Planning green light for UKCMRI

Plans to build a world-leading medical research institute at St Pancras in London have been approved by councillors at Camden Town Hall. The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI), designed by the architects HOK with PLP Architecture, will have 1,500 staff including 1,250 scientists.

UKCMRI is founded by four of the world's leading research organisations: the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and UCL.

The members of the Development Control Committee voted in favour of the £500 million project at a meeting at the Town Hall last night.

Professor Malcolm Grant, UCL President and Provost, welcomed their decision to approve the scheme: "The councillors have brought this institute significantly closer to reality. As the founding university partner, we at UCL are committed to underpinning UKCMRI's scientific vision, in particular by opening new interdisciplinary opportunities with our engineering and physical science departments located nearby, and in developing translational links with our major partner hospitals.  Its physical location offers UKCMRI unique opportunities for collaboration and partnerships."

The chairman of UKCMRI, Sir David Cooksey was delighted by the councillors' decision: "UKCMRI will harness the talent and potential of doctors, nurses, biologists, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, computer scientists and engineers to understand the underlying causes of disease. This will accelerate our ability to treat disease - bringing benefits to patients through the NHS and to the economy by developing a sector in which the UK already excels."

In October, the Government gave its commitment to UKCMRI by confirming its investment in the project through the Medical Research Council. Over half the funds are being contributed by Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and UCL. The Prime Minister David Cameron announced that UKCMRI would play a central role in the Government's National Infrastructure Plan to ensure the UK remains a world leader in science and research.

The construction of UKCMRI is expected to begin in the Spring with completion in 2015.

UCL context

The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI) is an unprecedented partnership between four of the world's leading biomedical research organisations: UCL, the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust.

It will carry out research of the highest quality using the latest technology to advance understanding of human health and disease. The institute will be constructed on 3.6 acres of land at Brill Place, to the north of the British Library in the St Pancras and Somers Town area of north London.

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