Following a devastating fire which caused significant damage to the Paterson cancer research facility in 2017, building work on a new unit at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester has completed.
The building is part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre – a partnership between The Christie, Cancer Research UK, and The University of Manchester – and will be one of the top cancer research centres in the world. Integrated Health Projects (IHP), the joint venture between VINCI Building and Sir Robert McAlpine, and its supply chain partners, BDP, Arup, and Imtech have worked together to realise a state-of-the-art facility that will lead world-class transformational cancer research.
TEAM SCIENCE
And the building is set to become home to the largest concentration of scientists, doctors, and nurses in Europe, with 300 scientists and 400 clinicians and operational staff practicing what is known as ‘team science’ to deliver clinical trials covering the full extent of the patient pathway, from prevention and novel treatments to living with, and beyond, cancer. At more than 25,000sq m and 10 storeys high, the building is more than twice the size of the previous facility, enabling experts to deliver discovery research and translate their findings into innovative clinical trials at scale. The building will be occupied by all three of the partners and will be home to the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, as well as several other teams from The University of Manchester’s Division of Cancer Sciences. It will also be Manchester’s scientific headquarters for discovery science within the international Alliance for Early Cancer Detection. A central component of the building will be the new Cancer Research UK Cancer Biomarker Centre. The centre’s focus will be on biomarkers to aid in early cancer detection and diagnosis, and enable personalised management of a patient’s cancer to determine which therapy will bring the most overall benefit.
COLLABORATING TO END CANCER
Ged Couser, architect principal at BDP, said: “This building adds a striking new addition to the Manchester skyline, delivering a technologically-advanced structure that is already raising the profile of academic collaboration and R&D in the North of England. “This project is a prime example of what can be achieved with the right planning, funding, and design to create effective, beautiful, highly-specialised places that impact positively on communities, businesses, and local people. “We are so proud to have worked on the new Christie Paterson and to be witnessing these exciting moments as the building becomes occupied. “It shows that great design can create flexible spaces which centre on diagnoses, patient care, and vital, world-leading research in a truly-collaborative environment; about which we are so excited.”
BUILDING A LEGACY
Roger Spencer, chief executive at The Christie, added: “The Christie has been at the forefront of cancer research for over 120 years. “Standard treatments that were first trialled here have improved the outcomes for millions of cancer patients across the world and this new centre allows us to build on this legacy, so it’s exciting to see the vision become a reality. “We want to give every patient who walks through our doors the best-possible treatment and care and having so many different specialists collaborating together under one roof will help us achieve our ambition to make the facility one of the top five cancer research centres in the world.” And Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, president and vice-chancellor of The University of Manchester, told hdm: “The new research building will be a fantastic opportunity to accelerate cancer research in Manchester, not just because it will provide state-ofthe- art facilities, but because it will also bring together a fantastic workforce comprised of scientists, clinicians, and support staff, including trainees, early career researchers, and world-renowned investigators. “It will enable staff from the university’s Division of Cancer Sciences to work side by side with colleagues from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and The Christie, generating new ideas, making new discoveries, and devising next-generation therapies. “Together with the Proton Beam Therapy Centre and the Oglesby Cancer Research Building, the new facility will be the latest piece of the cancer campus jigsaw, generating a vibrant, high-quality environment for our highly-motivated research teams, all seeking to improve the lives of cancer patients, not just in Manchester, but worldwide.”
