Skanska to Build $74M Medical Research Center in London

By Alexandra Pacurar

Rendering of Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Diseases in Children in London, U.K.

London—Skanska sealed the deal with Great Ormond Street Hospital for the development of the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Diseases in Children in London. The $74.3 million (£60 million) project represents the third phase of the health care unit’s renovation. Construction of the 140,000-square-foot building is scheduled to start in January 2017 and end in late 2018.

Skanska will be in charge with the construction, mechanical and electrical fit-out of the facility, which will function as a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

The building was designed by London-based architecture firm Stanton Williams and will include an outpatient department hosting clinics for children and young people with a range of rare and complex conditions. The research center will also include a variety of laboratories, specialist equipment rooms and work spaces where experts will develop diagnostic procedures, manufacture gene and cell therapies, and create personalized medical devices, according to the project description on Stanton Williams’ website.

The development was made possible by a $74.3 million donation made by Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the wife of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. She is also chairwoman of the UAE General Women’s Union.

This is Skanska’s second contract with the medical facility after the Premier Inn Clinical Building, the second phase of the same project, which will complete the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre at Great Ormond.

Image courtesy of Stanton Williams