The development is being supported by Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity), which is in the midst of what the charity dubs ‘the biggest and most ambitious fundraising appeal in our history’. The ‘Build it. Beat it’ appeal aims to raise £300 million to help build the CCC, and ‘deliver transformation in cancer care, advance research, and save lives’. The project will deliver a new clinical building on Great Ormond Street, and a new front entrance and welcome area. At just under 19,000 m2, the building will provide a high-quality environment ‘consistent with the hospital’s world-renowned paediatric care and research activities’, Sisk says.
During construction, the company will employ over 500 people on site, hiring 37 apprentices, and creating over 20 work placements for local students. It has ‘digitally built the project in 4D’ before beginning on site, with the new building set to be fully Building Safety Act (BSA)-compliant – the UK’s first hospital in UK to go through the BSA process. GOSH’s cancer services will move from some of its oldest buildings and be co-located across four floors, ‘in a larger, cohesive centre, with a child-focused ‘environment’.
The hospital is also using the opportunity to improve other services ‘essential to the delivery of the cancer care pathway and other specialities’. Sisk explained: “With a new entrance, reception area, and outside spaces, a new larger hospital school and theatre, imaging and critical care services, the centre will benefit every child who comes to GOSH.” Construction is forecast to be complete in late 2028.
Ger Hayes, Sisk’s MD, said: “It’s an incredible honour to be entrusted with building the new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We’re making significant progress in the healthcare sector both in Ireland and the UK. and we fully appreciate that Great Ormond Street Hospital is one of the world’s leading children’s healthcare providers. As a family-owned business, we take immense pride in creating lasting legacies within the communities we serve.”
Mat Shaw, Chief Executive of GOSH said: “I’s delighted we are now in contract with Sisk, and that building work on our fantastic new Children’s Cancer Centre is underway. The new facility will help our staff be their best and enable children to play, learn, and be with their families, even while at hospital.”
GOSH and Sisk are working hard to limit the impacts of the development on the local community and families coming to the hospital, with the latter using a range of different methods to limit the transmission of dust, noise, and vibrations – including wrapping the frontage building in sheeting, and carefully dismantling it section by section, with waste materials contained before being removed to be recycled or reused.