New World-Class Cancer and Surgical Centre in Central London by Scott Tallon Walker Architects Completed

The University College Hospital Grafton Way Building by Scott Tallon Walker Architects in association with Edward Williams Architects has completed, providing a major new healthcare facility that will offer cutting-edge cancer treatment to NHS and private patients in the UK. In line with UCLH’s visionary plan, the new hospital will deliver 37,000m2 of contemporary architecturally innovative facilities and house one of just two NHS proton beam therapy centres in the UK, making it one of the leading oncology treatment hospitals in the world. 
 
After over a decade of close collaboration with clients and co-consultants in the multi-disciplinary design team, the architects have brought the hugely complex facility from conception and stakeholder engagement, through to feasibility and masterplanning stages, to bring the final project design successfully to completion.  
 
The new building is located in a tight and historically challenging site within the Bloomsbury Conservation area, in close proximity to two Grade II-listed UCL buildings and directly below the Mayor of London’s View Corridor. In order to create the necessary clinical space while respecting protected views and surrounding heritage, the 13storey building has a significant basement, which is five-storeys plus a mezzanine below ground, is equivalent in volume to the Royal Albert Hall. Above this are seven floors, which go to a height of 57m. In its entirety the building is the same height as Tower Bridge.  
 
The landmark facility houses a proton beam therapy (PBT) centre, a surgical complex, including eight operating theatres, a surgical recovery area, and a surgical ward. In addition there is a imaging centre, a, a ten-bed critical care unit, and three floors of inpatient wards for patients with blood disorders, creating one of Europe's largest dedicated Haem-Oncology hospitals, as well as one and a half floors for a private inpatient haematology service. Waiting areas enhanced by charitable support have been created for children, teenagers and young adults, as well as a Macmillan Living Room providing holistic patient care. The revolutionary new PBT centre is one of only two such facilities for NHS treatment in England, alongside the Christie Hospital in Manchester, making it easier for patients to access this treatment.  

Central to UCLH’s vision was the aspiration to create a facility that not only delivers the very best medical treatment, but also aids patient and staff wellbeing. Patient and clinician participation were central to the evolution of this progressive facility, both in order to achieve functional clarity in clinical and patient pathways, and to create an environment that benefits the wellbeing of all users. Crucially the building is designed to remove stress from the patient journey, actively promote positive outcomes, and support patient recovery. 
 
The building is characterised by generosity of space, light transparency and sensory encounters to offer respite from city life, and the busy Tottenham Court Road area where it is based. To align with adjacent buildings and to protect light and sight lines, the building is stepped back across its section and split into two corresponding blocks. These are connected by a spacious, light- filled atrium that is designed to bring natural daylight right through the building and into all inpatient rooms, particularly important to the hospital’s long-term patients. 
 
The building’s external ‘veiled’ façade provides solar shading and layers of privacy to patient rooms from the outside, while allowing a larger degree of openness, connectivity, and visibility to the outside world for the patient, to counter the sense of isolation that can accompany extended hospital stays. A contemporary material palette was selected to complement the existing Portland stone cladding of neighbouring buildings, and the project is designed to have a positive urban impact on the previously derelict site, with a scale and massing that respects and restores the well-established city grid. 
 
The choices of material, colour palette, motifs and artwork are guided by a ‘natural garden’ theme, designed to aid wellbeing and recovery by creating a calming and uplifting environment. The design embraces the principles of direct visual access to natural daylight, natural materials and natural landscapes, through a series of planted terraces intended to flower year-round to provide peaceful settings for recuperation.