, with the project name Oriel, is a partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and Moorfields Eye Charity. Due to open in 2027, the facility will bring clinicians from the hospital’s City Road site and scientists under one roof for the first time.
Dedicated education space located throughout the building will offer collaborative environments for knowledge-sharing, and an enhanced space for students to learn from world leaders in ophthalmology and vision science. The centre has been co-designed by staff and patients to ensure it offers ‘an inclusive environment where innovative research will flourish, staff will thrive, and patients will experience an enhanced seamless patient experience’.
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust says that the ‘state-of-the-art’ centre will be ‘the first NHS digitally-enabled SMART hospital in which technology will play a pivotal role in how people use the building’. Improving access and reducing eye healthcare inequalities have been an important focus through the design process. The Trust said: “Patients will be able to access world-leading specialist care virtually via the centre’s digital front door, helping deliver care closer to home, and avoiding unnecessary visits.”
An ‘innovation hub’ will be located in the heart of the new centre to encourage collaboration, intended to be ‘a catalyst for interaction, dissemination of knowledge, and cross-fertilisation of ideas and concepts between clinicians and researchers at the forefront of translational ophthalmic science, especially in the digital domain’.
The building design has created standardised scientific wet lab ‘neighbourhoods’, where each research group will have access to specialist tissue cell laboratories, genomic research. and cellular and molecular imaging. The centre, in the heart of the King’s Cross Knowledge Quarter, has been funded by proceeds from the sale of the current sites near Old Street, £100 m from donors to Moorfields Eye Charity and UCL Advancement, and £110 m from the Department of Health and Social Care through the first wave in the New Hospital Programme.
Fabienne Viala, Chair and CEO of Bouygues UK (pictured), said: “I’m thrilled to celebrate the topping- out of this incredible project. The progress we’ve made truly showcases the power of our collaboration and shared vision. While we are proud to be delivering our technical expertise, we’re equally dedicated to providing training and job opportunities for local residents, and promoting careers in construction throughout the project. Working with Camden Council and the Knowledge Quarter, we’ve already made significant strides towards our goal of over 100 meaningful work placements, and it’s incredibly rewarding to hear from our apprentices and graduates about how valuable this experience has been for them.”